Відео

@@Makis0007 you wouldn’t normally do this. We only did it so that we could capture debris that collected inside the gutter. If we didn’t do that, then most of the debris would have flushed through the downspouts.

@@gutterguardsdirect Thank you! I apologize for even asking because I noticed you answered my question from 30:00. Had it been I kept listening till the end I wouldn't have asked. I had to pause the video to run an errand. Thank you for the response though. Very informative indeed.

@@bigmacattk you’re welcome. Thank you for watching!

Good to know. You’re in a beautiful part of the country and LeafFilter is lucky to have you on their team!

@@timtipton6349 go for it. Pick apart the installation.

The product comes w brackets to support and fasten the rear to the facia. The rear edge should be tucked up beneath the drip edge. The ends don't contract THAT much, they must be installed closer together: spec is 1/8 inch or less. The gutter height is normally adjusted to allow correct filter pitch. The square drip edge and short shingles will create problems no matter what you do. Tree debris is inevitable in a wooded area, the filters can simply be hosed off with regular roof cleaning. Factory authorized installations come with the company's service, warranties, guarantees, and me.

Careful you don't cause too much shingle lift tucking the rear edge under

Thanks for your insight and comments, Tim. It's great to hear from someone who works for LeafFilter. To give you some insight of our own, we WERE a LEAFFILTER DEALER from 2008-2011. Back then, the company that you work for was a dealer like we were. There were several dealers around the country. In about 2010, LeafFilter North negotiated the rights to be the exclusive dealer nationwide. I can assure you that we always installed the original LeafFilter correctly. I realize that they have introduced another product that they're also calling LeafFilter, but it's a completely different design. I can't tell from your comments which LeafFilter that you're referring to. I'll assume that you're talking about the original gutter guard, not the recently introduced one. If that's the case, it's designed to install within the gutter. In order to prevent LeafFilter from collapsing inside the gutter -- to support it -- the installer would add additional gutter hangers at the ends and along the run of each panel. At the time, it was a 5' long panel. While it would be ideal to slide the gutter guard under the drip edge -- if one exists -- it's not mandatory. I'm not sure where you're located, but if you've been doing this for a while, you'll appreciate that not every home has a drip edge. Even if they do, the longer the gutter run, the less likely that the gutter or LeafFilter would sit under the drip edge due to the fact that the gutter slopes towards the downspout. Drip edges are only so tall. When the gutter is properly sloped on a longer run, the drip edge may or may not play a role. The forward slope of LeafFilter is determined by the thickness of the frame. The frame is thicker -- taller -- at the rear than on the front where it is basically flush with the lip. LeafFilter ONLY screws to the front lip of the gutter. No screws were to be placed in the plastic upward flange that sits agains the fascia board. Doing this would generally cause the plastic flange to snap off. Furthermore, when screwing it to the gutter lip, there were 3 slots per panel that were approximately 3/4" long. The correct method of installing LeafFilter -- to prevent it from buckling while it expands (summer) and contracts (winter) -- was to set the screws and then loosen them so that the panel could shift left and right to expand and contract. Torquing the screws down tight on the plastic frame would prevent it from moving, which was critical to its longevity. Creating your own holes in the plastic frame also creates an issue because when the screws bind the product to the gutter lip, it can't breathe. However, what proved to be a bigger issue was that the UV light from the sun is often enough to cause LeafFilter to warp well beyond what would otherwise be acceptable. What I have described above is the correct way to install the original LeafFilter, and that's how the inventor, Alex Higginbotham, prescribed installing it. Maybe you've never heard of Alex because my understanding is that Matt Kaulig took credit for the invention. The original patents for LeafFilter date back to 1999, well before Matt and I were dealers of the product. If the "factory" has suggested that you install it any other way, then that's there decision as to how to overcome some of LeafFilter's limitations, but that's not how LeafFilter was designed to be installed during the years that we were a dealer and for any point prior to us becoming a dealer. Suggesting that a wooded area is going to require a homeowner to wash/blow off their roof may or may not be true. We have found that gutter guards that slope with the roof are more likely to shed leaves and debris. Naturally, there are other factors at play here, but generally speaking, it's easier for stuff to roll off of a gutter cover that is similarly sloped to the roof pitch. LeafFilter sits flatter in the gutter and is more shelf-like, which is a real issue in more heavily wooded and treed environments. LeafFilter was the first micro mesh gutter guard on the market, but it's sister, MasterShield, which was introduced in 2006, is made from aluminum instead of plastic, and is designed to slide under the first course of shingles rather than sitting shelf-like inside the gutter, is an improved invention. Neither is perfect, by any means, but MasterShield would be the better alternative in virtually every situation we have encountered since I got into this business in 1996. We have also removed our fair share of LeafFilter over the years. An example was where a LeafFilter sales rep told the homeowner that their gutters were fine. LeafFilter was installed without resetting the gutters and making the adjustments you talked about. This caused LeafFilter to pitch backwards towards the house and allowed leaves and debris to build up on top of it more than normal. The panels were bowing and warping at the ends, so LF's remedy was to add more screws to the front lip to try to force the panels down. I believe there were an average of 7 screws PER panel, yet it was still buckling. And the product was white, not even a darker color that would be more prone to expansion and warping. The first thing I said to the homeowner was that their gutters were toast and needed to be replaced. New 6" gutters, changing locations of the downspouts to get water well away from the house, and installing MasterShield gutter guards at an angle similar to the roof slope, solved their leaf and debris problems. We haven't heard from them once in 5-years other than to thank us for a job well done!

If they don’t offer to repair or replace it at no charge, then please report back here to let folks know. LeafFilter is made out of plastic. It is prone to warping. It also needs to be supported by installing additional gutter hangers. If they didn’t add enough hangers to support the gutter cover, then it will collapse. Our advice to other homeowners is to bypass LeafFilter. It’s a mediocre product mostly because it is made from plastic and will not stand up to UV rays over time.

If the company who undertook this testing was a reseller, and the tradesmen who installed these gutter guards were installers of those gutter guards at some point in the past, would you not agree that they knew what they were doing? Installing gutter guards is not rocket science, but we can assure you that what we do is a lot closer to science and following manufacturer's directions than most installers install on most homes.

Sorry about that! Feel free to submit your info request to www.gutterguardsdirect.com/free-estimate/ or call back and ask for me specifically. Thanks, Johnathan

Determine what types of debris the tree sheds and then look for a gutter guard that sheds that stuff. Clearly, a product like MasterShield, will work. It's the Cadillac system. Others might work, too. In this case, LeafSolution, Gutterglove Pro or even Gutterglove Easy-on/Atlas if you're interested in a budget-friendly DIY gutter guard that is designed to slide under the first course of shingles. You simply have to decide what level of maintenance you want to perform going forward. If you're subject to leaves and cherries falling into the gutters or onto the guards, installing a gutter guard that slides under the shingles and has a nice forward slope makes more sense than installing a gutter guard that sits flat in your gutters. There are 3 variables: ability to shed debris, ability to manage water, and cost. If you don't want to maintain your guards, find a gutter guard that sheds the debris and takes in the water. If cost is a concern, then find a system that will take in most of the water and makes it easy to blow the debris off the tops of the gutters, but keep the leaves and debris from entering the gutter cavity. Gutter Rx is a popular option in this category.

Many!

Cleaning gutters is and will always be an option. For some folks, trying to find consistent, reliable help is a challenge. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to clean gutters, but you'd be surprised how many gutters don't actually get cleaned properly by people who purport to do this for a living. For many who are seeking gutter guards, they have either hired out the work or done it themselves for years or decades. The older we get, the less fun the chore becomes. There are solutions for every one of those types of tree debris your mentioned above. MasterShield, as an example, covers all of those bases when installed properly. The key, in our opinion, is finding the right gutter guard for any or all of those types of trees and deciding what level of maintenance you're willing to perform going forward. We certainly agree on the "getting scammed" part. It's not just limited to the elderly. Some of the big boys are equal opportunity scammers.

There are several videos in the series shot in the rain. Sometimes it was torrential, sometimes it was light. Each time it was at the whim of Mother Nature.

@@gutterguardsdirect oh ok thanks

That’s hilarious, Ron. If you can find a nice mid-century modern with 2-3 foot overhangs and those other characteristics, then you will be golden!

@@gutterguardsdirect I forgot to mention that it should also be located in Death Valley. (Rain is not a homeowner's friend, so why live anywhere that even HAS much of it, right?)

Wait for it to rain and see if it does the same thing. A water hose isn’t the best way to mimic rain water. If it doesn’t work when it’s raining, video it and ask the company that installed it to make some adjustments.

Pretty sure they don't offer refunds. In this case, we swapped LeafFilter for MasterShield at no charge to the customer.

@@gutterguardsdirect I'm sure the money grabbers wouldn't offer refunds. It's good of you to do so. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I installed $hit on someone's home and charged them 10k.

What are your qualifications to make these baseless claims, Matt? I’d advise you to do your homework before simply regurgitating information that was disproven years ago.

Watch an off-roading video on UA-cam where the driver of a truck says he or she is driving up a 30-degree plus embankment. You’d probably say, they’re misleading you because it doesn’t look like it’s such a steep slope. Angles and slopes don’t look steep on camera, yet if you’re the one filming it, you know exactly how steep it is. Let’s look at LeafFilter, specifically. It has a slope built into the frame. It’s a little thicker at the back than the front. LeafFilter claims the slope is 11 degrees. Using a slope gauge, we got a reading between 10-11 degrees, after we installed LeafFilter. This was consistent with the product’s claim. However, right next door to LeafFilter sat MasterShield that had a 32 degree forward slope. Neither gutter guard sits perfectly flat, but when comparing a gutter guard with a forward slope 3X more than another gutter guard that is shelf-like, saying that it sits “relatively flat” is an accurate description of the situation. The results were accurate, too. Debris was more likely to collect on LeafFilter than gutter guards with a more pronounced slope. It happened time and time again. Not just 5 months after the product was installed, but for 3+ years that LeafFilter was installed. If you believe that LeafFilter was installed incorrectly and you can somehow show that we misrepresented the product, please share your findings with viewers.

See comment above!

Please share why it’s misleading. We’d love to know!

Interesting perspective. Curiously, what specifically are the installation options you were instructed to follow by LeafFilter?

HTTPS://www.mastershield.com

There’s no truth to that claim. If you’ve been told that, whoever shared that information with you either doesn’t know what they’re talking about or lied to you.

Actually, this homeowner had a very well kept home and yard. As a tree lover, she opted to keep the tree in her back yard, which is why she installed gutter guards to begin with. There were also several large white pine trees in a neighbor’s yard that were contributing to her gutter problems. While she had asked the neighbor to cut them down, they refused. But with a relatively low slope roof and being 85-years old at the time we did the work, LeafFilter and the gutters were past their prime. The reason she hired us was to clean everything up and provide a better long term solution that she could benefit from for the remainder of her time in the house. Because MasterShield has a better forward slope than LeafFilter, she won’t be subject to leaves and debris accumulating on her new 6” gutters anymore.

With MasterShield and other gutter guards made from roll formed aluminum, it would be the installer’s choice or homeowner’s preference to bend the gutter guard or use trim/gutter coil to make an end cap. Either method is acceptable. When installing an extruded aluminum gutter guard, such as GutterGlove Pro, that will not bend, then using gutter or trim coil to make end caps would be required.

It may be installer choice, but the cover return was explained to me from master shield as proper method. The metal cap end piece trapped debris in the corner as viewed in your video. It might be installer choice, but there definitely a better methods to installation.

@@bigmacattk that method would have likely resolved the issue. In that case, it wasn’t the end cap that was the problem. When the cover was cut and installed, an indentation was made in the panel, causing it to dip in that corner. We identified that early on but left it alone as this could easily happen in the field without realizing it. In the end, it had no material impact on the performance. MasterShield performed very well and, even if a little debris collects here and there, it will easily shed as long as the gutter guard has a nice forward slope., which this test piece did. We appreciate your comments. Please share your thoughts on any of the other videos. Where do you install MasterShield? Let us know and provide your contact details in the comments so homeowners in your area can reach out to you.

Not sure what aspect of the pine cone you're talking about. If you are considering the size of the pine cones, MasterShield will easily keep them out of the gutters. If you are asking about the prickly ends of the pine cones, the sharp barbs won't be able to penetrate the screen. If you're asking about the pollen that comes off certain pine trees, depending on the location of the gutters, you may occasionally get some pollen that would sit on top of the screen, especially if the gutters are in an area protected from wind and the elements. Generally speaking, we have seen that most pollen will wash off the screen, as the screen is too fine for the pollen to penetrate, but there may be occasions where pollen needs to be swept or blown off the top.

That’s a fair point. Haggle and be willing to clean off the surface as needed. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Stephen, thanks for your question. We agree that it's always best to get the gutters under the drip edge whenever possible. However, it's not unusual for gutters to drop below the drip edge pretty quickly on longer runs. It's also not uncommon to find houses without drip edges or gutters screwed through the drip edges. In this case, it was flush with the drip edge on the high side and dropped 1-2 inches by the time it got to the downspout on the left side. We used a level to hang the gutter, so the pitch was good. Had I manually bent the drip edge forward, it likely would have directed more water onto the gutter guards. However, the vinyl LeafFilter frame would have still warped and water would have still overflowed the front of the gutters. There are a lot of homes built and reroofed today without drip edges. For folks who don't have a drip edge or have a drip edge that isn't manually altered by the installer, this scenario could easily occur. The remedy was installing MasterShield. Since it slides under the first course of shingles, it becomes the drip edge and automatically pushes the water onto the screen without modifying anything within the gutter. Also, because MasterShield is made from aluminum instead of vinyl, the warping and water overflow issues wouldn't have happened in the first place.

True!

Trimming trees makes sense when they're overhanging the roof. Often, trees are close to a home, but far enough away from the house, or in a neighbor's yard, and trimming them isn't necessary or an option. Vacuuming out gutters isn't a practical option for those who no longer want to clean or pay someone to clean their gutters.

You comment plays well into this video: ua-cam.com/video/4uvdiZSedx0/v-deo.html. It's important to find the BEST gutter guard FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT. There are hundreds of gutter guards on the market. If you pick the wrong one, it can be a waste of money and effort, leading to experiences like yours. Follow the steps in the video above and it'll help you pick the best gutter guard for your environment every time!

The warranty covers clogged gutters not leaves and debris sitting on top of your gutters. In fairness, this is the same warranty virtually everyone else in the industry offers. In the case of LeafFilter, they know that the interior of the gutters won't clog, so I guess that's why they charge to even look at it. That or it's a stiff enough disincentive to follow-through on your end. If they didn't do it right the first time, what makes you believe they'll get it right the second or 3rd time? If you're not getting any help from them, file a complaint with your local BBB. They'll be forced to take action. A big problem with LeafFilter and other hangers-on is that they outsource all the work to 3rd party guys and gals who may or may not have any experience installing the gutter guards. We find that 90% of the time, gutters need a good tune-up before installing gutter guards. Not just cleaning, but actually resetting the gutters to drain properly and positioning them on the fascia boards to have the proper forward slope required to shed leaves and debris. Since LeafFilter doesn't pay subs much to do the work, what's the installer's incentive to jump through hoops for you or them? It's too late for you, but the best recommendation we can provide to homeowners who are looking at gutter guards for the first time, do your homework before hiring Leaffilter or any other company. Check the BBB, Google and Yelp reviews. In the case of LeafFilter, there have also been a series of lawsuits, including a couple of class action lawsuits in which they paid millions of dollars to homeowners. That and the thousands of complaints on www.bbb.com should be warning enough to proceed with caution.