Ask The Engineer On How To Choose The Best Gutter Protector To Sell

The best gutter protector to represent would keep your customer's gutters clean and free flowing. The best gutter guard to sell would require no servicing or maintenance from you the installing company except for things like storms knocking down the gutters. Any servicing of the best gutter guard could easily be done from the ground by the homeowner. The best gutter guard would last your customer more than twenty years. Find this one and you will have the best gutter guard business opportunity.

You would think there there are dozens of gutter covers which would meet this criteria, but no there are not. In fact most gutter covers installed chew up profits by requiring routine service calls to keep your customers happy. Well, let us say that if you have to keep servicing a customer's gutter cover system your customer will not be too happy having to call you to constantly service the gutters. They will not be the kind of customer who will refer their neighbors and relatives to your business.

Just how do you choose the best gutter cover to sell and represent? Do you go by price? Do you go by how big the company is that manufactures the gutter guard? Do you go by design? Do you go by ease of installation?

In this world of gutter guards you do not go by price, ease of installation, or size of the manufacturing company. The answer is that you go by the design of the gutter guard to find the best gutter cover to sell.

First of all, stay away from gutters that flip to clean as they warp and the hanger freeze. Stay away from dispersion units that replace gutters as they simply do not disperse water in slow rain fall. Stay away from detachable downspouts as they are not gutter guards and they do not keep the gutters from clogging at inside and outside joints.

Stay away from screens or filters of any kind. There are dozens of variations. Basic ones are inexpensive, made of plastic or metal and have various size openings with or without hinges. Some are made of surgical stainless steel micro mesh. Some are foam like inserts that go inside the gutter. One is a brush. The basic ones will clog on top and also let enough debris into the gutter to clog it. The more expensive ones may not let debris into the gutter but the debris will accumulate on top of the gutter guard to the point that after a couple of years the debris has to be physically removed. One manufacturer actually acknowledges this and has a telescopic pole and brush to service and remove accumulated debris from the top. But, you can not see the top of the micro mesh screen to see if the debris has been removed. And since the debris accumulates on top of the mesh it is out of sight. You can bet that what is out of sight will be out of mind to the homeowner and he will not think of servicing it.

Do not fret. There are still dozens of other products from which to choose. Another design to be avoided has a rounded front nose or fin with a solid top. The basic ones are clipped to the gutter which dislodge and will require you to service them. The more substantial ones have more substantial clips which do not dislodge. If you google Niagara gutter guard you will see the basic design of this low end type of gutter guard. The solid top is a plus but in heavy debris conditions leaves and blossoms follow the rain water over the front nose or fin of the gutter cover and stick to lower section of the gutter cover where the leaves and blossoms of any size can go into the gutter. The bottom line is that in medium to heavy debris conditions these gutter guards need servicing which requires them to be taken off the gutter so the gutter and the downspouts can be cleaned. One variation of this design is a gutter cover which in addition to the rounded nose or fin has a trough to keep larger debris from going into the gutter. This trough, however, is located below the upper gutter lip meaning that the debris is stuck there. Reality is that sufficient debris passes through the openings in this trough. which is really a variation of a screen with large openings, and clogs the gutters. The trough can also clog. Another variation is the basic Niagara type of gutter guard with small sieve openings in its top making it a screen hybrid. This is not the best gutter guard to sell that will be free of you needing to service it in mild to heavy debris conditions.

What can be done to improve the design? The answer is that the openings have to be limited in size and above the gutter lip. A step up from the rounded nose would be a gutter guard with one row of openings in the vertical front surface located just under the rounded nose. To get the water into the openings and thus into the gutter the openings or apertures would need to have louvers. If you google Care-free solid top gutter protector you will see an example of this design. It is definitely an improvement over the basic fin or rounded nose. This Care-Free gutter guard will definitely limit the size of the debris that can get into the gutter to three fourths of an inch. But look at the juncture where it meets the gutter. Any small debris falling onto the gutter lip can also wash into the gutter. This design is definitely a great design to offer as a good gutter guard for medium debris conditions but it is not the best gutter guard to represent.

Many of your customers will not require the best gutter guard so this design could be offered to your customers for a few dollars less than the best gutter guard. The question is how can the design of the Care-Free gutter guard be improved upon?

If we could find a gutter guard with two rows of louvers we would be going in the right direction. And if we could find a gutter cover that did not have any openings at or below the front gutter lip that would be an improvement. If you Goggle, Waterloov gutter guards you will find an example of this design. You can see another design if you google Number One Gutter Protector Both of these designs have two rows of louvers which keep out anything large enough to clog the gutter inside. Neither one has any of its openings at the gutter lip so nothing can wash in from the gutter lip.

How about servicing? Any debris that may accumulate on the surface of the louvers is easy to see and likewise easy to remove by the homeowner. There is no guessing where the debris might be accumulating as with the micro mesh screens. With the single or double row louvered gutter guards, it is highly visible and with a telescopic pole and brush assembly long enough to reach two and a half stories (longer ones available) the debris can easily be knocked of the front surface of the gutter guard.

In summary the two row louvered design is the best gutter guard to sell. It is easily maintained by the homeowner. Experience has shown that this basic design will last over twenty years in service and keeps profits in your pocket which will in turn keep you in business a long time with the best gutter guard business opportunity.