I live in Southern California and have several trees, and LOTS of leaves, around my house. We have a ficus, a black acacia, an oak, two pittosporum and a majestic deodar cedar. The pittosporum produce enormous gobs of flowers and leaves every Spring. The cedar produces needles like a pine tree. We also have squirrels, blackbirds and hummingbirds, all of which make their way to the roof from time-to-time.
Leaving the gutters open to the elements is a proven recipe for disaster when it rains. Those ugly metal grates don't stop the leaves from getting through, they just make it harder to blow the gutters clean when it's time. And I am unwilling on principle to spend $6K+ for that fancy "space-age" material that's supposed to act like Teflon.
So, one day when I was at Costco, I saw some foam inserts that fit into the gutter. It seemed like an interesting idea, so I bought a sample. They worked better than anything else, so after a few months I went back, but Costco was out of stock. When I went online, I found the American Gutter product as a competitor to the brand I was actually looking for. I was intrigued by the American Gutter claim that their product is not flammable (it never occurred to me to test that with the first brand). So, I bought a sample of the American Gutter filter as well and compared it with the original competitor's sample.
To my amazed horror, the original brand burst into flames at the touch of a match. However, the American Gutter product that I bought (the "GutterFill Extreme" for 5" K-Style gutters) would not light on fire even if I steadily held the match to it. It's disturbing enough that I live on the edge of the Pacific Basin -- the so-called "Ring of Fire" because of the earthquake activity. Somehow, I just didn't want to add to my worry by installing a ring of highly flammable materials around the roof of my house! So I bought 200 feet of the American Gutter product.
The American Gutter filters are a breeze to install, very simple, intuitive and fast. The price was competitive with the original brand that I saw at Costco. Ordering and delivery from American Gutter were smooth. The American Gutter filters come in convenient 4-ft lengths. If your gutters are a length that are not divisible by 4, then you'll need garden shears or big scissors to cut the last piece for each side of the house. Otherwise, all you need is a ladder to get to the roof and some work gloves -- no other tools are necessary for installation.
The only pain in the neck is cleaning out the gutters and downspouts before you install the American Gutter filters. I figured there was no point in using the filters to cover up pre-existing debris, only to wait for the rains to clog everything up all over again.
Visually, the American Gutter filters are either invisible, or (when you're on a hillside) actually rather attractive looking.
An added bonus with the GutterFill Extreme (but not all the models) is that the filters are infused with, among other things, Citronella (a natural insect repellent). If you can smell the Citronella outside at all, it's very delicate and appealing. Just don't store the box of filters in the house before you go up to the roof to install them. 200 linear feet infused with Citronella was a little much for the confined space of our living room!
I saw Mr. Squirrel on the porch roof the other day, he was right next to the newly installed American Gutter filters. The infused filters did not seem to bother the squirrel in the least, but he also didn't seem attracted to them, keeping himself a foot or two away. Previously, he used to sit in the gutter and stare down at us while we eat breakfast!
I am comfortable that the downspouts will never clog again. I imagine I will still have to go up to the roof and blow the heavy collection of leaves off the filters occasionally -- you just can't imagine the two-foot high pile of flowers those pittosporum produce in the Spring, or how many leaves the black acacia sheds. All the same, if I'm slow on the job, the filters will still presumably do their job by keeping the gutters and the downspouts clear and permitting the water to drain through the accumulated leaves (if any) and through the filter, right into the downspout -- just like it's supposed to!
I'll write you back in a year and let you know how it all works out!
- Joel
Los Angeles, CA