Choosing the Right Gutter Guard For Your Home – Comprehensive Guide
What Gutter Guard is right for your home?
Auckland’s heavy, sudden downpours, combined with debris from nearby trees, can block your home’s spouting in a matter of weeks. When gutters clog, rainwater has nowhere to go but backward into your roofline, leading to severe structural damage.
This NZTS guide explains how gutter guards work, why they are essential for local homes, and how to choose the right system to protect your property safely.
What is a Gutter Guard & Why Do You Need One?
A gutter guard is a protective barrier or mesh screen installed over your spouting. It allows rainwater to flow freely into your downpipes while filtering out leaves, twigs, and debris.
Installing a reliable guard system is critical to protecting your property from three major risks:
Costly Water Damage: Blocked gutters overflow backward into your eaves, quickly rotting timber fascia boards, flooding ceiling cavities, and ruining internal walls.
Pest Infestations: Open spouting is an ideal nesting ground for birds and rodents. Quality guards completely seal the gap between your roof and the gutter edge, blocking pest entry.
Ladder Hazards: Installing guards keeps your system clear year-round, permanently eliminating the dangerous, messy chore of climbing ladders to scoop out sludge.
The NZTS Difference: Real Roof Experience
At NZTS, we clean thousands of gutters every year and work on hundreds of properties with gutter guards already installed. Because our daily work takes us directly onto roofs, we see exactly which gutter protection systems succeed and which ones fail.
There is no “one size fits all” solution when it comes to spouting protection. Since we offer multiple types of gutter guards to suit different budgets and situations, you can trust that our advice is unbiased.
If you would like a free assessment and quote, feel free to give us a call or fill our contact form https://nztreatmentsandspraying.co.nz/contact-us/
Cleaning out the gutters before Gutter Guards are installed
Having the gutters cleaned out very thoroughly before gutter guards are installed is very important. Dirty gutters will more quickly sprout growth and cause issues underneath the gutter guard, which become harder to identify and fix once the gutter guards are installed.
NZTS are expert gutter cleaners and will make sure gutters are cleaned exceptionally well before installation of any gutter guards.
Selecting the right Gutter Guards
Selecting the right gutter guards comes down to a few things:
Roof Type
Certain roof types and coating like some concrete tile and decramastic or stone chip roofing products can deposit sediment in through the small holes in gutter guards. We will advise on the right sort to use if your home falls in this category.
Foliage type
The type of tree and plants around or above your roofline and what kind of seeds, leaves, needles are falling will change the sort of gutter guard you will need
Pest type
Gutter guards can be a great solution for pest problems. Securing gutter guard over all valleys of roofs and gutters will block access to gutters and roof cavities
Gutter Guard options:
- Gutter Mesh / Gutter Screen*
- Gutter Foam
- Gutter Brush
* In metal or plastic Gutter Guard options
Some gutter guards are hard installed and screwed down; others fit into or clip into gutters. There are cheap and expensive gutter guard options. As with most things, the most expensive is not always the best. Sometimes expensive hard installed options can impede other types of roof and gutter maintenance.
Will it always be clean under Gutter Guards after they are installed?
No! All gutters with or without gutter guard will require maintenance and gutter cleaning at some point in the future. Some gutter with gutter guard installed will be ok for a few years where others you will need to clean through gutter guard to push the build up of debris through the system.
How does it get dirty underneath the Gutter Guards?
Sediment from roof tiles, dust, small bits of pollen and small seeds will still fit through most types of gutter guards. Gutter foam is the best type of gutter guard if you have trees dropping small debris.
Things to consider before installing Gutter Guards
Do you have any other issues with your roof or gutters that could impede future maintenance?
What solution fits best for your budget?
What type of debris are you trying to keep out of the gutters?
Do you need gutter guards around your whole gutter line or just the problem areas?
Are you installing gutter guards to keep pests or birds out?
To help with the decision-making process, feel free to call NZTS 0800 777 296
Gutter Guard maintenance
Most gutter guards will still need a gutter cleaning annually to ensure no build up of dirt, dust, moss / mould or root systems. If the gutter guard is doing its job this should be at minimal effort and cost to just give them a quick water blast through. Leaving the gutter guard unchecked for too long will increase the likelihood of having to remove the gutter guard to access the mess and increase the time taken and cost involved.
When should you not install Gutter Guards?
NZTS will also advise on when not to install gutter guards. We come across many situations where the best form of maintenance and protection is not installation of gutter guards but good old regular cleaning. If gutter guards are installed on tricky to access roofs or high points on homes this make the task of cleaning underneath the gutter guards all the more difficult once they eventually block (and they always do).
Gutter Guards and internal guttering
If you have internal gutter system you should definitely get some advice before installing any gutter guards. Being able to visually check and easily access gutters for cleaning of an internal system is imperative to ensuring the water tightness of your home. Gutter guards can hinder this access.
Please see further information on out gutter cleaning guide under the internal gutter section.
Thanks for reading and as always feel free to contact us for any further information or discuss options for maintaining gutters easily.
0800 777 296
