Sydney’s Leaf Guard and Gutter Replacement Experts

Cleaning out gutters can be a foul and miserable job, but there are ways to make the task much easier. Rain gutters are designed to collect rain. These gutters move the rainfall away from the house, in order to prevent it from flowing towards the foundation of the house.

However, rain gutters can only function if they are kept clean of debris, so that water can flow through easily. To help with this, gutter guards can attach to the gutter in order to prevent solid materials (like leaves, branches and other debris) from entering. In addition, a leaf guard (an integrated protective hood) can be added (and ideally custom-fit by a professional roofer). With these items in place, Sydney residents can put the nightmare of cleaning gutters behind them once and for all.

The reality is that all gutters will deteriorate or rust if they are improperly handled. Common issues that will drastically shorten the lifetime of your gutter are debris build up, rust and water clogging.

Benefits of Installing Gutter Leaf Guards

Most Sydney roofing experts advise cleaning home gutters at least twice a year (fall and spring are the best times). If your house drops many leaves onto the roof, you may need to clean your gutters more often.

Fortunately, installing gutter leaf guards can significantly reduces the amount of time it takes to  clean your gutters. However, it’s still recommended to clean gutters twice a year, whether you home has gutter guards or not.

If undecided about the value of gutter guards, consider these benefits:

  • Blocking debris: this will save significant time cleaning out messy blockages, and also save you money by needing less help from professionals.
  • Moisture protection: gutter guards help prevent premature rusting caused by wet debris sitting in the gutters. This can help ensure that your gutters last as long as possible.
  • Overflow prevention: since gutter guards stop blockages, they thus prevent overflows that can enter your home or weaken your house’s foundation. In addition, overflows can also cause hideous stains on the walls outside your home.
  • Pest control: gutters make perfect homes for all sorts of pests, such as mice, cockroaches and mosquitoes. Gutter guards reduce buildups of stagnant water, making them less hospitable for nasty critters to breed in. Gutter guards also serve as barriers to larger vermin like possums and birds from gaining access to the inside of your roof.
  • Bushfire protection: during bushfires, embers can get carried by the wind into gutters that might contain dry materials, igniting rapid blazes. SInce gutter guards prevent material from entering the gutters, this risk is averted.

Types of gutter guards

In general, there are three basic types of gutter guards: mesh screens; gutter filters and  surface tension units. Each types has different prices and benefits.

  • Gutter brushes: this is the cheapest option, made up of a cylinder shaped brush that fits within a house’s gutters. A popular model is the Hedgehog Gutter Brush. It works like a filter, letting water pass while keeping debris out. These are cheap and quite easy to install, but not as reliable as other choices, over the long term.
  • Mesh gutter screens: these are priced in the middle of the pack, but aren’t the best and keeping debris out of your gutters.
  • High tech brands: at the highest end of the price scale are premium brands (such as Gutterglove) that are more complex 2-piece systems made up of a perforated aluminum channel and very fine stainless steel mesh. The mesh is fastened to grooves along two sides of the channel, thus filtering out leaves and debris.

Gutter guard ladder safety

Southern Cross Roofing does a lot of roofing consulting for Sydney residents wanting to do their own gutter maintenance. For those who want to go the DIY route, practicing good ladder safety when installing or cleaning gutter guards is a must.

If doing your own gutter maintenance, you will definitely be working on a ladder – make sure not to do so alone. You will need someone on the ground to hand you equipment. In addition, it’s a good idea to use an S-hook to keep hold of your bucket, freeing both of your hands to do the dirty work.

When setting the ladder up, be careful not to lean it against the gutter – the weight can crack or damage the gutters. To get around this issue, professionals tend to use an A-frame ladder that can bend over the gutter without causing damage.

Sydney’s best gutter leaf guard installers

Deciding whether you need gutter guards or new gutters can be difficult, while deciding to save money by doing it yourself can be tempting. However, most who DIY only seem to do so once – cleaning gutters is messy and exhausting work.

If you choose to leave it to the experts, we can help make the right decision that best suits your requirements. Southern Cross Roofing are Sydney’s roofing specialists, we are very fair and honest in our dealings and we will only tell you that you need repairs or new replacement gutters if you actually do.

Southern Cross Roofing is offering you the necessary services and products to protect your gutter from these annoying problems. Implementing measures to ensure that your gutter lasts as long as it can, will ensure you are getting the most value out of your gutter.

Comments are closed.

FAST QUOTE

11+3=