Ask Jon Eakes

Last Updated: Monday, March 22nd, 2010, Created: Monday, March 22nd, 2010

A rain gutter leaf filter that works.

We all hate climbing up and cleaning out rain gutters, but we hate that clogged downspout even more -- or that neat row of maple trees growing on the edge of your roof. Rain gutters have the additional problem in that they fall between the cracks of the trades -- roofers don't really like working with them and will rarely come out for maintenance, general contractors find them too small a job to bother with and handymen often just don't know about a lot of critical elements like size, slope and Drip Edges.

So we buy into any of a variety of DIY gutter covers or inserts designed to keep the leaves out, and discover that they just don't work. I have come across some metal covers that use the properties of surface tension of the water to dump the leaves but collect the water and you can read about them by following these links to Helmets and Guards. The problem is that they are relatively expensive, one is not readily available and the other is rather intrusive to the roof shingles. So I set about testing rain gutter inserts.

It turns out that either they just let the small stuff through until everything is clogged up, or they hold onto the leaves and end up sending the water right over the top of the rain gutter onto the ground below - as if you didn't have any rain gutters at all. One even brags that it traps the leaves to let them rot and then flush away????

I finally found one that does it right. It is called GutterFilter, but as often happens with successful products, someone else is promoting a similar product under a name so close that you would think it is the same name. In Montreal you will find the product that I actually tested and recommend at Adam's Eaves and nowhere else -- or simply follow the web site links at the bottom of this entry. GutterFilter is an open weave mesh that looks like a foam pad, it works much like the shingles on your roof, but lets the water through. Water goes through like it wasn't there but it is strong enough to keep its form. It sits high in the rain gutter totally covering all entry into the rain gutter. The lower portion is cut away in a triangular shape to give it strength while giving a free flow path for the water to the downspout as you can see in the first photo above. There are various sizes and shapes to match your gutters. When the roof is wet, debris stick to the top of the filter as they do all over the roof but when things dry off the debris blows off just as it does off the rest of the roof. With time the sun turns the top of the filter grey but it keeps on working, as evidenced by their lifetime warranty against clogs when it is installed correctly.

No, it is not available as a DIY item in the stores because part of what makes it work is being installed properly and the fellows at GutterFilter know that if there are already problems with the gutters themselves, their filter won't work either. So they specialize in gutter maintenance and installing their quality filters. Finally someone took up rain gutter maintenance as a trade! This is what I have on my house. www.GutterFilter.ca for Canada, www.AdamsEaves.com for Montreal and www.GutterFilter.com for the US.

Keywords: Downspouts, Leaves, Products, Rain Gutters, Roof, Water

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