Gutter Covers: Leaf Guard review
Written by Patrick on August 26, 2008 – 11:05 pm -The gutters on my house are under a lot of trees. So they get clogged up all the time which causes the rain to overflow the gutters. I’m tired of going up on the roof to remove the leaves and pine needles from the gutter so I’m currently looking for one of the gutter cover products that are supposed to protect the gutters from leaves.
For some reason there many, many brands that all seem to be about the same. I checked out the websites of a few of the ones in the area such as Leaf Guard, Leaf Filter, and Gutter Helmet.
I contacted Leaf Guard and they came out to my house recently to give an estimate. The guy was nice enough and took all the necessary measurements. For some reason he wanted to give us a PowerPoint presentation on Leaf Guard. This was my first key that these guys are probably a rip-off, but I went ahead and watched the presentation. It was the usual stuff: Leaf Guard is the best and all the rest are terrible and worthless. After the waste of time presentation he gave me the quote and wanted me to buy it on the spot. That is the sure sign that these guys are a rip-off. The quote was for $5000, including a $700 buy right now discount. Of course I just told him I wasn’t going to buy today and he left. Now I know that these guys are just con artists trying to get a huge markup on people who don’t know much about gutters.
From what I hear from other people all of these gutter cover companies have huge markups like this. So I recommend avoiding all of them. I did hear about one product called Leaf Relief that is manufactured by the Alcoa corporation (a large, well know company). I figured Alcoa wouldn’t want to ruin their reputation on rip-offs so I found a couple of contractors on their website who could install the product. Both quotes were for about $2000, less than half the price of Leaf Guard which seems like a reasonable price. They could go even cheaper if you have existing gutters and just want to install the covers. So far Leaf Relief is the only legitimate gutter cover company I can find. If anyone knows of any others then please leave a comment about the company.
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September 24th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I’ve tried all the cheap gutter covers out there ranging from screens to plastic and metal toppers. It wasn’t untill I used LeafGuard that my problems were solved. Sure it’s 3 times the cost but they’re using 3 times the material (it was the only 1 piece design and it’s twice as thick as the cheap stuff) You DO get what you pay for. My neighbor across the street has the Gutter Helmet product and she’s had no problems. She spent 4 grand for the gutter helmet and it keeps her off the ladder. I’ll say it’s worth every penny and more.
October 10th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Alex, that’s great if you’re happy with the product that you have. I’m really happy with Leaf Relief that I have installed on my house. The metal covers of Leaf Relief just look stronger than Leaf Guard’s plastic material. I’ll gladly pay less than half the price for a product that works just as well if not better.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I have had leaf relief and leafguard. Both are great for keeping debris out of the gutter. However, I had a problem with the debris buildup on the leaf relief. I have oak trees and the spring blossoms do not blow off the guard as promised by Alcoa. Leafguard is practically maintenance free.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:16 am
I have Leaf Guard. I only have one complaint. We it snows and ices over, HUGE icicles form. Dangerous ones. When melting, my porch becomes pure thick ice. I invest a lot in salt. I never had this problems with regular gutters.