Micro-Mesh vs Other Gutter Guards in Akron, OH

Screens are the cheapest guard on the shelf. On a one-story house a careful owner can fit them in an afternoon. They do stop whole leaves, and for some houses that is enough.

The openings are large, though. A maple seed lands whole, dries, and its papery wing crumbles through the grid. Needles go in point first. Light plastic screens also warp in summer sun and can pop loose under a load of wet snow. When the gutter below finally needs cleaning, the screens have to come off first.

Foam hides inside the gutter, so nothing shows from the street. Water is meant to soak through the block while leaves rest on top.

The trouble is that foam stays damp. Seeds that settle into it find a perfect place to sprout, and under maples you can end up with a row of seedlings along the eave. Roof grit fills the pores from above. After a few seasons the inserts are usually pulled out and thrown away.

A brush is a long bristle cylinder that lies in the trough. Big leaves sit on the bristle tips and water runs down between them. There is nothing to fasten, which is the appeal.

Small debris is the weakness again. Needles, seeds and the stringy tassels that oaks shed in May slide in among the bristles and stay there. Cleaning means lifting out each length and shaking it, from a ladder, which is the chore a guard was supposed to end.

Perforated panels are a real step up. They are metal, they last, and they shrug off whole leaves. On a newer roof with no conifers nearby they do a decent job for the money.

The punched holes are commonly about an eighth of an inch across. That is wide enough for shingle grit and the tips of needles. The flat metal between the holes also gives wet leaves something to stick to, and a soggy mat can form that rain runs across instead of through.

Here is where a cheaper guard is honestly fine. A low ranch in Ellet with a single yard maple, and an owner willing to lift a few panels now and then, does not need micro-mesh.

Micro-mesh is a woven stainless steel cloth stretched over a frame. The gaps in the weave are too fine for needles, seed fragments or grit to enter, so debris rests on the surface, dries out and moves off with wind and rain. Water clings to the wires and is drawn through.

The guard Guttrz fits is made by Leaf Solution. Its frame is aluminum with the maker's triple-dip finish. It mounts to the fascia, comes in white, black or mill, and is made for 5 inch and 6 inch gutters.

It has limits, and you should hear them from the installer.

• Pollen and seed fluff can leave a film on top. A rinse with a garden hose clears it.
• It costs more than every other type on this page.
• Below a steep valley, a cloudburst can send some water over the front of any guard.
• It will not stop ice dams, which begin with heat loss in the attic.
• It only works on gutters that are clean, well hung and pitched to drain.

That last point is why the cleaning and the hanger check are part of every gutter guard installation, not an extra.

Look at what actually comes down on an Akron roof. Oaks drop tassels in spring, acorns in early fall and leathery leaves well into November. Maples add winged seeds by the thousand. On a house that is seventy or a hundred years old, the shingles above shed grit with every hard rain.

Most of that list is small. Whole leaves are the easy part, and every guard handles them. The seeds, tassels, needles and grit are what separate one type from another, and only a fine mesh keeps all four out of the trough.

The city is adding to the supply. Its recent street-tree plantings named northern red oak, sugar maple and serviceberry, and the post on what Akron's street trees drop follows each one through the year. When you are ready to weigh the price difference, the gutter guard cost page shows how a micro-mesh quote is put together.