Linda from North Carolina who’s calling in with a gutter question. What can we do for you?
LINDA: I have gutters on my house right now but I want to switch them out because I think I need seamless gutters. So, my question is, what is the best type of gutters to get? Because I have a lot of pine trees in the yard, so my gutters right now are filling up with pine.
TOM: Your question is not so much what kind of gutters to get but what kind of gutter guard to get.
LINDA: OK.
TOM: And the gutter guards that I like better than any others are the ones that have a micro-mesh surface to them.
LESLIE: A micro-mesh.
TOM: Yeah, it’s a very, very fine screening material.
LESLIE: Almost like a screen on the top?
TOM: And it really stops everything from sticking not only to the mesh itself but certainly stop stuff from getting in. And then my second-favorite kind are the types that have sort of a louvered surface where they work on the surface tension of water, sort of hugging them and then rolling over them.
The only problems with the ones that rely on surface tension is that if you have a really steep roof and you get a big flow of water, that water can sort of wash right over the edge and down.
LESLIE: Just going to run right off.
TOM: But the gutter guards that have a micro-mesh, very, very effective.
LINDA: OK.
LESLIE: The only – my only concern there would be having a pine tree in the yard and knowing the tremendous amount of sap they do like to give off would be, you know, an issue with the sap sort of clogging up that mesh. It might be something you just want to ask the manufacturer, to ensure that that sap isn’t going to be harmful to it.
LINDA: Right. Well, just a follow-up question: does the house really need gutters?
LESLIE: Yes.
TOM: Yes. Absolutely, Linda, and here’s why. That gutter system is going to control the water around the foundation. You don’t want the water to get too close to the house. It can undermine the foundation; it can flood a crawlspace or a basement. If it gets cold enough, it can freeze and be dangerous; cause slippery sidewalks. It can cause your foundation to shift and move.
So a gutter is actually an important part of the structure of the house, believe it or not.
LINDA: OK. Well why do I see some without them?
TOM: Well, because some folks just don’t want to put them on. I mean if your soil is really, really sandy, you might be able to get away with it but for the most part, we think gutters are very, very important.
Why don’t you head on over to our website at MoneyPit.com? I actually wrote an article about all the reasons that you should have gutters. It’s online at MoneyPit.com.
LINDA: OK, I sure will.
TOM: There’s also several articles there about gutter guards, too.
LINDA: OK. Thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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