Gutter guards in Portland

The honest version

Guards reduce cleaning; they do not end it. The $30-a-foot system sold at the kitchen table is not four times better than a good $9-a-foot micro-mesh, and in Portland some of the expensive ones are actively worse. What matters is the debris your trees drop and how much shade the roof gets.

• Douglas fir drops needles year-round, heaviest after windstorms. Needles slide through any screen with a gap and lie flat on anything else. Fine stainless micro-mesh is the only guard that sheds them reliably.
• Bigleaf maple drops leaves the size of a dinner plate in October and November. Any guard stops those, even a cheap screen.
• Western red cedar sheds flat sprays of foliage that mat like wet paper. Micro-mesh handles them; screens clog.
• Sweetgum, oak and cherry street trees on the east side drop leaves, seed balls and blossoms in turn. A basic screen is fine.
• Moss is the Portland special. It grows on the guard itself in shade, especially reverse-curve guards on north-facing eaves. Leaf guard gutters Portland salesmen call maintenance-free still need a rinse or brush once a year.

Three types, three price points

Stainless micro-mesh (about $10–$20 per foot installed): a fine stainless weave over an aluminum support, fastened at the front lip and either slipped under the first shingle course or fascia-mounted on shake. It sheds fir needles and cedar sprays and does not overshoot in our rain. Our default under conifers.

Aluminum screen (about $5–$9 per foot): perforated panels that stop maple and oak leaves for a fraction of the price. Fine on an east-side lot with deciduous street trees. Not under fir — needles go straight through.

Reverse-curve (about $18–$30 per foot): a solid cover with a rounded nose that water is supposed to cling to on its way into a slot. In Portland drizzle it does; on a steep roof in an atmospheric-river downpour the water shoots past, and needles and moss collect on the nose. We will install it for a homeowner who wants it, but it is seldom what we would put on our own house.

How we install them

Guards only work if water gets into them, so the install matters as much as the product. Micro-mesh goes on at the roof pitch, screwed to the front lip every 12 inches so a snow slide off a cedar shake roof does not peel it off. On composition roofs we slip the back edge under the first course of shingles; on shake, tile and metal roofs we mount to the fascia. Outlets get a raised screen or nothing at all — a flat screen over a 2x3 outlet is the first thing to clog. Every guard install ends the same way our gutter installs do: a hose on the roof and a look at every downspout.

Gutter guards Portland-wide are also a cleaning-access decision. A guard that has to be unscrewed to clear a clog will not get cleared. We use systems that can be brushed from a ladder in a few minutes.

Guards on old gutters

Guards over a gutter that leaks, sags or has a 2-inch outlet just hide the problem under a lid, so we will not do it. The gutter gets fixed first, or the guards go on as part of a seamless replacement, which is where they are cheapest. On original half-round gutters, guard options are limited; talk to us before buying anything.

What to expect afterwards

Under Douglas fir, plan on a leaf-blower pass or a hose-off along the roofline once a year to clear needles from the top of the mesh. Under maple, one pass in December. Against two or three full cleanings a year, and the ladder time that goes with them, the guards earn their price back in three to five years. Read the fall leaf season post for the local drop calendar.