O.K. now, we looked at a lot of negatives from the outset of this, all the why nots. Let’s look on the positive side and consider 3 explanations why you might like to use gutter guards.

Firstly, for the positive side, allow me to point out that using gutter guards will protect your home’s basement from water and damage. O.K., I hear your objection, that a gutter protection system has a bit of a cost to it. It’s really a valid objection, I agree. However, let me provide for your attention the point that it is far less expensive than waterproofing your entire basement, that cost usually runs into the many thousands of dollars .

Second, you should think that overflowing water can damage your homes fascia. Likewise, your home’s landscaping. As well as, it can damage the wood siding that it comes into contact with.

Third and lastly, you will get to stay off your ladder. And that’s going to imply that it will keep you safe and protect you from falls from a ladder. Furthermore, you will have piece of mind knowing that your home is protected with a good quality gutter guard.

Within all of the above info lies a very good group of reasons in favor of the use gutter protection. What’s your opinion?

Think this through seriously for just a moment. Maybe you actually should use gutter guards it seems like it is the best and smartest choice for your home and piece of mind.

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Installers… Increase your revenue and profits DOING WHAT YOU ARE ALREADY DOING!

You install gutters and downspouts every day. Lots of them. But you are not making as much profit as you could. That’s because your downspouts are the same as all other installers. They provide no special benefit and, in fact, can cause expensive and even dangerous problems.

Eliminate expensive and dangerous rain gutter problems Now you can actually solve problems for your customers and significantly increase your profit on every job. Simply install a downspout that provides your customers with solutions and benefits they want.

Don’t let your homeowners go into “Gutter Denial.” When homeowners (your customers) think their gutters are clogged they do one of two things:

(1) Nothing… They ignore the problem and it will cost them in the future, or

(2) They get out the ladder, raise it to the outlet area where the gutter meets the downspout and clean that area of the clogging. If they are conscientious they clean out the elbows while they are up there (even more time consuming, dirty and very dangerous). If they are really conscientious they clean the rest of the gutter.

They ALWAYS PLACE THE LADDER AT THE OUTLET FIRST. They do this instinctively because they know that if this critical area in the gutter is clean and unclogged, water will flow out of the gutter. They’re right, it will.

So here is where you, The SpoutOff and additional profits come in…

Install The SpoutOff, www.thespoutoff.com, on all your customers’ gutters and downspouts. Now your customer can CLEAN ALL THEIR OUTLETS WITHOUT A LADDER FROM THE SAFETY OF THE GROUND, NO TOOLS NEEDED. The ability to do this is extremely valuable to your customers because they now know FOR SURE that water will flow out of their gutters and away from their house. And they are happy to pay you to install this benefit.

The SpoutOff is simply a well designed and engineered outlet and support system for all gutters and downspouts, basically 4 simple parts. It takes no more time to install a SpoutOff than whatever outlets and straps you are installing now. The SpoutOff parts are your only additional cost. So, any amount you charge over your cost for The SpoutOff is new, extra profit to you.

Bonus — A completely new market for you, because The SpoutOff can be retrofitted onto present gutters and downspouts. This gives you a completely new market that did not previously exist. This is very similar to the market that was created by retrofitting covers onto gutters… and very profitable.

The SpoutOff actually helps you sell more covers and increases your sales…

Speaking of covers, if you sell covers but lose some sales because (1) the homeowner cannot afford them or (2) the homeowner does not believe they work, we have very good news for you.

If a potential customer simply cannot afford covers, sell them The SpoutOff. The SpoutOff is much less expensive and The SpoutOff makes sense. Your customer can now easily, quickly and safely check to make sure that that their outlets are not clogged. The SpoutOff is not only affordable, it makes good sense to your customers. Never walk away without a value-added sale.

If you can’t sell covers because your customer is skeptical that your covers will keep all debris out, sell them The SpoutOff WITH the covers. Now they can check all their outlets. When they see their outlets are not clogged, they will know their covers are working. And you increased your profit.

The main reason you will significantly increase your profit on every job is that your customers will be happy to invest in the extremely valuable benefits The SpoutOff provides.

These are benefits – safety, ease of use, peace of mind, time-saving – they presently do not have, but desperately want and actually need… you are doing them a favor installing The SpoutOff!

Another reason you will make more money is that you can retrofit The SpoutOff to presently installed gutters. All presently installed rain gutters are a completely new market for you! These profitable jobs with tremendous benefits to homeowners simply did not exist before The SpoutOff. The SpoutOff has actually created an entirely new market for you.

And finally, you can save a cover sale and increase your revenue and profit by adding The SpoutOff to all your cover sales. Again, if for whatever reason your customer cannot or will not buy covers, sell them The SpoutOff… do

Be SURE rain water flows away from your home.  The job of your rain gutters is to move rain water away from your house to avoid dangerous and expensive water damage. A clean, clear outlet ensures this will happen. So if avoiding water damage to your home by moving rain water away from your house makes good sense to you… install The SpoutOff today.

You’ll be glad you did because . . . If you think your gutters are clogged and you are a conscientious homeowner, here’s the drill without The SpoutOff: You get out the ladder, you hoist it up to the outlet where the gutter meets the downspout, you look in, you grab the muck and you throw the muck to the ground… YUK!! Then you climb down the ladder and do it again and again and again at every outlet… NOT FUN!

But now all your outlets can be kept clean and flowing WITHOUT A LADDER, WITHOUT WASTING LOTS OF TIME AND WITHOUT THE DANGER OF CLIMBING… Just install The SpoutOff! Simple & Safe is ALWAYS better. 

The SpoutOff is 4 simple parts installed onto your pesent gutters and downspouts. The SpoutOff enables you to take your 1, 2 even 3-story downspouts off your house and clean the outlets out DOWN ON THE GROUND! No tools needed.

FACT: Keep your outlets clean and water will ALWAYS flow out of your gutters, even if there is debris in the rest of the gutter. The SpoutOff can be installed with new rain gutter systems or The SpoutOff can be retrofitted onto present gutters and downspouts that are in good condition.

The important thing is that when it rains that rain water must be able to flow out of your gutters. A clean outlet ensures that the water flows out of your gutter and away from your house, even if there is debris in the rest of the gutter! Conversely, if the outlet is clogged and there is no debris in the rest of the gutter, water will never flow out of that gutter.

True time-saver (and because it is easy, you will do it). Want to save time? It takes less than 1 minute to check and clean a SpoutOff outlet. Take your downspout off, clean the SpoutOff outlet (down on the ground), put your downspout back up… 46 seconds! Ensure all your gutters are flowing properly in 5 to 10 minutes, all from the safety of the ground. WOW!

And just so you know, a 1-story SpoutOff downspout only weighs about 3 pounds, 2-story about 6 pounds and 3-story about 9 pounds.

Covers on your gutters? If you have GOOD covers on your gutters they do keep most (not all) debris out. So the only area in your covered gutters you need to be concerned about is the OUTLET. Install The SpoutOff WITH your covers and you can check your outlets whenever you want. Now you have “the best of both worlds.”

No trees within 6 miles of your home? If you don’t have any trees around your home, then the only area in your gutters you need to be concerned about is the OUTLET. Install The SpoutOff on your gutters and that tennis ball will be easy to remove and it will never clog your OUTLET again.                                                                         End

I’ve cleaned out hundreds, if not thousands, of gutters on different homes, seen lots of different kinds of guards.

None fully stop the leaves from getting in. They still get in and you still have to clean out the gutters, one way or the other. Screens/guards add more labor to the cleanout. If you select one of the designs below, you might simply have a lower amount of cleanouts needed.

But to answer your question, some of the better choices come down to two basic designs:

1) a sunken metal cover for the top of the gutter which has small perforated holes in it.

2) a louvred plastic cover with 4-6 slats tightly configured.

These two designs let the fewest leaves in (and other debris such as nuts, twigs, seeds).

Design #1 does the best job of keeping things out of the gutter, but the sunken design still catches debris and you have to still get up there and clean off the top of guard, because the slightly sunken-in design will hold debris on top.

Design #2 allows a little more in than the first, but rarely collects anything on top. This design is usually snapped on, can sometimes blow off more often than the first design. Being plastic, it isn’t quite as durable as design #1.

The downside of both these designs is that they sometime do a poor job of water collection during extremely heavy downpours as compared to screen-type designs and designs with larger openings. (Meaning water simply flows right past and off the roof.)

I would NEVER invest in screen-type guards — they aren’t very durable or effective, compared to the two designs above, if you are looking at reducing cleanouts.

One of my contractors that I do work for does like one type of screen in certain situations — screens that are secured to the outside of the gutter and can be easily flipped back out of the way (to allow for cleanout still). This type can reduce clogging issues. I personally don’t care for them because they often get damaged or blow off.

Often I recommend that trees get cut down, moved, or changed to a larger leaf type. A more permanent solution, but not always practical.

Keep in mind that whatever design you pick, you have to take into consideration the type of trees around your home or building. If there are a lot of trees with small leaves or seeds, or pine needles, skip the guards and screens altogether and just do annual or semi-annual cleanouts, you’ll save money. Also keep in mind how many HEAVY downpours you get in your area and how this will interact with the guard design and your ground around the house. And keep in mind what kind of goal you are trying to reach by adding guards. (What is more important — reduced personal expenditures, reduced personal labor, reduced clogging, etc.)