Has anyone tried Gutter Helmet? Does it work? Are there other brands of gutter covers I should consider?
I have a finished basement that is my pride and joy. Unfortunately, in one back room, I’m getting a bit of water coming into the house. I’m blaming my gutters, which clog regularly regardless of the season, and pour over the edge near the house, causing heavy puddling, which I’m guessing is somehow leaking into my basement.
I live in the country, and my home is surrounded by a lot of woods and my yard has quite a few large mature white pines, oaks, elms, and maple trees, which wreak havoc on my gutters. Any advice would be helpful.
i think that you can do better with the better quality screens that are available. since you have the maple seeds and pine needles, they would follow the water in. call a local roofing supply house and ask what they carry for your conditions (trees that you have), and if you can buy directly from them. i am not talking about that cheap plastic stuff from home depot, i have seen some with stainless steel screens that tuck under the bottom row of shingles and locks into the front of the gutter. they are so tight that the loose sand on the shingles won’t get in. and consider extending the downspouts out further into the yard, and pitching the soil from the foundation out about ten feet. i saw one of the this old house shows where they put in gutter helmet gutters. they threw some leaves on the roof, then ran a garden hose on it to simulate rain. i laughed my butt off as i watched several leaves run right down the roof and into the gutter!!!! plus they are very pricey. good luck.
I don’t haave it myself, hoiwever I have several clients that have had it installed and it has exceeded the expectations of each of them. I have seen the installed system and must say that the system is extremely efficient and it is easy to see that leaves and debris cannot enter the gutter. I don’t know that there are other option or similar systems however if you do a search online you should be able to determine that. It is good investment for your home BUT!!!!
As far as the water getting into your basement I would urge you to look at the wall as a source that is allowing water to get in rather than the gutter causing water to get in. Generally ground water will get in through a weak point in the foundation. You should be able to get the wall repaired from the interior using a urethane grout or an epoxy resin to seal cracks if that is found to be the cause. If it is failure of teh exterior waterproofing you might have to excavate and reapply. The option would be to use a hydrolic cement and apply it to the interior Xypex. Look on line for details. Xypex.com
References :
Historic preservation and renovation
i think that you can do better with the better quality screens that are available. since you have the maple seeds and pine needles, they would follow the water in. call a local roofing supply house and ask what they carry for your conditions (trees that you have), and if you can buy directly from them. i am not talking about that cheap plastic stuff from home depot, i have seen some with stainless steel screens that tuck under the bottom row of shingles and locks into the front of the gutter. they are so tight that the loose sand on the shingles won’t get in. and consider extending the downspouts out further into the yard, and pitching the soil from the foundation out about ten feet. i saw one of the this old house shows where they put in gutter helmet gutters. they threw some leaves on the roof, then ran a garden hose on it to simulate rain. i laughed my butt off as i watched several leaves run right down the roof and into the gutter!!!! plus they are very pricey. good luck.
References :
siding and roofing contractor.
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