Gutter guards and covers are designed to minimize or eliminate the need for regularly cleaning and maintaining gutters. Many different types of gutter guards are made. Here we look at a relatively sophisticated group: solid-top reverse-curve gutter covers. (For more about other types of gutter guards, see Gutter Leaf Guards, Screens & Filters.)

This type of gutter system typically has a solid cover that tucks up under the shingles along its top edge and clips or fastens to the gutter’s outer lip along its lower edge. Most have a “reverse curve” nosing that rolls back into the gutter.

When water pours down the roof, it crosses the top of the cover, clings to the nosing through “surface adhesion,” and then flows into the gutter. Water may enter the gutter through a long slot or perforations under the nosing. Leaves and debris float across the surface but separate from the flow at the slot or perforations and fall to the ground.

As a group, solid gutter covers are quite effective—and very pricey.

When comparing brands, you’ll find that manufacturers hype their own benefits but avoid mentioning issues that potential customers might not be aware of. Though the various available brands are similar in appearance and design, they can vary dramatically in several ways.

Here, we tell you what any gutter guard should do:

1) Keep debris out of the gutters

2) Capture and control rainwater at the roof

3) Be affordable to install and without compromising the roof

4) Be easy to maintain

5) Be a good investment

If a gutter guard doesn’t do all of these, it may not be a smart choice.

Following is a closer look at how, as a group, solid-top gutter guards perform at these issues.

Keeping Debris Out of Gutters

With the majority of solid-top gutter-cover designs, a small amount of leaves and debris may be carried by the water back into the gutter. This may or may not be a problem, depending upon the size of the debris that makes it into the gutter and how easily the gutters and downspouts flush the debris out during a heavy rain.

Some products have troughs with perforations that let in some of the water and filter out debris. Types with more perforations in the top surface may let in more debris than ones that have perforations on the vertical front edge, such as the Waterloov product. And, of course, the size of the perforations will determine the size of the debris that can enter the gutter.

Controlling Rain Runoff

Theoretically, a solid, completely sealed gutter cover would never fill up with leaves and debris—but it would be useless because water would just pass over the top as if there were no gutter at all. A gutter with a solid cover has a special challenge: capturing water while filtering debris.

How effectively a gutter guard captures rainwater (and filters debris) is a result of its design, from the radius of the nosing to the size of the slot or perforations that admit water. Its performance is affected by the roof’s material and slope and the weather conditions. Most solid-top gutter covers are great at rejecting leaves but marginal at preventing runoff overshoot in a major downpour.

Metal roofs or steeply pitched roofs don’t always work well with solid, surface-adhesion gutter guards—particularly during heavy rains—because the water can spill down the roof too quickly and overshoot the gutters. At roof valleys, overshoot can be a big problem, too, so most systems employ a special barrier/collector at those spots.

These gutter covers can also be seriously problematic when it comes to snow and ice. Solid gutter guards are infamous for producing massive icicles. And snow buildup along roof edges can break away from the aluminum covers when the weather warms. If you live in a region where this may be a problem, be sure to investigate how the particular system you’re considering performs in snowy conditions.

Affordability

Most solid-top gutter guards are pricey—typically from $20 to $30 per lineal foot when professionally installed—and most must be installed by pros.

When considering a particular type of gutter guard, ask the salesperson for the names and phone numbers of satisfied customers who have roofs and conditions similar to yours. This type of reference is important because a particular gutter guard may not perform the same on differing types of roofs or in differing climates or conditions (many overhanging trees vs. no trees, for example). Then make a couple of calls to the references to discuss whether or not they are happy with the product and if they have any concerns.

Photos courtesy: GuttaGard (top), Waterloov® (center), Free-Flow (bottom)