Comparing Leafguard to Micro Mesh Gutter Guards

One of the most publicized forms of rain gutter clog protection are Micro Mesh filters. The idea is an attempt to keep leaves, debris, and pine needles, from entering the gutter while hopefully still allowing the rainwater to filter through into the gutter.

Micro mesh gutter guards act like filters. Eventually, any filter will clog. As rainwater passes through the micro mesh, debris and dirt become deposited in large sticky volumes on the top of the gutter mesh. All filters require maintenance. With air conditioners and furnaces, vacuum cleaners, automobile air and gas filters, if you don’t clean or replace the filter, you will experience malfunctions and failures. The same thing happens with micro mesh gutter guards.

Benefits of Leafguard’s Gutter System

With a Leafguard® gutter system, you won’t experience any of these issues. Leafguard’s proprietary one-piece system is designed to keep leaves, pine needles, fir needles, and other debris out of your gutters. This is covered under our lifetime clog-free guarantee*, so you don’t have to worry about the hassle of clogged gutters again.

Standard gutters are not well designed. They are weak, thin, prone to bending, sagging, dents, leaking, and…clogging. Imagine placing a mesh that requires regular maintenance on top of an already-problematic gutter.

Leafguard gutters are made from aluminum 20% thicker than the industry standard and downspouts 30% larger than our competitors. The gutters are supported every two feet (twice the industry standard), ensuring protection against the harshest of weather conditions. Leafguard works on all roof pitches and types. Unlike many micro mesh gutter filters, Leafguard is mounted away from your roof shingles, so there is no chance of damage to your roof and no worries about voiding any roof warranties.

With over 650,000 ladder-related injuries happening each year, Leafguard simplifies your life by eliminating the need to clean your gutters and/or gutter (or leaf) filters. That’s why with Leafguard, you can get it and forget it.

The Catch with Micro Mesh Gutter Guards

Micro mesh systems advertise, “Don’t get on that ladder! It’s not safe!” However, if you read their reviews, homeowners will become very angry. They spend thousands of dollars on a micro mesh leaf filter, only to learn that they must break out the ladder anyway to clean off the top of the gutter screen one, two, or three times a year. So much for the warning not to get on that ladder for gutter cleaning.

Micro mesh gutter guards were created with tiny openings that make a very fine mesh or tight screen to keep tiny debris from entering the gutter. Unfortunately, if you try to keep the tiny debris out of your gutter, you will end up keeping water out of the gutter, too, especially the fast-moving rainwater during heavy downpours.

The most advertised gutter guards are micro mesh gutter filters. Some claim to fit snug on the gutter, while others sit on top of the gutter and extend under your roof shingles. These types of filters are two pieces that are added to the existing gutter. And if your gutters already have issues like dents, separated seams, or improper slope, those issues won’t change. These ads attempt to convince people that minor differences in products can save more time and money by eliminating maintenance. The problem with this type of gutter filter is that you cannot eliminate all maintenance which will likely cause you more frustration.

Why Micro Mesh Needs a Gutter Guard Brush

A major micro mesh manufacturer offers a free gutter guard brush with purchase. This brush is provided so that the homeowner can spend hours scrubbing the leaves, sap, mold, algae, moss, lichens, dirt, and pollen out of the filter. These leaf filter companies are often boasting of being the best gutter guard company and that you will never have to clean your gutters again. However, they simultaneously provide you with a cleaning device to clean off the top of the gutter micro screen. Really? The fact that the manufacturer is willing to provide you with a free gutter guard cleaning brush says that the homeowner will need to use the brush. The ads say, “don’t climb that ladder.” But still have to climb that ladder once, twice, or three times a year to clean and maintain them! The commercials carefully avoid addressing this critical point.

This is why the manufacturer would provide a gutter guard brush so that the building owner is aware of the looming future gutter guard cleaning and can perform the gutter guard cleaning. Depending on the season, the trees, wind patterns, and other maintenance factors can still be necessary for the first month or two after gutter filter installation, which would be frustrating for anyone still feeling the pain of the contractor installed cost.

The fact that a gutter filter company offers a tool to clean off the top of the gutter device leads one to expect gutter flow problems that will require gutter guard cleaning to restore the gutter’s flow performance.

You can choose a micro mesh gutter filter and climb the ladder to clean it on a regular basis, or you can choose LeafGuard and never have to worry about cleaning your gutters again. Leafguard Get it. And forget It.