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What Gutter Cleaning/Filter System Do You Recommend?

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https://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/320601935/m/3970023174

June 16, 2020, 05:56 PM
fpuhan
What Gutter Cleaning/Filter System Do You Recommend?
My house is great! I bought it three years ago, and everything was upgraded. I did replace the roof a year ago as a preventative measure, as the house is 20 years old.

But now I'm finding I have some massive drainage problems when it rains. I've got a veritable downpour happening over the gutter in the front of the house, suggesting it needs a good cleaning.

So, once I get it cleaned, I figure I could use a leaf filter of some sort to prevent this from happening again.

Any ideas? There are companies that do this, but I know that Lowes and Home Depot offer solutions as well.

If you've gone this route, what did you use? How much did you pay and was it worth it?




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June 16, 2020, 06:31 PM
smschulz
Are you looking for a gutter guard system to keep stuff out of the gutter or a gutteritself>
If the former there have been a shitload of threads on this lately.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...550037344#7550037344

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...330029964#3330029964

Plus a few others..

Leaf Filter is what I use and a good DIY product is at Costco.

YMMV
June 16, 2020, 06:44 PM
doublesharp
I'm still liking my Costco system. Zero problems. Material cost me about $2 per foot and I installed by myself on a low roof ranch style house.


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June 16, 2020, 07:39 PM
Oz_Shadow
I think I have a related problem but more difficult. The underground drains the downspouts empty into seem to be full or something. Heavy rains result in pour over. No idea how to clean those.
June 16, 2020, 07:46 PM
ryan81986
quote:
Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
I think I have a related problem but more difficult. The underground drains the downspouts empty into seem to be full or something. Heavy rains result in pour over. No idea how to clean those.


What type of drain is it? Does it drain into the sewer or just into some gravel underground?




June 16, 2020, 09:21 PM
cas
quote:
Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
I think I have a related problem but more difficult. The underground drains the downspouts empty into seem to be full or something. Heavy rains result in pour over. No idea how to clean those.


That's not good. You can't "roto-root" them like a sewer pipe. When you have a blockage there, it's mostly water and a paper blockage which washes away. A gutter drain is full of shingle grit, sticks, leaves, decomposing leaves (basically young dirt lol) I tried it once years ago for a customer, they had orangeburg pipe going to a dry well. The cable hit the blockage, turned, cut through the side of the pipe and bored through several feet of dirt, coming up out of the ground behind me and scaring the ever loving shit out of me! Big Grin


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June 16, 2020, 09:25 PM
ZSMICHAEL
^^^^^^^^^^
Ok if that is what it is do you blast high pressure water to clear it???
June 17, 2020, 08:03 AM
Jimbo Jones
I had the same problem back in TX. The pool overflow drain, patio drain and the downspout drain were all connected into a single 4" pipe underground and the system was blocked after the point where they came together. Every time a heavy rain would hit, a bunch of crap would backup into my pool from the through the drain and the patio would flood and overflow into the pool, and Id have to shock the pool and clean it extensively.

Total PITA.

Paid $700 to have it jet washed from the street side where the drain line emerged from the curb but it fixed the problem.

quote:
Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
I think I have a related problem but more difficult. The underground drains the downspouts empty into seem to be full or something. Heavy rains result in pour over. No idea how to clean those.



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It's like my brain's a tree and you're those little cookie elves.
June 17, 2020, 10:52 AM
Oz_Shadow
To the OP, I highly recommend some form of filter/leaf trap. I wish I had installed something 10 years ago. Every time I have cleaned the gutters, I have used a "Big Shot" nozzle on the garden hose while on a ladder. Some were so bad I had to use a potting shovel to scoop out roof gravel, leaves and general black goop. I tried the pressure washer U shaped adapter but I do not recommend it. Hard to control and makes a massive mess all over everything, including the person holding it.

I hope you avoid my problem. My drains are just black corrugated pipe that go underground - no exit - likely just gravel and sand. All the years of stuff that I wish had been caught by a filter made its way down in those drains. a roto-rooter device may help me, but you really want to avoid this.
June 17, 2020, 11:07 AM
Georgeair
To OP (or others) - another thing to look at on a home new to you or instance like this where the gutters may have been taken down in sections is the design of the soffit.

We started having issues like this in a couple spots pretty much regardless of how well we kept gutters cleaned. Come to find out that the soffit on house are angled back at ~45 degrees as a "design feature" rather than being plumb. Gutter design relies on that plumb backing as a large part of support when they are full of water. There are apparently specialized brackets you can use when mounting on this angled design but in some places that wasn't done. Working through remedies on that now, but it made perfect sense once pointed out why they were essentially leaning over in places.



You only have integrity once. - imprezaguy02

June 17, 2020, 11:15 AM
Oz_Shadow
One more note to the OP -

If you have drains on the downspouts, disconnect them before cleaning.

Keep the crap from making it into them.