In the insurance industry we love hearing from our homeowners what “fix ups” work around their house and what doesn’t. We feel it is important to pass along to all of our clients. Some of these are VERY expensive in time and cost. Currently the one we have heard about most often are gutter systems.
If our gutters are working properly and well, we shouldn’t even have a conversation about them. They should just…….work. Remove the water from our roofs to a location where it can do no damage: our lawn, garden or rain barrel. If the gutters are working properly, the water should do no damage to the house between the roof and the yard/garden/barrel. Sadly, with the systems available and being HEAVILY marketed today, that is not always the case.
The system we hear of most often in a negative way is the one that only allows water in through its micro-filtration holes. There is a great web site: The Gutter Club. Taking into account the time and expense of trying to maintain your house with a new gutter system, The Gutter Club can help in your due diligence. See this link:
http://www.thegutterclub.com/index.php/2010/09/16/brilliant-leaffilter-review-video/”>
This was the experience of one of our clients. It’s not that the system didn’t work (the gutters absolutely did not clog), it didn’t work because the debris coming down the roof didn’t go anywhere. It stayed right on top, creating a nice shelf and, eventually, not even letting water get through to the micro-filtration cover. So the system absolutely does what it says it will do: create a clog free gutter. But the function, at least with the trees around our clients’ house, was faulty and eventually damaging to her house. Be advised as well, because the gutter never clogged, the company says it did what it was supposed to do and offered no help to my client. For her, the “system” is not a system at all but a shelf for her yard debris that needs to be cleaned off once or twice a year. Not good.