We’ve even seen foliage growing out of gutters!

By Phil Callen

April showers may bring May flowers, but they can also bring expensive spring home improvement project repairs if your roof and gutters aren’t ready.  Spring is a great time to inspect your gutters to make sure they are free flowing to avoid any maintenance problems when Mother Nature brings the inevitable spring storms.

And it’s also a great time to invest in a gutter protection product that can end one of the messiest and dangerous jobs around the house: climbing ladders to clean your gutters.

Clogged gutters are more than just a nuisance.  Over time, the weight of leaves, water, and other debris can cause gutters to sag and pull away from your home.  Investing in a quality gutter protection system from a professional installer like Callen can prevent greater damage to your home caused by leaking gutters or rotting eaves.

Callen has been pleased to install Gutter Topper on thousands of homes throughout southeastern Wisconsin since 2001.  With its patented design, Gutter Topper is the most effective and efficient system available, having been independently tested to…

• resist winds of up to 110 mph.
• handle downpours of up to 22 inches per hour or 528 inches per day.
• withstand weights of up to 1,200 lbs. per square foot.

Gutter Topper offers a smooth silhouette that enhances your roofline, plus it’s available in a wide range of colors to blend with shingle and gutter colors.  In addition, Gutter Topper offers an effective steep roof water valley diverter.  This unique design handles the increased flow of water that travels down a roof valley, spreading that water over a wider area so that it flows into the gutter instead of flowing over the roof.

The Gutter Topper protection system also provides a Lifetime Guarantee that is transferable to new owners if you decide to sell your home.

As part of installing a gutter protection solution to solve your gutter clog problems, a Callen professional also can do a full inspection to make sure your gutter support brackets and hangers are not deformed, broken, or disconnected at any of the joints.

Some DIY Gutter Products Cause New Problems

Every year, we are surprised by the ineffective DIY products that consumers spend money on to end gutter clog problems, with many of the products actually causing bigger headaches down the road.

We have seen homeowners install gutter protection that sink into the gutters because they are not sturdy enough to stand up to debris that can collect in gutters.  Gutter foam products quickly become saturated and clogged with debris, and the weight build up can actually cause gutters to pull away from the fascia board.

The newest trend in gutter protection is micro mesh filters, which sit on top of the gutters.  The concept is that water flows through the micro holes in the product while all debris is kept out.  But like all filters, micro-mesh needs to be cleaned regularly to perform properly.  And no matter how “micro” the holes are, if the product is covered by debris, water can’t flow into the holes.

So where does the water go?  It goes over the gutter, which means you have replaced a gutter clog with a waterfall that can drown your landscaping, and even worse, cause harm to your home’s foundation that could possibly lead to basement leaks, and even more problems.

There simply is no one-size-fits-all solution to clogged gutters.  You need a Callen expert to analyze your situation and recommend the solution to address the issue.

Before you make that dangerous spring climb up your ladder and install the latest fad product, ask yourself if you’re really ending the gutter clog problems or setting yourself up for a more expensive repair down the road.  Make the right decision – and investment – and call Callen to have Gutter Topper installed on your home and eliminate gutter cleaning forever…Guaranteed!