Gutter Guards Prevent Fires From Starting In Gutters Ask The Engineer

Submitted by: Richard Kuhns

Gutter covers and gutter guards properly designed can keep your home from catching fire. A sweeping forest fire can blow embers right into your gutter and light accumulated leaves and twigs which can destroy your home.

Gutter guards or gutter covers are reqiured is some areas of the country to prevent embers from nearby forest fires starting a fire in the gutter. Unfortunately not every gutter guard or gutter protector can do this. The leaf guards have to be of the right materials of construction and design in order to be effective. protectors.

Avoid vinyl as a material of construction. Vinyl can easily melt and might burn. The correct materials of construction are aluminum, steel, or stainless steel. However, the only gutter covers made of steel and stainless steel are screening devices which because of their design are not a candidate for preventing fires from starting–more later.

Aluminum is a construction material that is resistant to fire. Next it’s important to look at the design.

Every product that has its openings for capturing water in a flat horizontal surface is automatically insufficient for preventing fires from starting. Why? The answer is that with basic screens debris accumulates on top of the screen, dries, and is easily lit afire.

The micro mesh screens with stainless steel likewise accumulate debris and moss on top which dries and can easily be lit.

Then there are gutter inserts which likewise for two reasons are not candidates to prevent fires. First, debris accumulates on top of them and secondly they are made of plastic which can easily melt and light any accumulated debris.

From an engineering point of view the best design is a product with a flat smooth top that is sloped away from the roof. It’s also important that the surface be absolutely flat without any ridges that could trap debris.

The flat sloped surface makes it easy for tree debris to roll away or be blown away from the roof and onto the ground.

Several gutter guards meet this criteria and cost wise they are all within a few dollars per foot of each other–none are cheap. So it’s important to make sure you choosing the right gutter guard, other wise the leaf guard could be a waste of money and cost you your home in a fire.

Tus tather than choosing any solid top system that is sloped away from the roof, it makes sense to choose one that will keep debris from clogging the gutter and equally important one that can be easily maintained from the ground without having to rely on the installing company.

There are three basic designs to consider:

1. Single longitudinal fin.

2. Single longitudinal fin with a trough.

3. Vertically louvered systems with one or more rows of louvers.

Unfortunatley in heavy debris conditions both the single longitudinal fin and the longitudinal fin with trough can easily pass enough debris to clog the gutter inside requiring servicing by the installing company.

The vertically louvered system is far better at eliminating this problem. There are two designs of vertically louvered systems–a double row and a single row system. The double row louvered system is the best performing system of the two. This is because there are no openings that can allow any debris to wash into the gutter. Both rows of louvers are located in the front most vertical section of the leaf guard or gutter guard.

One other consideration is that, in heavy debris conditions, the openings allowing the water to pass into the gutter from all gutter covers and gutter protectors will clog.

With the either of the longitudinal fin types, cleaning the openings is very difficult and requires servicing from the installing company–someone to go up a ladder and pressure hose the openings.

The good news is that with the double row louvered system, the openings can be easily cleaned from the ground by the homeowner using a telescopic pole and brush that is long enough to reach the third floor of some homes. It is the best gutter guard with respect to design and effectiveness.

The manufacturer of this product calls it “suit and tie” maintenance because it’s not a dirty job but could literally be done dressed in a suit and tie.

In conclusion the double row louvered system is the best gutter covers to keep forest fires from starting in your gutters, keep your gutters from ever clogging and be easily serviced from the ground without depending on the installing company to do the servicing.

About the Author: To find out more about advanced gutter protection–self cleaning gutters (designed by an engineer) that protect against forest fires–please visit

waterloov.com

Source:

isnare.com

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