In this episode of Beyond the Studs, Josh Gauwitz from Legacy Exteriors delves deep into the crucial role of gutters and gutter guards in protecting your home. Josh not only explains the why behind gutter guards, but also introduces us to Legacy Exteriors’ go-to gutter protection system, which we’ve sworn by for two decades.
This episode teaches us how weather and other factors affect the gutters’ ability to do their job over time, as well as how cutting-edge technology can help maintain clean gutters, prevent falls, and keep your home’s foundation dry.
Here’s Josh’s take on the subject…
Open-face gutters are designed to fail. Gutters must be completely free of debris and ice to capture all of the water that comes from off of your roof and allow it to flow freely through the downspout and away from your home. Anytime debris gets inside them, they cannot operate as they’re designed to – so why are they open at all?
Now, with that in mind, open-face gutters are installed in a lot of new subdivision homes. These homes tend to have new trees that haven’t yet matured. Eventually, these trees are going to grow over the house, and when that happens, they’re bound to drop debris. But the gutters weren’t initially designed with those trees in mind, were they? So, overall lots of factors end up impacting how these gutters operate.
No matter the time of year, or season, we must ensure the collected water gets away from your house. So it’s away from your foundation. Come winter, especially here in Madison WI, we’re used to getting ice, and lots of it. So we often wonder if the gutters are flowing at all. In most cases, they’re not. This is why gutter guards are vital in the colder months if you want to keep the weather outside.
At Legacy Exteriors, we swear by the Master Shield filtration system. This system is surgical-grade. We install it so that virtually all debris will be filtered out, and only water will enter the gutter. It’s a completely self-cleaning system, filter and all. You don’t have to clean the product and you don’t have to clean the gutters. It’s a get-it-and-forget-it product.
So, how does the technology behind Master Shield work?
Well, we are essentially adding another layer of shingles over your gutters. The leading factor that makes Master Shield an obvious choice for us is the self-cleaning filter. Other products on the market don’t have a built-in mechanism to self-clean their filter. Meaning you might have to clean what you just bought, overall defeating the purpose of staying off your roof, right?
The biggest thing that I see people asking when they first see the gutter is, “Oh geez. Of course that’s going to keep the debris out, but can water even get in?” We were asked that question so many times that we decided to show people how amazing this product really is. So, we have a running water display in our office with clear caps and a clear gutter. That allows prospective customers to see how the Master Shield gutter guard system actually works before investing in one for their home.
When people call us up to come check out their gutters, we don’t show up to just provide a temporary fix and leave until next season. We show up with a plan to fix the entire gutter system and fundamentally change the way it functions. The first thing we do is make sure that the gutter system is not only pitched properly but that it’s also in good condition because we don’t want to put a brand new system over a bad situation.
If you’d like to learn more about gutter systems and their impact on your home here in Madison WI, contact us now for a free consultation. We’re giving away free gutters and downspouts with the purchase of Master Shields.
Listen to the full episode here…
