When it comes to installing gutter guards on your home or business property, you've got a few options. Sure, you can always try to install the gutter guard yourself, but this can be quite dangerous. Many people will ask the neighbourhood handyman or just hire a random contractor. But for the best quality finish, we recommend using a professional company that specialises in gutter guard installation.
Doing it yourself or having a non-professional handyman take on the task can sometimes work out to be cheaper upfront. But you'd be surprised at some of the stories we've seen of the downsides of going that route and how much more it may end up costing you in the long run.
In this article we show an interesting case study of what went wrong when a builder used non-professionals to install gutter protection.
What are the benefits of getting gutter guards professionally installed?
As with most services, there are several benefits to having your gutter protection professionally installed.
Save time and effort
Installing gutter guards is tough work (this is particularly true with screwed down systems). It really takes a lot of time, energy and skill to correctly install quality gutter protection on a building. Trying to do the hard work yourself is going to take a long time, especially when you take into account the time needed to research the best methods of installation and pick up the required tools and materials. When you hire a pro, you can enjoy your weekend while they work.
Safety
This is such a big point of concern when we hear about people installing their own gutter guards. Climbing up onto a ladder to reach the height of a roof is dangerous at the best of times. Now, take into account the fact that you're using intricate tools and concentrating on the task at hand and the situation gets a whole lot more precarious. Professionals are trained in the best practices and process when it comes to health and safety matters. Why risk it?
Save money in the long run
You may be thinking that hiring a non-professional or installing gutter protection yourself can save you money. Sure, it may be cheaper upfront sometimes, but if you stick around to the end of this article, we'll show you just how bad some gutter guards may end up when you rely on untrained, unskilled people to carry out your gutter guard installation. If that happens, you're just going to have to hire a pro to fix the shoddy work anyway. Paying what might be a slightly higher fee to begin with, can save you a lot of money down the track.
Peace of mind
When you need gutter guards installed, you're doing it for a reason. You have a purpose to fulfil, and that purpose is to keep your gutters clean and clear and make your property a safer place to live, work, or just be around in general. DIY jobs or installations carried out by untrained ‘professionals’ can actually cause more harm than good. If you're relying on a gutter guard system to do its job, you should be able to trust that it's working properly. Hiring a professionally trained installer means you can rest assured that the installation was carried out correctly to the highest quality, so you can get on with your life and not have to worry about your gutters overflowing and causing damage.
What can happen if you don't use professionals for the job?
Well, we promised we'd show you a worst-case scenario for unprofessional gutter guard installation, so here you go!
Caption: A piece of 250mm mesh that was incorrectly installed by a 1st year plumbing apprentice who was working unsupervised. Large objects will easily be able to slide under the mesh into the box gutter.
This 250mm mesh was installed on a box gutter by a plumbing company, which was subcontracted by a builder. As you can see, it's a complete disaster There are two main issues with this installation.
1. The mesh used is a lighter grade type of mesh that we actually refuse to use anymore. After testing it out, we found that it was way too flimsy to last on any home (you can see this is proven by the splitting and caving in of the mesh in the images).
2. No special cuts or saddle clips were included in the installation process. This resulted in large gaps between the mesh and the roof. Sure, it may stop a tennis ball from entering the guttering system. But golf balls, sticks and leaves and other smaller pieces of damaging debris are easily able to fit through that space.
Various tradies onsite were pointing the finger at each other, but after some research, we discovered that this installation was carried out by a first-year plumbing apprentice. The apprentice had been sent out unsupervised with the wrong size mesh kit.
Here's how we fixed it...
Caption: After removing the apprentice plumber’s work, we replaced the area with a stronger grade 500mm ember guard using the correct saddle clips and screws.
For our team of gutter guard experts, this was an easy job to fix. Firstly, we removed the incorrectly installed and broken gutter mesh. We also repaired the holes that had been drilled in by the plumbers with high-quality silicone. Once we got the gutter back in good shape, we installed a much wider 500mm mesh that was much better suited to the job and also provides extra ember protection. You can see how the mesh is screwed to the top of the parapet and angled to cover all gaps effectively. To finish the job, we added flat roof Dek saddles to hold everything in place.
If you're looking for a professional gutter installation crew to sort out your gutters, give us a call on 1800 GUTTER (1800 488 837) or drop by the Grayson's Gutter Guard website to see what services we can offer.
Remember, it's always best to call in the professionals from the very start to save yourself having to spend valuable time, money and effort on repairs in the long run.
