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Do foam inserts for gutter covers work? In my opinion as an engineer the best applications for foam are a great quality mattress or for packing materials but not gutter protection devices. For a moment pretend that you are a blossom. Along with many of your blossom friends you drop into a gutter that has a foam insert. Even though you and your blossom buddies are beautiful, your life is ending. Why? It's because you've been knocked off by some ferocious rain drops or your time as a blossom has expired. The reality is that you have settled on the top of a foam insert--a hard cushion. But you really don't need a cushion since you are so light in weight. Now what's in store for you? Will you simply blow away? Or will you be somehow dislodged and drop to earth? Or might a raccoon, bird, or squirrel trample you? Remember, foam makes a perfect mattress. But what about the wind? Is it going to lift you off this comfortable mattress and set you air born once again? Think about it, how would that happen? You are lying flat on this cushion right on top of the gutter. Wind blowing downward from the roofing simply skips over the gutter and goes off into space. Wind whipping toward the gutters will simply knock you into the rear portion of the gutter. Wind whipping along the gutter will simply blow you toward the other end of the gutter--maybe a couple of your buddies will get air born, but I'm afraid you're stuck there in the gutter. And if you've been wetted by a few rain drops there's no fluff in you to sail away--you're just a soggy mess. And after you dry, you've been flattened on the comfortable mattress. What comes next? Answer: you shall dry, break into many small pieces and accumulate on this comfortable mattress. In time many of your friends will come to your party and all of your together will just shut all holes and openings in the foam and keep rain water from getting into the gutter. So if you ask the engineer about foam inserts--forget about them. Do you think leaves in the Fall would be much different? Don't think so. It will simply be more of you accumulating quicker. The engineer will suggest that the answer to keeping leaves and blossoms from getting into the gutter is a solid top gutter cover. To find one such type, Google "Niagara gutter guards". Again, if you're a blossom you'll fall onto the top of the gutter guard You'll drop onto the top of the gutter cover if you're a blossom]. If you're dry, a slight bit of wind will blow you away--no comfy mattress there for you. Yet if you're soggy and wet, you will stay stuck on top of the gutter guard. The only problem is that rain water will drag you along as it flows downward and into the gutter. In reality within a few minutes you will gently be washed along as you hug the shape of the leaf guard. And guess where you will go? Answer: Most of you will wash directly into the gutter along with the rain water and if there were enough of you from a real close big tree, there is no chance that the gutter will stay flow free but instead clog. If you ask the engineer, the Niagara type of gutter guard works fine if your tree is at least a hundred feet or so from the gutter and the prevailing winds are away from the house. Instead of one long fin as the Niagara gutter protector if you Google "Care Free vinyl gutter covers" you'll see a row of louvers. Now your chances of being a blossom that gets to the ground is much greater. Fewer of you will wash into the gutter than with gutter the Niagara type of gutter guard. Yet if you ask the engineer for the best gutter protector, I'll tell you it's a gutter cover with not one but two rows of louvers. Yes, Mr, or Mrs Blossom, can you imagine two rows of louvers instead of one or none? If you "double row louvered gutter guard" you'll discover lots of articles that I've written --wow I write a lot. Let me save you some time, just Google "The Number One Gutter Protector" or "Waterloov Gutter Guard" and right there you will notice two gutter guards with two rows of louvers. What chance do you have, Mr. or Mrs. Blossom of getting into a gutter protected by a two row louvered system?The answer is zero if you ask the engineer. In the worst case scenario if you are wet you will wash onto the front louvers and cover several of them, but guess what? The owner of your tree—Mr Homeowner, will see you resting there and be able to help you along to the ground with a telescopic pole and brush assembly to knock you free and speed you on toward the ground along with your friends. So ask the engineer which is the best gutter guard or the best gutter cover to allow blossoms and of course leaves find their way to the ground I'll tell you it's the double row louvered gutter guard--nothing else. And would you believe that within a couple dollars per foot, most gutter guards (including foam) all sell for around the same dollars? So why even consider putting a cushion in your gutter? Richard Kuhns B.S.Ch.E. Engineer and inventor of good gutter guards at http://www.niagaraguttercover.com better gutter guards at http://www.carefreegutters.com/ and the best gutter guards at http://www.Waterloov.com and http://www.NumberOneGutterProtector.com
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