Ask the Engineer on How to Choose the Best Gutter Guard to Sell by Richard Kuhns


Ask the Engineer on How to Choose the Best Gutter Guard to Sell by RICHARD KUHNS
Article Posted: 07/27/2011
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Ask the Engineer on How to Choose the Best Gutter Guard to Sell

Business Opportunities,Business

The best gutter protector to represent would keep your customer's gutters clean and free flowing. The best gutter guard to sell would require no servicing or maintenance from you (the installing company) except for things like storms knocking down the gutters. Maintenance, if required, would be done from the ground by the homeowner for the best gutter cover. go the distance of twenty years or more. The best gutter cover business is discovered when you find a product that meets this criteria. You would think there there are dozens of gutter covers which would meet this criteria, but no there are not. The reality is that most leaf guards installed eat your profit by needing routine maintenance to keep your customers happy. I mean do you think your customers will be happy having to call you routinely to maintain their gutters? They will not be the kind of customer who will refer their neighbors and relatives to your business. Just how do you choose the best gutter cover to sell and represent? Do you choose the cheapest? Is it the size of the manufacturer? Do you go by design? Maybe by simplicity of installation? Or is it warranty? In choosing a gutter cover you do not go by ease of installation, warranty, price, or size of the company. The answer is that you go by the design of the gutter guard to find the best gutter cover to sell. First I suggest avoiding dispersal units as they do not disperse rain water in slow rain falls creating a rut all around the home. Likewise stay away from flip and clean systems as they warp and the hangers freeze. Like the plague avoid detachable downspouts as they are not gutter guards and they do not keep the gutters from clogging at inside and outside joints. Stay away from screens or filters of any kind. There are dozens of variations. Basic ones are inexpensive made of plastic or metal with many different sized openings with or without hinges. Some are made of surgical stainless steel micro mesh. One goes inside the gutter as a nylon mesh. One is a spiral brush. The basic ones will clog on top (keeping water from getting into the gutter) and also let enough debris into the gutter to clog it. The over priced ones will keep debris out of the gutter but after a year or so enough debris will collect on the top of the mesh to block water from entering the gutter. A telescopic pole and brush is recommended by one manufacturer to clean the tops of the mesh gutter screen. But, you can not see the top of the micro mesh screen to see if the debris has been removed. The reality is that accumulating debris on top of the mesh is out of sight. The reality is that what is out of sight is out of mind. Do not fret. There are still dozens of other products from which to choose. But before we go on, the single fin or rounded nose type with a solid top is to be avoided. The basic ones use clips which easily dislodge from the gutter requiring maintenance. The more substantial ones have more substantial clips which do not dislodge. To see a basic design of a low end gutter protector Google "Niagara gutter guard". The solid top is a benefit but leaves and blossoms in heavy debris conditions follow the rain water over the rounded front nose or fin of the gutter protector and stick to lower section of the gutter cover gutter protector where the blossoms and leaves of any size can go into the gutter. The bottom line is that these gutter guards in medium to heavy debris conditions need maintenance meaning that the gutter cover has to be removed and the gutter cleaned. One variation of this design is a gutter cover which in addition to the rounded nose or fin has a trough to keep larger debris from going into the gutter. This trough, however, is located below the upper gutter lip meaning that the debris is stuck there. Reality is that sufficient debris passes through the openings in this trough which in reality is a screen with big apertures, and clogs the gutters. The trough can also clog. Another variation is the basic Niagara type of gutter guard with small sieve openings in its top making it a screen hybrid. This is not the best gutter cover to sell as in mild to heavy debris conditions you will be constantly needing to service it. What can be done to improve the design? The answer is that the openings have to be limited in size and above the gutter lip. An improvement on the rounded nose design is a leaf guard with a row of apertures in the vertical front surface located just under the rounded nose. Louvers are located in the apertures to get the water into the gutter. If you Google "Care-free solid top gutter protector" you will see an example of this design. Over the basic rounded nose or fin it is a definite improvement. This Care-Free gutter guard will definitely limit the size of the debris that can get into the gutter to three fourths of an inch. But look at the juncture where it meets the gutter. Any small debris falling onto the gutter lip can also wash into the gutter. Even though it is not the best leaf guard it is a great option for light to medium debris conditions. Many of your customers will not require the best gutter cover so it make sense to offer this design for a few dollars less than the best gutter protector. So how can the design of the Care-Free gutter guard be improved? If we could find a gutter guard with two rows of louvers we would be going in the right direction. Likewise an improvement would also be to not have any apertures at or below the gutter lip. If you Goggle, "Waterloov gutter guards" you will find an example of this design. Google "Number One Gutter Protector" and you will see another design of a double row louvered gutter cover. Both of these designs have two rows of louvers which keep out anything large enough to clog the gutter inside. Neither one has any of its openings at the gutter lip so nothing can wash in from the gutter lip. How about maintenance? The homeowner can easily see and remove any debris that collects o the face of the louvers. In comparison to the micro mesh screens, there is no guessing where the debris might be accumulating. Where the debris is collecting with either the single or double row louvered gutter protectors is highly visible and with a telescopic pole and brush assembly, long enough to reach two and a half stories (longer ones available), the debris can easily be knocked of the front surface of the gutter cover. In summary the two row louvered design is the best gutter guard to represent. It is easily maintained by the homeowner. This basic double row louvered product has lasted over twenty years meaning that your profits stay in your pocket making this the best type of gutter guard business opportunity.

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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