Your Gutter Toppers are Installed Incorrectly
When installing gutter toppers, it is important that you follow the manufacturer’s specifications. Different types of gutter toppers are designed to work in an exact and concise manner. They may be designed to be installed under the shingles, over the shingles, against the fascia, or at the top of the fascia. Sometimes they are designed to be installed into the front of the gutter, the top of the front of the gutter or inside the front of the gutter. These are important things to know and improper installation can lead to much bigger problems such as rotten fascia boards and clogged gutters.
Gutter topper seams need to be aligned properly. How your outside corners are cut and how they fit together is crucial. You may need to purchase specific corner pieces and end caps. Not having the right equipment and installing the gutter toppers incorrectly is the first reason why they are failing.
Gutter Toppers are Meant for Certain Types of Gutters
Every type of gutter topper is designed for certain types of debris. Choosing the right guard is vital to protecting your gutter system. There are some universal guards that handle all types of debris but just understand that this is not the case for all gutter toppers.
The Type of Debris Around Your Home Has Changed
The environment around your home can change. A new factory may be causing a lot of dirt to come in across the street from you. Trees may grow and produce a new type debris. If this happens, your gutter toppers may function differently than originally intended.
Some Gutter Toppers Simply Don't Work
There are gutter toppers on the market that simply don’t get the job done. They are visually pleasing but they are not effective at protecting your gutters. They may keep leaves out, but they clog easily and catch massive amounts of smaller debris. These types of gutter toppers cause more problems than they prevent.
Failure to Maintain Your Gutter Toppers
The vast majority of companies claim that their gutter toppers are maintenance free. This is simply not true, there is no such thing as a maintenance free gutter topper. All gutter toppers require at least some amount of maintenance although some require less than others.
Your Gutter Topper are the Wrong Size
Some gutter toppers are designed for a certain size of gutter. If you have 5 inch seamless gutters but you have a gutter topper that is designed for 6 inch, you are going to have a problem. If you have a high volume roof and you use a low water volume gutter topper, you can get massive overflow after or during heavy rain. You may need to install larger gutters to use some styles of gutter toppers.
Your Roofs Architecture is Causing a High a Fast Flow of Water
Gutter toppers fail often when you have a high water flow roof. If you change to a metal roof water speed can increase by as much as two times. So you’ve doubled. This can cause problems for your gutter topper system because high flow areas are going to have water overflowing instead of flushing out the system.
If you have a lot of inside corners where your roof causes a valley, that water builds up in those valleys and comes down in one fell swoop. Gutter toppers often fail when there are areas with a high volume of water.
Damage to Your Gutter Topper
Sometimes you have a perfectly installed gutter topper and it still gets clogged. If a tree falls or something damages your gutter topper, it can get dented or damaged which effects its functionality. Since the gutter topper is specifically designed to flow a certain way, dents, or ripples can cause a section to fail or appear to be not working. The damaged area may get clogged.
Conclusion
Do your homework and make sure you’ve chosen a guard for your type of debris. Make sure your gutter system is large enough to handle the water for your roof. Once you put on the gutter topper that want make it fits the style of roof and can handle the flow of water. These are all things that factor into how gutter toppers are going to work. Whether you are remodeling a gutter system or selecting a new one, make sure you don’t have any of these issues.
