Half round gutter guards are something you’ll want to consider if your home currently has half round gutters or your thinking about choosing this style of gutter for your home.
Half round gutters offer the elegance of a European look and feel to your home or complement a historic style of gutter which was prevalent in North America up until the late 1940s. Aluminum, copper, galvanized metal or even plastic are common materials used to make half round gutters. Choose wisely: depending on your choice, they’ll each give a distinctive look to your home.
To install half round gutters, you’ll have to look for a company that owns a half round gutter machine. Modern gutters are “seamless; they are installed in custom lengths. Rolled out onsite, they measured to fit your home. Half round gutters are typically hung with an ornamental hanger that sits under the gutter and attaches to your fascia or rafter boards. The gutter is then placed in and clipped into the hanger, held in place at the gutter’s front lip. The hanger extends over the top of the gutter lip.
Hangers are installed approximately every 24-32 inches. The distance between the hangers depends on which part of the country you’re in and how much snow load the gutter may have to handle.
Half round gutters are typically shallower than traditional K-style or ogee gutter designs. If your gutters service a large roof, consider 6 inch half rounds instead of the more common 5 inch style.
For more about half round gutter installations, you can check out the This Old House website.
Half round gutters are just as likely to clog with debris as any other gutter would, so of course gutter guards are necessary if you never want to clean your half round gutters again. The biggest obstacle becomes the options you have for half round gutter guards and how good they are at keeping out all debris like pine needles or shingle grit.
Many options get ruled out because they’re designed to fit one style of gutter—the K-style. Gutter guards that rely on clipping over the back edge of the gutter guard won’t find a standard place to clip the guard nor will the distance across the gutter’s open area be the same as a K-style gutter.
There are guards that rely on sitting on the gutter hanger. Ask the gutter guard company if their system is installed this way. Most half round gutters don’t have internal hangers for them to rest on.
Special sponge-style half round gutter guards exist, but typically, this style of gutter guard relies on being installed under the hangers to remain firmly in place, With no hangers, sponge systems may not permanently stay in the gutter. These systems also have a tendency to heal over with oils and tree debris.
The best option tends to be half round guards that install under the shingle, then attach to the front lip of the gutter. This gives the installer the most options for the gutter guard installation. The part of the half round gutters that slips under the shingles must be long enough to adapt to the shingles and gutter as the gutter slopes towards the downspout. You do not want to install half round gutter guards flat (it will trap debris like a shelf) nor do you want to lean the guard onto the fascia board, you want it to be angled like the roof so that it sheds debris on its own.
The front lip of a half round gutter presents some challenges since the clip sits over the part of the lip where you would normally insert your screw. MasterShield is able to adapt to the clip with a special gasket that raises the space between the hangers, allowing the system to sit evenly across the gutter run. The installer then uses a slightly longer screw to tap through the gasket and into the lip of the gutter.
