Despite having some of the most promising marketing messages you can imagine, reverse curve gutter guards have some serious problems. Although they sell on the fact that you can forget your gutters or you’ll never clean them, people that buy these systems often wind up with added problems, not the solution to the problem they hoped for.
Reverse curves were actually invented over 100 years ago. Let’s share why they never became the solution everyone hoped they’d be.
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The Biggest Problems with Reverse Curve Gutter Guards
First, the curve quickly gets dirty. Look at any home with a curve on it. You'll notice the top is perfectly clean, but the front and underside of the curve is dark and dirty. When rainwater falls, it pounds into the top of the curve, cleaning its upper surface. But the main source of water comes off your roof. It contains oils from your shingles and dirt from your roof.
This dirty, oily water wraps round the curve and coats it. Without that rain pounding, this where reverse curve guards wind up failing. Once the curve is coated, you can't rely on surface tension to pull water around the curve. As it hits this dirty residue, it drops off of the system before it flows into your gutters. Now you've got landscaping damage occurring or water getting down near your foundation.
Secondly, most curves have no way of slowing down the water coming off your roof. If these systems are pitched in line with the roof, water has a greater chance of overshooting the gutter. Many require that the system be installed like a shelf over the gutter. This helps stop the forward momentum of the water.
Think of what happens if water flows onto table. It spreads out over the surface until enough water has pooled, then when it hits an edge, it drops off. If the table is tilted at an angle and water contacts, it instantly continues moving along the same angle. Add in the dirty curve issue and reverse curve gutter guards fail faster if they're installed in line with the roof.
For a gutter guard to work right it has to let in all the water that hits your roof when it rains, but keep out all debris, even small shingle grit.
Many reverse curve gutter guards are installed under the second set of shingles rather than the first. This makes them very visible on your home. Rather than blending into the gutter, they have to try to blend in with the roof, but it's always apparent you've got a great big gutter guard installed. Esthetically, many homeowners do not like this look and would prefer a lower profile product to solve their gutter issues.
Animals love them. Want to create a nice place for birds or bees to nest? Look no further than these systems which are notorious for welcoming unwanted pests under their dry hoods.
Reverse curve gutter guards are also a source of lots of icicles in the winter. While gutter guards don't create ice or ice dams (that's generally a result of poor ventilation or insulation), the size of the icicles that form off these systems tend to be very large. This is problematic if your reverse curve gutter guard is installed over any entrance ways to your home, a front door, a back deck or your garage doors. Water drips off icicles and any extra ice on the ground on your front stoop, driveway or anywhere you'll have to walk in the wintertime is a big concern to people. They also can't be heated retroactively to solve the problem. You can find out more about gutter guard issues along with leafguard reviews here.
Lastly, reverse curve gutter guards let in debris, the very stuff you're tired of cleaning from your gutters. If you have one of these systems, you're likely thinking they're keeping out everything, but they actually are doing their poorest job at protecting your home when you expect they'll be working–in the rain. What reverse curve gutter guards will never show you is wet debris, flexible and adhering by suction to the edge of the roof and the curve. Want to do the best test? Wet a $20 bill and then watch what it does on the system. Spoiler alert! It's going to go around the curve and in your gutter. We're sure you can think of a lot better use for your $20s than this!
What Can Be Used to Replace Reverse Curve Gutter Guards
There are systems today, like MasterShield, that only allow water through and let no debris to enter your gutters. Micro mesh gutter guards have been the top-rated technology in independent tests. With new copper technology, MasterShield protects your gutters better than ever before!
The best of these systems are designed to be pitched with the roof to shed debris without created a shelf over your gutters you still need to brush off. Only with the multi-patented technology of Alex Higginbotham will you find the self-cleaning properties you'll want so that the system will clean of roof oils. You won't find other systems mentioning this common system clogger.
When it comes to protecting your home, why settle for any system, in particular ones like reverse curve gutter guards, that don't offer your home complete gutter protection and do what you expect a gutter guard to do- take in water and keep out debris?
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