Guards fitted to the gutter you actually have.

Gutter guards work when they are matched to three things: the gutter profile, the roof pitch, and what is actually falling on the roof. Pine needles, maple seeds and oak leaves all behave differently on a screen. Under the big trees in Metamora and Addison Township the answer is a different guard than on a new build in a subdivision, and the honest advice is sometimes that a guard is not worth the money on that house.

Fitting matters as much as the product. A guard has to sit at the angle of the roof so water follows it into the gutter rather than sheeting over the front edge, and it has to be fixed so a winter of ice does not lift it. Zack fits guards to gutters he has hung and to gutters that are already there, as long as those gutters are sound. If they are not, you will hear that first.

Guards do not make a gutter maintenance-free. They make cleaning rare and easy instead of twice a year on a ladder. That is what is promised, and nothing more.