Gutter Guard Sections with Special Joins and Overlaps
Joining the gutter guard correctly is important. If you have a gable roof with only two straight runs of gutter, there might be no need for gutter guard joins at all. But for more complex roofs, like hip roofs and those with lots of valleys and guttering connectors, gutter mesh joins are inevitable.
Valley joins
For tiled roofs, joining the gutter guard at the point where your two sections of gutter meet the valley can be the one of most challenging joins. On corrugated roofs, this is a much easier join to make. Standard ScrewTight® corrugated mesh installs are only 250mm wide and standard tiled roof gutter mesh installs are 500mm wide. The full width of this is layered over the valley bottom edge once the gutter guard has been screwed to the gutter. If possible it’s better to finish this join without any screws and just a small amount of silicone, if required sometimes a single screw can be used to hold the mesh join down into the valley or a brick placed on top as the silicone dries. If screwing to the valley sheet, the screw should never be placed too close to the middle fold point.
Satellite Dish next to Gutter Guard Join
In modern times your satellite dish is an important thing for your home’s entertainment and data transmission. As you can see in the above pic, Triple-G® gutter guard can fit very easily around your satellite dishes. Being plastic, there’s no chance of the product interfering with the transmission.
Gutter Guard join around roof chimney
One of the prime advantages of the ScrewTight® system, is the versatility and greater options available when it comes to covering complex areas. ScrewTight® is great for fitting around chimneys. Note that all our gutter mesh types, including metal and polymesh, are available up to 1000mm in width (100cm). Being such a wide versatile product leaves plenty of room for customising gutter mesh ends and joins.
Hip Corner of Roof Join
Because there is a lot less water entering this part of the gutter mesh system, our gutter guard filters have a much easier task than with valley joins. The hip of the roof is again much easier on corrugated roofs.
Should gutter guards overlap?
Yes, when you are joining two sections of gutter guard, there should be a slight overlap. This overlap of mesh is critical at stopping leaves from sliding through the joint. Extra screws and a line of silicone can be applied to complete the join and help to hold it in place. But always be aware that silicone should be used sparingly, as it can block water flow.
With extreme heat, such as from the heat on the roof during Summer, your mesh can move slightly. For this reason we use a standard overlap of at least 30mm to about 50mm.
Why can’t the gutter guard be overlapped by much more?
In most cases the overlap should not be more than 50mm because that could cause a restriction of water flow. When you overlap mesh there will be more individual mesh strands in that area, this build up of mesh strands can restrict water flow slightly because there will be less hole space. With 2mm ember guard this is particularly true. When installing our Triple-G® system you sometimes have to overlap by more than 50mm, this is due to the difference in the fitting process.
How do you cut corners for gutter guards?
When cutting the gutter mesh for the first time you should deliberately leave a bit extra on the length, if you cut off too much you will be left with an open gap on the ends. After cutting the mesh hold it down to the join section and gradually cut off a bit more and a bit more until the length is just right. For example, if the gutter length was 540cm long, we will cut the length of mesh at about 545cm and then trim that back later if needed. Cutting plastic or aluminium gutter mesh can be done with a simple pair of scissors, but for our stainless steel ember guard we use a pair of tin snips (sometimes called aviation snips).
Some other roof parts that we create special joins around are:-
- Ladder anchor supports (see the photo)
- Bird spikes
- Flood lighting
- Antennas
- Shop signage
Grayson’s Gutter Guard fitters are trained professionals who have full knowledge of how to install your gutter protection properly. The number to call is easy… 1800 GUTTER (1800488837)