Important Author’s Note Update: Since this column was written, I have discovered at least two other gutter guards that sport the micro-mesh filtration screen. Testing of these Micro-mesh guards began early Spring of 2008. The results of the test are in! After 10-years of testing various types, a winner has been declared! Click for the gutter guard I installed on my house - Gutter Guard Test Results.

Good Morning from the roof of the AsktheBuilder World Headquarters. It is early spring and Tim met the inventor of a really cool gutter protection system. This system has a very fine mesh covering. That is important because in all previous tests of gutter guard systems, in the spring most of the systems fail. The small debris that trees produce, like seeds, blossoms and little pieces of bark, clog up other gutter protection systems and even work their way down into the gutter.

These gutter guard systems have been tested on the AsktheBuilder’s roof. The first one ever installed was a plastic protection system with diamond shaped holes in the covering. It has been installed for about eight - nine years. It allowed water from a garden hose to sprayed into the gutter to clean out the small debris. But, the holes would get clogged up with those little helicopter seeds and the lacy blossoms from the oak trees. This system is being removed and replaced with a newer system.

The new system looks like a very large bottle cleaning brush or pipe cleaner. According to the inventor, you just put it in the gutter. When it gets clogged, and it will, you just pull it out, shake it clean and place it back in the gutter. Not sure if that will work, but it will be installed and tested for the next four to five weeks during the spring season.

Check back later for the next video showing the results of Tim’s testing of this new gutter guard system at the AsktheBuilder World Headquarters.