Hedgehog gutter brush

[Me!]

In response to my grump about overflowing gutters, 88V8 very kindly suggested one of these hedgehog gutter brushes, but as we all know, helpful advice isn't allowed on the grumps thread, so I've started this new one
I'd never heard of them before so I've Googled a bit and looked at these overwhelmingly good reviews as well. But, I still can't convince myself that they will really work, so I wondered if anyone on PPUK had tried them please?
The main problem I have is with moss on a north-facing pantile roof, where the moss dies in hot weather and then washes off in large lumps when it rains. Surely the sheets of moss will just sit on top of the brush, and then the water will cascade over it or behind it and down the soffits and walls?
Or, should I just stop being grumpy and accept that this is a very clever invention and that it will work perfectly?

 

[Keith Bowman]

Looks like a long coiled up bottle brush. How on earth do you use it? It is said that a length of copper wire strung along the roof just below the ridge will stop the moss growing in the first place. Not that I've tried it!

 

[Feltwell]

Not a brush, but I fitted a fine mesh that sort of curled up inside the gutter at a previous house, similar idea to the brush.

http://www.essexappliancespares.co....ckage-drain-pipe-protection-easy-installation

It lasted 18 months before I took it all back down and threw it in the bin - the moss loved growing on it, the gutters were blocked more quickly than they were without it.

As an aside, I've got one of these flexible scoops for clearing out gutters, it's great - much easier than a gardening trowel! A cut down pop bottle can be used but this is easier up a ladder as it's got a proper handle.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hedgehog-Gu..._sbs_86_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1A9YVNV0A2ZP6FPQJJCQ

 

[88v8]

All the roofing shops seem to sell it, and I put some in the gutters of my new garage as there are two large oak trees overhead, plus various less lordly treeishes.
Time will tell whether it works, or whether the smaller debris will gradually clog it.

I suspect that if leaves are the main problem, it will at least greatly extend the time between cleans. When it comes to cleaning, if it does, the downside is that the brush has to be anchored into the gutter to prevent it blowing away, and as yet there is nothing better than cable ties, so taking it out again could be a slight faff.

Moss. Hmmm. Not so sure about moss. Otoh, it's cheap, try it, let us know.

If it doesn't work, with a couple of eyes on one end it would make a great caterpillar decoration for the garden.

Ivor

 

[Lime]

I'm using both brush and net this year on two different problem gutters, both on single story buildings.
I think both methods can suffer from clogging at/on the top but for the most part I hope they will prevent the odd lump of moss/pear/slate blocking up the outflow.
With the brush, moss and plastic bits of bird-landing-stoppers falling off the aerial get lodged behind it on the slate quite readily however not enough to hold the water back.


So far they have stayed in place and I have had no blockages unlike normal but it is early days.

 

[Flyfisher]

I'm not convinced there is any way to prevent the eventual build up of detritus in gutters. The good news is that, in my experience, it takes a lot of detritus to cause overflows and usually more than will accumulate during a year or two, so an annual clear out should be sufficient to keep things flowing.

Having said that, I do like to keep the downpipes clear and where I have a problem with leaves I use a mesh filter inserted into the downpipes, a bit like this:

I make up my own filters using chicken wire, which is good for preventing leaves and the like from getting through but is coarse enough to allow silt to be washed through.

As for the annual clean (if I remember every year!), I find there's little better than a hand - assuming ladder access is easy - though I've seen all manner of gadgets advertised for the purpose. Earlier this year I bought one of these kits for my pressure washer: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kärcher-20m-Pipe-Guttering-Cleaning/dp/B004RIXKZ8

I bought it for the 20m drain cleaner pipe (which worked very well) but it also came with a gadget to clean gutters as well. I've not tried it yet but might give it a test during my next gutter-cleaning expedition.

 

[TheRoost]

I'm a bit sceptical about hedgehog gutter brushes, thinking that they must reduce the capacity of the gutter to some extent, and that if there was a really heavy downpour, smaller section gutters would end up overflowing everywhere. Would the bristles slow the movement of water aswell? they would make more sense to me if the bottom half was a more 'open' design, but more expensive to make I guess.

Chickenwire can work, but in the case of our previous owners, not checking it for 10 years(!) caused the leaves on top to break down and pass through the gaps, then moss buildup etc, which led to a nice wet ceiling when we moved in :shock:

 

[Flyfisher]

Yes, I imagine that 10 years of total neglect would result in problems, no matter what sort of protective measures were in place.

Incidentally, a Google images search for "gutter mesh" or "gutter protection" will return quite a variety of different approaches to this basic problem.