Gutter Guards in Coventry, RI

Why Coventry homeowners put guards on their gutters

Coventry runs from the old mill villages near West Warwick all the way to the Foster line, and the trees change along the way. In Anthony, Washington and Quidnick, street maples and backyard oaks hang over houses built close together. Around Johnson's Pond and Tiogue Lake, cottages sit under tall oaks that drop leaves straight onto the roof. West of Coventry Centre, white pines take over. Each kind of tree feeds the gutters in its own season, and the result is the same: a trough full of debris and rain going over the front edge.

With a guard on, that routine shrinks. Instead of climbing up in late spring for maple seeds and again in late November for the last oak leaves, you let the cover or mesh shed most of it. Rain still gets in, while leaves mostly dry out on top and blow away. Clearing off a little debris now and then is about all the upkeep a guarded gutter asks for. On a tight mill-village lot, where the ladder has to stand between your house and the neighbor's driveway, that saves real hassle.

Two guards are on offer for Coventry homes. Proflow covers the gutter with sturdy perforated aluminum, while All Mesh Pro, from Champion Gutter Products, uses a fine stainless steel mesh that stops pine needles and shingle grit. You can keep your current gutters in most cases, since both guards fit most existing systems. The first part of the job is cleaning every gutter and downspout on the house and fixing loose hangers, leaks or bad pitch, so the guards end up on gutters that actually drain. Price-wise, the job typically comes to about half of what the big national brands ask.