What to Expect from Gutter Guards in Winter

Gutter guards are designed to keep leaves and debris from entering your gutter system.  How about gutter guards in winter? How do they perform in months when snow and ice accumulate on your roof and gutters?

Any metal guard that is on your gutters during the winter months has the potential to freeze.  While your guard is frozen you may experience icicles, and water melting over the front of the guard.  If your gutter crosses a doorway or walkway you may have to keep an eye on those areas for any dripping or melting.  Once the guard unfreezes and opens up water will begin to flow back into your gutters.

We always educate our customers at the estimate process. We explain how their guards will work, and what to expect during the winter months.  However, some homeowners are surprised the first time they see this happening. We receive calls from home owners that are concerned that their guards are not working properly.  The truth of the matter is icicles are normal with correctly performing guards. This process helps protect your gutter guards in winter.

Gutter Guards In Winter-How To Prevent Damage?


By installing guards at an angle, it helps to keep the snow and ice melting off the front of your roof line to help alleviate ice damming.  Ice dams occur for many various reasons. They form when the ice build up at the edge of the roof eventually finds its way into your house. Despite gutters being blamed, the real cause is due to uneven temperatures, gravity and friction. (see our blog all about ice damming)

Gutter guards provide three aspects of ice dam protection that would otherwise not exist.

How To Remove Ice Dams From Your System?

If you have had issues with ice dams in the past, the best recommendation is to install a heat cable. They are put inside of your gutter and then a cover goes over the gutter. Combining a gutter guard and a heated cable together can be a powerful way to keep your gutters functioning properly all year. A heat cable will melt the ice and snow by keeping the inside of the gutter warm therefore allowing the guards to remain free of ice and icicles. We can recommend a qualified electrician who can install a heat cable to work properly with your gutter guard.

No matter what the season, a quality gutter guard can help to protect your home from water damage. Contact us for a free quote on gutter guard installation, heat cable, gutter cleaning, gutter repairs, gutter installations or even snow and ice dam removal.

At The Brothers that just do Gutters, we are continually researching new products to make sure that we are always offering the best materials available on the market to our clients. Recently, when doing this research, we found a new-to-market gutter guard unlike any we’ve seen before. By combining some of the best qualities from guards already on the market with research on the biggest complaints and flaws of a number of industry leading guards, our current guard manufacturer was able to create a unique and extremely effective design and solution.

CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR CHOICE OF GUTTER GUARD.