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How Pollen Affects Your Foam Gutter Guard

Honey bee on a purple flower.
Pollen is beneficial for plants and animals, but it’s a problem for your gutter guards.

Pollen helps new plants grow, but it can be miserable for some people. In addition to having personal problems with pollen, you could also experience home maintenance problems. Pollen can wreak havoc with some types of gutter guards.

The Nature of Pollen

Pollen is the way that many plants reproduce. During the spring months, it’s particularly challenging for some people, and the abundance of pollen in the air causes allergies. While you can sometimes see pollen deposits on surfaces such as windows, it’s often invisible as it’s so tiny. Pollen is also quite sticky. Discussing tree pollen, Garden Guides states that “this pollen is formulated to stick to the bodies of insects so that when they gather nectar, they will fertilize the reproductive organs inside the flower.”  This works well for the flower, but it doesn’t work quite so well for your gutters.

Pollen Clogs Gutter Guards

Unfortunately, the tiny, sticky nature of pollen makes it difficult for your gutters to manage. The problems are particularly acute for those who have foam gutter guards. When you use a foam gutter guard, you rely on the fact that the water trickles through very small holes and into the gutter. Along comes the sticky pollen, and sadly, those holes become clogged.

This means that you now have a large object that is sitting in your gutter, preventing the water from getting through into the gutters. According to Ned Stevens, “sponge gutter guards can impede water flow, backing up your gutters and causing water to possibly spill down your home’s walls.” Your once-wonderful foam gutter guard becomes one of your gutter problems, and you have to replace it and deal with the problems that your overflowing gutters may have caused to your home landscaping, siding, and foundation.

Shingled roof over a garage.
Get a gutter guard that really works – a nose-forward, surface tension design.

What’s the Gutter Cure?

In areas that receive a lot of spring pollen, adding a gutter protection system that clogs during pollen season is inadvisable. Instead, look at gutter guard options that do not rely on tiny holes to move water from the roof to the ground. One of the best products on the market has the nose-forward, surface tension design. With this type of gutter guard, water moves smoothly via surface tension. It moves into a 3/8 inch gap that’s small enough to avoid debris accumulation. Larger debris falls off the edge, and it doesn’t have tiny pores that get clogged with pollen. Also, the upper part of the gutter guard is covered with a coating that acts like Teflon, preventing dirt and organic buildup.

If you’re looking for a gutter guard company that has been working hard for decades, look no further than Harry Helmet. We specialize in gutters, gutter guards, and roofing products, and we have products that will reduce your home maintenance for years to come. When you need gutter guards that work and keep on working, talk with us. Schedule a free estimate today.

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I recently had the Gutter Helmet by Harry Helmet installed on my house. It not only looks amazing, but the guys arrived on time, were professional and efficiently got the job done. I am very satisfied with Gutter Helmet's attention to detail and fulfilling their work as promised. I will definitely tell my neighbors about the Gutter Helmet.
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I have had Gutter Helmets for 20 years. In all that time I've never had a problem until recently a bird's nest found its way into one of my gutters. The installer who came to replace the product was the same installer from 20 years earlier. Now that's impressive. Everyone at Gutter Helmet inclusive of the office staff were professional and a pleasure to work with.
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Gutter Helmet by Harry Helmet just replaced our roof and we could not be more satisfied. The crew showed up early, worked all day and stayed late, were professional and caring regarding the project and the surrounding impact it had on our property and home. They completed the roof quickly and it looks simply amazing!
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VERY happy with our entire experience adding Gutter Helmet by Harry Helmet to our house. Installing this was a great value for us. The gutters are working perfectly in heavy downpours and with year-long leaves and debris coming down from our river birches. Terrific customer service and a first class product.
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We needed our roof repaired due to wind damage. After several quotes, Gutter Helmet was the only company that went into our attic to look and see if more damage had occurred. If it wasn't for them taking the extra time to look at everything, we would have had rotting wood under our new roof. They were very professional and gave a fair quote.
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We just had Gutter Helmet installed on our gutters and couldn't be happier. They provided us with useful information about Gutter Helmet and cleaned up everything, leaving no mess behind. We definitely recommend Gutter Helmet to anyone considering this product.
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