Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter

Or your leaves... whatever. Since we moved in to this house in the winter last year, we didn't realize the leaf problem that awaited us. Winter 2013

Back in the summer/spring of 2014 the outside of our house looked like this:

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Then fall came, and the leaves started falling like crazy, and we had this tree removed and our roof looked like this:

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You can see that we had a huge leaf problem. Believe it or not this picture was taken 3 days after we had cleaned out the gutters. We couldn't keep up. IMG_3355

So we headed to Home Depot and found these bad boys: Lock-on Gutter Guards (TM). Hahhaa. I love that these are trademarked. How silly. They are a little less than $3/each 3 foot section. About a $1/foot. That was fast math. IMG_3359

LB hopped on the roof and went to town. They are each 3 feet long and black. He did them around the whole house with a pair of wire cutters and now the gutters are looking significantly less leaf filled.  IMG_3362

What I really appreciated about them is that (1) they lock in place so you aren't measuring except for the ends that you trim, (2) they are discreet, and (3) they are black. Why do you appreciate the black you may wonder? Well, great question. Despite the weird glue looking thing happening on the end of this gutter, we already have the black paint for these bad boys. We just need it to be warmer than 20 degrees to get out there and start painting. The gutters and shutters (new reality show title??) may end up waiting until Spring for their makeover. It's fine... I guess. IMG_3365

So spill. How do you handle the onslaught of leaves besides cutting down trees? I am a rhyming fool today!

PSSSST: This isn't a sponsored post. I just dig these gutter guards as a more affordable solution than other alternatives I have seen.