Why I Will Not Recommend Gutter Helmet


Follow the entire saga – The Gutter Helmet Category!


Yet Another UPDATE: Another unpleasant encounter with the “technicians” detailed here.


UPDATE (October 19, 2005): New update on my experience here.


UPDATE (October 6, 2005): More on this topic here.



The Canadian Consulate here in Marlborough, MA needed some new gutters. We decided that since the gutters are at least 30 feet off the ground, we would Install some that needed far less maintenance.
The Gutter Helmet system seemed to suit our needs. So we arranged to meet with the sales guy.

After that meeting, I should have gone with my gut feeling. Think high-pressure car salesman, and you will get the picture. We assume he was an aberration, and about a month ago we set the date for the installation.

We were having the Gutter Helmet team install both new gutters and the helmet system. Second mistake. According to what Samantha described, this team was definitely on the F-List (found out today that this installation team is “no longer with the company”). And they were far from professional in the way that they removed the old gutters and installed the new ones. I am still finding sharp metal pieces, screw, and old gutter hangers around the yard, including 7 or 8 gutter hangers conveniently disposed of in what is very obviously our leaf compost.

As well, we discovered that not all of the straps were installed correctly, the downspouts were not attached to the higher gutter sections. We called, and out came the inspector. This gentleman told Samantha that they have had issues with this installation team…and set up a ticket for them to come and repair their mistakes.

Next problem is that we have an in-ground drainage system to carry water away from the downspouts on the north side of the house and out to somewhere where it will not fill the swimming pool in the basement. It took a third trip for the installation team to put the downspouts into the special end caps we purchase to prevent other crap from getting in the system.

And then, yesterday, during a thunderstorm cloudburst, we notice that there is water dripping down between the gutter and the house. This is definitely sub-optimal. Another call in to the customer service centre, where Samantha is curtly told by the woman on the other end of the line (who, I learned in a later call, is actually the call centre manager!) that some house require flashing and that they don’t install it in order to try and reduce the cost of the project.

This cost us over $3,000. Flashing is $2/foot. Put the flashing on; damn the cost.
Oh, and since I mention the cost, did I mention that we received no rebate or credit for this. Likely Gutter Helmet’s response would be that they repaired their work at no charge to us. My response is that I know a lot of houses in my neighbourhood that need gutters

I know a great roofing company, a great electrician, an amazing mason, and a lousy gutter company.

These companies always give a rebate if you advertise their service with a lawn sign. Maybe I should put an anti-endorsement sign on my lawn. No slander…just clearly stating that I would share my experience with Gutter Helmet with anyone who is considering their service.

Categories: Gutter Helmet, Uncategorized

37 Comments

  1. I’m in the process of calling companies about installing gutter guards and Gutter Helmet was one I have not called yet. I’ve got GutterGuardian and Long Fence (Gutter Jacket) coming out to give me a free estimate. I next will call Gutter Covers of Maryland and maybe give Gutter Helmet of Millersville, MD a call also. I will be careful and show them this report.
    Thank you.

  2. Thank you.

  3. Buyers should note that some Gutter Helmet individual dealers may not be as ethical or professional as others. This has nothing to do with the actual product. Make sure you check out the individual installing dealer, and not generalize that one unfortunate situation should reflect on the many other honest and trustworthy individually owned Gutter Helmet dealerships all across America.

  4. Buyers should note that some Gutter Helmet individual dealers may not be as ethical or professional as others. This has nothing to do with the actual product. Make sure you check out the individual installing dealer, and not generalize that one unfortunate situation should reflect on the many other honest and trustworthy individually owned Gutter Helmet dealerships all across America.

  5. A PRODUCT THAT I JUST PURCHASED FROM BJ’S WHOLESALE CLUB IS CLEARWATER GUTTER PROTECTION. VERY SIMALAR TO GUTTER HELMET, BUT THEY DO NOT NAIL THE HELMET TO YOUR ROOF. THEY USE A CLIP THAT IS INSTALLED IN THE GUTTER EVERY 2.5 FEET THAT SCREWS INTO YOUR FACIA BOARD. IT GIVES YOU A PERFECT INSTALL EVERY TIME. I FELT VERY SAFE GOING WITH THIS PRODUCT SINCE THEY ARE IN BJ’S CLUBS AND ARE DONE BY GIA CERTIFIED INSTALLERS. http://www.giacontractors.com
    THEY ALSO GIVE YOU A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE IF THE PRODUCT DOES NOT WORK. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PROBLEMS WITH GUTTER HELMET.

  6. A PRODUCT THAT I JUST PURCHASED FROM BJ’S WHOLESALE CLUB IS CLEARWATER GUTTER PROTECTION. VERY SIMALAR TO GUTTER HELMET, BUT THEY DO NOT NAIL THE HELMET TO YOUR ROOF. THEY USE A CLIP THAT IS INSTALLED IN THE GUTTER EVERY 2.5 FEET THAT SCREWS INTO YOUR FACIA BOARD. IT GIVES YOU A PERFECT INSTALL EVERY TIME. I FELT VERY SAFE GOING WITH THIS PRODUCT SINCE THEY ARE IN BJ’S CLUBS AND ARE DONE BY GIA CERTIFIED INSTALLERS. http://www.giacontractors.comTHEY ALSO GIVE YOU A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE IF THE PRODUCT DOES NOT WORK. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PROBLEMS WITH GUTTER HELMET.

  7. Their is a good company in Eastern PA and South Jersey that I used. Gutter Armor- They did great work Ive never seen a crew work like they did. I never saw them take a break and they got their at 8:30 a.m. and worked till dark 6:00p.m. Another thing I liked is that they didnt require me to put a down payment for the job. They dont let you pay anything till the job is completed after the final inspection by one of their managers. For me that said alot. They have a web site http://www.GutterArmor.net — Good price also.

  8. Their is a good company in Eastern PA and South Jersey that I used. Gutter Armor- They did great work Ive never seen a crew work like they did. I never saw them take a break and they got their at 8:30 a.m. and worked till dark 6:00p.m. Another thing I liked is that they didnt require me to put a down payment for the job. They dont let you pay anything till the job is completed after the final inspection by one of their managers. For me that said alot. They have a web site http://www.GutterArmor.net — Good price also.

  9. My Gutter Helmet is not nailed to the roof,its screwed above the shingle nail line under the shingle.I have thousands of nail holes in my roof but they are under a shingle which is standard. ???

  10. My Gutter Helmet is not nailed to the roof,its screwed above the shingle nail line under the shingle.I have thousands of nail holes in my roof but they are under a shingle which is standard. ???

  11. I’ve had gutter helmet for about 14 years. Our lot is very wooded with high trees all around the house. We’ve never had a problem with gutter helmet per se. We re-roofed about 5 years ago. According to the contract the company would come out and remove and reinstall gutter helmet, but they never showed up on the promised date (and never called), and the re-roofers had to do the job, which then voided the warrenty. We just took the gutters down today to install new siding….and there wasn’t a single leaf in any part of the gutters. (prior to gutter helmet I had small trees and shrubs growing in the gutter every year).

  12. I’ve had gutter helmet for about 14 years. Our lot is very wooded with high trees all around the house. We’ve never had a problem with gutter helmet per se. We re-roofed about 5 years ago. According to the contract the company would come out and remove and reinstall gutter helmet, but they never showed up on the promised date (and never called), and the re-roofers had to do the job, which then voided the warrenty. We just took the gutters down today to install new siding….and there wasn’t a single leaf in any part of the gutters. (prior to gutter helmet I had small trees and shrubs growing in the gutter every year).

  13. Has anyone had a problem with icicles after having Gutter Helmet installed?? We never had a problem until now-so many icicles-the installer has done nothing to help us with this problem! PLEASE E-MAIL ME IF YOU HAVE A SOLUTION!
    ELINKA43@AOL.COM
    MANY THANKS!

  14. Has anyone had a problem with icicles after having Gutter Helmet installed?? We never had a problem until now-so many icicles-the installer has done nothing to help us with this problem! PLEASE E-MAIL ME IF YOU HAVE A SOLUTION!ELINKA43@AOL.COMMANY THANKS!

    • It is a natural occurance with this type of system, icicles are simply an act of nature, when they get to large you have to knock them down, At least the ice is outside your home’s walls and attic!

  15. We have a still-continuing negative experience with Gutter Helmet for my parents house. The service manager, Bill, of Gutter Helmet of Michigan, was accusing us of messing up their job! We have ice dams and icicles in the winter. Then when it thaws, we have water seeping into the soffit/fascia area on about 75 to 80% of the house! The bottom side of the soffit has been wet so many times, it has mold/fungus growing on it! They are quoting code, “must be no ice/water shield.” Funny thing is the contract says nothing about building code, nor the $85 they want to charge before they even come out for lifetime warranty work (it was 14 months since the install date)! If the roof was bad in the first place, the salesman and installers should have walked away in the first place. The house was built to code for the time the roof was installed. So much for the lifetime warranty. It is made my Semco, but Matt Whelan has not helped. Everyone seems to come up with a reason why it is leaking, but no one is taking responsibility for their product. No one will take a free look to see if they had a bad installer or anything. I will never consider using Gutter Helmet of Michigan (Grand Rapids area), nor any Semco products. Neither stands behind their product, at least in the two months we have been trying to fix the leaks.

    • Do you know for sure that your walls and attic are insulated as well as possible and correctly? does your roof have an ice guard membrane along gutter lines and valleys? Lastly, do you have heat cable installed along these areas. These three solutions are what you can do to prevent ice damming, but in no way are they a 100% garauntee against ice damming. This is still an act of nature. Also, this is a leaf protection system and advertised as such not an Ice control system. Your installation company sounds bad. But the product sounds normal.

  16. We have a still-continuing negative experience with Gutter Helmet for my parents house. The service manager, Bill, of Gutter Helmet of Michigan, was accusing us of messing up their job! We have ice dams and icicles in the winter. Then when it thaws, we have water seeping into the soffit/fascia area on about 75 to 80% of the house! The bottom side of the soffit has been wet so many times, it has mold/fungus growing on it! They are quoting code, “must be no ice/water shield.” Funny thing is the contract says nothing about building code, nor the $85 they want to charge before they even come out for lifetime warranty work (it was 14 months since the install date)! If the roof was bad in the first place, the salesman and installers should have walked away in the first place. The house was built to code for the time the roof was installed. So much for the lifetime warranty. It is made my Semco, but Matt Whelan has not helped. Everyone seems to come up with a reason why it is leaking, but no one is taking responsibility for their product. No one will take a free look to see if they had a bad installer or anything. I will never consider using Gutter Helmet of Michigan (Grand Rapids area), nor any Semco products. Neither stands behind their product, at least in the two months we have been trying to fix the leaks.

  17. I would never recomend gutter helmet.Our roof was 23 years old when we had them installed.Nobody told us that if you need a new roof only gutter helmet can take them down and put them back up or it voids the warrenty.We need a new roof and they want over a thousand dollars to take them down and then reinstall them.The owner was very rude and he also wouldnt return my calls till several days later.They are a very dishonest company check other companys before you even consider gutter helmet.

  18. I would never recomend gutter helmet.Our roof was 23 years old when we had them installed.Nobody told us that if you need a new roof only gutter helmet can take them down and put them back up or it voids the warrenty.We need a new roof and they want over a thousand dollars to take them down and then reinstall them.The owner was very rude and he also wouldnt return my calls till several days later.They are a very dishonest company check other companys before you even consider gutter helmet.

  19. I STILL WAITING FOR THEM TO FINISH MINE. THREE (3) YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!! GOT ANY IDEAS WHERE THEY ARE, LET ME KNOW.

  20. I STILL WAITING FOR THEM TO FINISH MINE. THREE (3) YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!! GOT ANY IDEAS WHERE THEY ARE, LET ME KNOW.

  21. We now have gutter helmet and our gutters our still filling up with leaves. We called the company and the want to charge us $85.00 to come and clean them out! Also we have a problem with icecycles hanging from our eaves which we did not have before Gutter helmet. Buyer beware.

  22. My gutters used to clog all the time with leaves and pine needles from all the trees around my house. my husband hated getting out the ladder and cleaning them. I finally installed a gutter guard so that we wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. It's called Gutterglove Gutterguard. It's has a stainless steel mesh on an aluminum frame. It looks and feels pretty heavy duty. I ordered it and installed it myself. I am so happy with the way it is preforming. We don't have to clean the gutters anymore. It was well worth the investment and I would recomend it to everyone!

  23. My gutters used to clog all the time with leaves and pine needles from all the trees around my house. my husband hated getting out the ladder and cleaning them. I finally installed a gutter guard so that we wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. It's called Gutterglove Gutterguard. It's has a stainless steel mesh on an aluminum frame. It looks and feels pretty heavy duty. I ordered it and installed it myself. I am so happy with the way it is preforming. We don't have to clean the gutters anymore. It was well worth the investment and I would recomend it to everyone!

  24. I'm not finished read this yet, but it's so fabulous 'n I'll back again when I was finished my job 😀

  25. We are getting estimates from Leak Guard and Gutter Helmit. Very high so far…can anyone share their experience with gutters on a metal roof? thanks in advance, Chris

  26. In response to “Why I will not recommend gutter helmet”…I am also not having a good experience. Rain is running down between the roof and the gutter into my bedroom window. I can’t get anyone to come to the house to look at it. The lady handling the calls and scheduling the appointments is rude as hell. The system is supposed to be guaranteed for life, but they don’t seem to want to help customers maintain and/or fix problems. The inconvenience of climbing a ladder on a hot summer day sounds great now compared to the inconvenience of dealing with poor workmanship and un-professionals.

  27. I am also in the same boat. Larry our salesman put in this system. Could not doit and finally heads office sent his son!! No better. In aug/2010 replaced it as new eavestrough people could not believe the holes Larry made in eavestroughs the slope and sinking of our sidewalk from gutter helmet not installed properly. This company does no overseeing in Canada and Larry is a scam artist far too overweight too attempt this type of work. He would not answer repeated calls when it wouldn’t work!!! New gutters are a dream and the old from Gutter Helmet are used as an example of how not to ever buy into this scam!!

  28. Our Gutter Helmet gutters are clogged, and we can’t find a dealer anywhere near us. Went on email address to find a telephone number…none! Emailed to get quote for install to see what we could find out about company…they said sorry we have no dealers in your area, we will keep your number for when we get a dealer in your area. Guess you get what you paid for…should have gone with Leaf Guard.

  29. There is another problem using Gutter Helmet. If you do not have a roof of substantial pitch, the Gutter Helmet winds up not having a downward pitch to it and it essentially forms a dam where water lies instead of going over the edge and into your gutters. I wish I had never put the damned expensive stuff on my house. I live in the Pittsburgh PA area and in winter I not only get normal ice build up in my rain gutters, but I also get as much as a 2″ buildup of ice on top of the Gutter Helmet. Last winter I had considerable water damage from that buildup of ice caused by the Gutter Helmet. And to answer your logical question, I also had the traditional 4′ ice guard layer under my shingles. The Gutter Helmet caused the ice buildup to go even higher than the 4′ ice guard. Next spring that damned expensive Gutter Helmet is coming off my house.

  30. Your experience has nothing to do with gutter helmet as a product. Same as any trade it’s the performance of the labor. I had a drive way poured and the top poped off in a year,was it bad concrete. No it was the crew who worked it to thin. Bad labor.
    I’ve been in gutter business for 30 years and can sell any product on the
    Market and I assure you I’ve tried them all. If I found a product better thanGutter Helmet I’d sell it,
    There is over 62 million feet of gutter helmet installed in the USA,it’s withstood the test of time and I have hundreds of satisfied customers.
    You got a bad crew it happens but doesn’t keen the product is bad. Gutter Helmet dealers in the US are pro’s and if you contact the regional manager for your’s they would do what ever it takes to correct the situation. Gutter Helmet was invented 30 years ago and is in my opinion the best on the market bar none. At last count there were 65 products that say there “as good as” gutter helmet. Your complaint has nothing to do with gutter helmet you complaint is with a single gutter company

  31. I purchased Gutter Helmet for my gutters two years ago and I am also dissatisfied with the product and the company. The installation crew left screws all over my property which I complained about and never received any response. The system itself does not work. Most of the water over-runs the gutter and makes a big mess on the ground below. The material the product is constructed from is also poor quality. When I put my ladder against the roof to clean off the gutter helmet covers to maintain the surface tension needed for them to work, the ladder presses against the gutter helmet system and dents it. Water over-run is a particular problem where ever there is a seam connecting two sections together, which is approximately every 5 feet. The endcaps on the system are also not installed correctly and is not sealed to keep critters out. I would not recommend Gutter Helmet to anyone. It does keep debris from building up in my gutters, but it does not effectively manage the water flow and is not a low-maintenance product. Customer service from this company is also poor.

  32. The rain gutters on my house fill with debris regularly. One section is rusted out and the fascia in another area is rotted as well. I’ve investigated all of the gutter designs I could find and was not satisfied with any. Either they were too expensive or they are hard to clean, or they would not protect the house. I’m not swayed by commercial designs that promise “No cleaning.” I know that can never be. So, I’ve invented my own version. I made a prototype that really seems to work well. Next, I’m going to fabricate enough to replace the section the failed behind our garage — about 40 linear feet in all. Material cost is about $1/linear foot. I’ll track installation difficulty and time. Maybe I’ll make a video that I can post on You Tube. Anyhow, by spring 2012, I ought to know if I have a winner or not. If the system performs as well as I expect, based on the prototype, I’ll consider offering it commercially to others. By the way, even though snow and ice is not a problem here in So. Cal, I believe I can handle that problem, too. Stay tuned.

    • jay, we are all waiting with bated breath! What is your design. I have a cabin under the trees in the mountains of Western Virginia. I desperatedly need so sort of gutter cover. But based on the reviews of Gutter Helmet, they have been deleted from my list of options. So, what do you have going? We need an alternative!
      Jodi in Virginia

  33. Apparently you are targetting the wrong people. You hired a team that no longer worked for Gutter Helmet but represented themselves as such and there must have been a reason for that. It wasn’t the product that fialed, it was the installation by an incompetent team. I have gutter Helmet and it is the best investment I’ve ever made.
    Roof pitch is key in the sytem working properly and a good team would tell you so. On part of my roof it is almost flat and I was told the helmet could not be installed because of the pitch.
    The product is only as good as the workers who install it. As in any business, you have good and bad workers. It behooves anyone spending good money to ask for references to contact BEFORE proceeding.
    The people who installed mine were from Dutchess County in New York. Just because it says Gutter Helmet and can be found in several locations doesn’t mean each location has reputable workers. You need employees who know and do roofing, gutters and siding for a living – not fly-by-night employees who don’t know a thing.
    It’s sad to say, but it is up to the consumer to beware and check the people before hiring them. Hopefully all those who had bad experiences sued to recoup the money laid out.

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