Life Time Warranty:
On display at a trade show was a single fin type of gutter
cover with a trough. There are several manufacturers with this basic
design. They were providing a life time performance warranty.
Knowing that this design will clog inside the gutter, the question was, “How can they provide a life time performance warranty?”
The question was put to the sales manager of the product and his answer was, “For twenty dollars a foot I can afford to send a service crew once a year for a long time to clean out the gutters.”
So the real question is, “Are you buying a product that can live up to a life-time performance warranty, or are you buying a company that will clean them out for you?”
If you’re investing in anything other than Waterloov, you are buying a company and the real question is, “How can you be guaranteed that the company will be around to clean out your clogged gutters?” If you compare the yellow page listings five years ago with today’s yellow page listings you’ll get a idea as to the transient nature of the business.
Another trick some installers of gutter cover companies use is that they provide you with a life-time performance warranty, but they hide from you the fact that there’s a remedy period of time.
In other words, if your gutters clog, what remedy do you have to make things right. It could be for the first two years, the company will clean your gutters for free, after that period of time, you pay a service call fee plus a labor fee to clean your gutter and it could be for several hundred dollars.
With Waterloov, the remedy is for as long as you own your home, the installing contractor will clean your gutters for free should they ever clog.
Hidden Fees:
You hope not, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
Often times you’ll find a contractor willing to install a product on
your home at a bargain low price. Unfortunately it’s often a design that
requires maintenance and in the small print of the contract are hidden
maintenance fees such as the remedy fee referenced above. Or it simply
might be that any future service would be subject to an open ended
charge.
With Waterloov, there are no hidden fees.
Will the system
work in all kinds of conditions?
Would you believe that there are some
devices that won’t work in a slow rainfall leaving a line of erosion all
about your home, and there are some devices that will overshoot in heavy
rain fall conditions?
The rain dispersal type of product that replaces your gutters drips in drizzle to slow rain fall conditions. Also if debris is trapped on top of it, it won’t work.
Many of the fin type devices must be installed at a critical angle in order to work. They are notorious for overshooting rain water in heavy rain fall conditions.
Waterloov works in a drizzle, slow rain-fall conditions, medium rain-fall and torrential rain fall conditions to collect all the rain water.
Will the system work with any kind of roof?
Many systems can’t
be used with flat roofs, metal roofs, Yankee built in gutters, slate,
wood shingle, metal, and so on. It’s important to ask if the contractor
is using manufacturer recommended practices—and get a copy of those
practices—or if they are jury-rigging the installation.
Waterloov Can be installed with all types of roofing—flat roll roofing, torch down, gravel stop, composite shingle, metal roofing, slate, wood shingle and so on.
Will the system collect Valley Water?
Gutter guards are one
thing. Valley collection devices are another. Most gutter cover
companies either use nothing to collect valley water or they use
fence-like diverter devices. In debris conditions the fence-like devices
clog with debris and become useless until serviced and cleaned.
R. K. Industries, manufacturer of the Waterloov Gutter Protection product is the only company to provide two alternative methods of collecting valley water.
For shorter valleys, there’s the patented dome diverter. It’s a stealth type of device that is installed in the corner and diverts the water from the valley to the left and right of the inside corner. It has not surfaces to collect debris.
For the longer valley, R. K. Industries has its award winning Valley-Fall™. Valley-Fall™ is a special Waterloov panel that is mounted diagonally in the valley. Water from the valley is spread out across the gutter cover panel, collected by the openings in the front and passed to the gutter below through openings in the gutter covers that are installed in the corners of the gutter.
Roof Warranty:
Many gutter guards are fastened to your
roofing with nails or screws. This will void your roofing warranty and
if a leak were ever to develop, (and it could easily) your roofer will
blame it on the fasteners used to install the gutter guards and your
gutter guard installer will claim it can’t be because of his work
because he installed the gutter covers in accordance with the
manufacturers instructions.
With Waterloov, you never have that issue or problem. Waterloov is hard fastened to the under-lip of the gutter and as such no fasteners are ever used to fasten the product to the roofing—except in the case of a Mansard roof (a near vertically pitched roof).
Is there a guarantee that I’ll never have to climb a ladder again? With most gutter guards, they will clog in mild to heavy debris conditions and require servicing. If you can’t get your installing contractor to do it—maybe he’s gone out of business—you’ll have to clean them yourself. Go to utube.com and search for gutter guards and you’ll see the problems some of these popular gutter covers create.
With Waterloov you’ll never have to climb ladders or depend on a contractor to service or clean the gutter guard. It’s completely serviceable from the ground with a telescopic pole and brush assembly. It’s called “suit an tie” because it’s not a dirty job and can literally be done while wearing a suit and tie. The telescoping pole extends 24’ allowing easy maintenance of second floor installations.
If I need service, how much do you charge?
This is an excellent question to ask any and all
contractors. Why might you need service? Answer: Tree limbs fall and
damage gutter covers. With some gutter guards—the all in one (gutter
and guard all in one), the entire length of gutter must be replaced at
considerable cost.
With Waterloov, the gutter cover is often strong enough to protect the gutter and can either be re straightened or easily replaced. Your installing dealer will have a schedule of fees including service call plus hourly labor rates.
What maintenance is required?
If you live in a heavy debris area and anyone tells you that no maintenance
will be required and you believe him/her then you also probably believe
in Santa. The truth is that all gutter protectors or gutter guards
require maintenance and if it can’t be easily done by you, you’ll have
to depend on the contractor to do it for you.
Waterloov is the only product that can be easily maintained from the ground by the homeowner. First because the louvers are in the front vertical plane, it’s easy to see where the clogging is occurring. Other systems clog on top or inside a fin or trough where you can’t see it.
Waterloov is the only system that can be cleaned with “suit and tie” maintenance—see previous question re climbing ladders.