Gutter Spa Club installs gutter guards on homes across the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Conejo valleys and the Santa Monica Mountains. We clean and inspect the gutters first, fix what needs fixing, then fit a guard matched to what falls on your roof. Most of what we install is stainless micro-mesh. Call (818) 913-1626 Monday through Saturday, 7am to 7pm, or request an estimate.
Which gutter guards do you install?
Two types.
Micro-mesh is a fine stainless steel mesh stretched over an aluminum frame that clips or screws to the gutter. The openings are small enough to stop pine needles and roof grit. This is the type we install most.
Screen guards are aluminum or steel with punched or woven holes, bigger than micro-mesh. They stop leaves and fronds and let smaller debris through. They cost less, and they work well on lots with only big-leaf trees.
We don’t install foam inserts or brush guards. Foam holds water and sprouts seedlings, and brushes trap debris in the bristles. We also steer people away from reverse-curve (helmet style) guards here. Eucalyptus bark bridges the nose, small oak leaves follow the water into the slot, and in a heavy downpour the water overshoots the curve.
Which guard is right for my trees?
| What’s falling on your roof | Micro-mesh | Screen |
|---|---|---|
| Coast live oak leaves | Good | Fair, small leaves slip through |
| Oak tassels in spring | Builds on top, needs clearing | Passes through |
| Pine and cedar needles | Good | Poor |
| Eucalyptus bark and leaves | Good | Fair |
| Palm fronds | Good | Good |
| Sycamore and ficus leaves | Good | Good |
| Roof grit from comp shingle | Stops it, builds on top | Passes through |
Under pines, cedars or redwoods, as a lot of foothill homes in Sylmar and Tujunga are, micro-mesh is the only guard worth installing. Under mature oaks in Calabasas and Hidden Hills, micro-mesh handles the leaves and still needs a yearly visit for the tassels. The full comparison, including the types we don’t install, is in our gutter guard guide.
What does a guard installation include?
- A full cleaning of the gutters and downspouts.
- An inspection. A guard over a sagging or mis-pitched gutter locks the problem in, so any hanger, seam or downspout issue gets repaired first.
- A guard sized to the gutter. Five-inch K-style, six-inch K-style and half-round each take a different guard.
- Fastening. The guard is fastened down, because Santa Ana winds lift guards that are only snapped in.
- On tile roofs, the guard goes under the first course of tile or against the drip edge. It never rests on the tile.
Guard options and the colors that match existing gutters are on our products page.
Do I need guards on the whole house?
No. A lot of homes in Thousand Oaks and the Conejo Valley have one problem section, like a gutter run under a single big pine or a valley that dumps into one corner. Guards on that section, with the rest left open, is often the right call.
Are gutter guards worth it for my home?
Guards pay off when the cleanings they replace are expensive or risky. That means:
- Two-story homes, where every cleaning is ladder work at height
- Tile roofs, where every cleaning is slower and the valleys shed a lot
- Hillside lots in Porter Ranch, the Santa Monica Mountains and the Conejo hills, where some runs are barely reachable
- Heavy tree cover, where you’d otherwise pay for three or four cleanings a year
They’re hard to justify on a single-story house in a treeless tract, where a cleaning is quick and twice a year is plenty. We’ll tell you if that’s your house.
Do gutter guards help with wildfire?
Metal ones do. A stainless micro-mesh or aluminum screen keeps leaves and needles out of the trough, so an ember that lands on a clean metal guard has nothing to ignite. Plastic and vinyl guards melt and burn. If your house has plastic guards and sits in a hillside neighborhood, replacing them with metal is one of the better fire-hardening upgrades for the money. Gutters and wildfire covers the rest of the roof edge.
Do gutter guards still need maintenance?
Yes, about once a year. We clear whatever is sitting on top of the guard, check the tile valleys and inside corners where debris piles up against the mesh, confirm the guard is still seated and hasn’t lifted or dented, and flush the downspouts.
We maintain guards that someone else installed too. If your current guards are foam or brush, we’ll remove them as part of a gutter cleaning.
How much does gutter guard installation cost?
It depends on how many feet of gutter get covered, which guard goes on, and how hard the roofline is to reach. Screens cost less than micro-mesh. A two-story or tile-roof home takes longer than a single-story one. Any repair the gutter needs first is priced separately.
The estimate is free. Tell us about your house and what trees are over it.