The "Pros" and "Cons" of IG

IG offers significant "Pros"...

• IG offers peak performance in high-volume drainage areas—like roof valleys, where overflows are a problem. It works in areas:
  
  
  • Where solid gutter covers fail—even when they are perfectly clean (This is not an idle claim— see our test roof for yourself)
    
    
  • Where most other systems fail—including screens and meshes—because the systems themselves tend to clog.
    
    
• IG's other primary advantage is that, in most cases, it is virtually unnoticeable from the ground. It’s not invisible, but it’s the next best thing.
  
  

...and one "Con", which only applies to certain yards:

• Ash Trees with seeds (check first—not all ash trees have seeds). Ash Tree seeds can get stuck in IG’s mesh, creating a dam on top of the mesh that may linger around for a month or two at a time. Some of those seeds will slip through the mesh. If there’s enough of them and if the downspout is small (2" x 3"), they can form a dam over the downspout.
  
  
• Long-Needled Pine Trees. As with Ash Tree seeds, long pine needles can get stuck in IG’s mesh openings, creating a dam on top of the mesh. However, not many long needles can slip through the mesh, so you’re less likely to experience gutter dams. (Note: short-needled Spruce and Fir trees do NOT create this problem, so the first thing to do is identify your trees!)
  
  
• Locust Tree stems are in some ways similar to long pine needles and may negatively affect IG performance, but to a lesser degree. (We have installed IG near Locust Trees, and so far we have not observed any problems. Perhaps we are being overly cautious to consider the Locust a Restricted Tree, but we’d rather be safe than sorry.)