Showerthought: I spent $80 on a fancy gutter guard system that just made a squirrel condo

I saw an ad for these plastic mesh gutter covers that promised no more cleaning, so I put them on my whole house near UNM. Now I have a family of squirrels living in my gutters because they can stuff leaves and nuts under the mesh but I can't get them out. Has anyone found a gutter fix that actually works without turning into a wildlife hotel?

4 comments

4 Comments

murphy.val25d ago

You have my full sympathy. I watched a neighbor install those same mesh guards and within a month it looked like a squirrel was building a winter cabin up there. The whole point was to avoid a ladder, but then you need one to evict tenants. I went with the old school metal screens you can lift off. They still need a quick brush in autumn, but nothing can build a nest under them.

susana6625d ago

What did the squirrel say when he moved into my gutter? The rent is nuts. I tried those same mesh guards and ended up with a whole rodent apartment complex, complete with acorn storage. I finally gave up and went with the basic metal screen kind you screw down, the ones with bigger holes. They let the little stuff wash through but keep the big leaves out. It's not perfect and I still check them in the fall, but at least I'm not running a bed and breakfast for critters anymore.

jordan_young17d ago

Bed and breakfast for critters" is exactly right. It's like we're building them the perfect starter home with a roof and built-in storage. Those fine mesh guards don't just catch leaves, they catch every twig and seed, which is basically free lumber and groceries for them. So we go from trying to stop a clog to running animal real estate. Maybe the goal shouldn't be to catch everything, but to just stop the big stuff that actually causes a problem.

clairejenkins17d ago

My street has three houses with those fine mesh guards and every single one has a squirrel nest now. It feels like we keep inventing smart solutions that just give animals better blueprints. The old metal screens aren't fancy but they work because they don't try to do too much. Sometimes the simplest fix is the one that doesn't create a whole new problem to solve later.