How Gutter Guards Handle Colorado Snow and Ice

Most of a guard's winter work happens in the fall. By keeping leaves, needles, and grit out of the trough, it leaves the gutter open for the first melt. A gutter packed with wet leaves turns into a block of ice at the first hard freeze, while a clear one freezes far less.

That matters here because a Colorado winter runs in cycles. A storm drops a foot of snow, the sun comes out, and a south-facing roof can shed most of it in a couple of warm days. Then the temperature drops overnight and any water that didn't reach the downspout freezes where it sits.

With a guard on, snow at the edge slides off with the roof snow instead of packing into the trough.

An ice dam builds on the roof itself, above the gutter, out of meltwater that refreezes at the eave and backs up under the shingles. A guard sits below all of that, so it can't keep a dam from forming.

The melt that feeds a dam comes from house heat leaking into the attic, so keeping that heat out is the main fix. Clear, well-pitched gutters keep ice from getting a foothold in the trough and take weight off the eave, while the dam itself forms on the roof above them.

If you've had ice dams before, guards can still be worth having for the debris they keep out. Just have the attic and the soffit vents looked at too, since that's where a dam gets its start.

After a storm you'll often see snow sitting on the guards along with the rest of the roof. That's normal, and it usually slides off with the roof snow or melts away over the next sunny day.

During a hard freeze-thaw swing, a thin skin of ice can form across the top of a guard, and meltwater may run over the front edge until it softens. An open gutter that's frozen solid does the same thing. Either way it clears as the temperature climbs, which is one more reason to keep downspouts and extensions clear.

Leave the ice alone. Chipping at it with a hammer or an ice pick damages shingles, guards, and gutters, and a ladder on frozen ground is a bad idea. If ice builds up in the same spot every winter, that points to a pitch or ventilation problem worth having looked at.

Winter pushes on a guard from more than one direction. Wind off the foothills and across the plains can lift a guard that isn't fastened down, and snow sliding off a steep roof drags across the guard and the front of the gutter. On an exposed lot in Brighton or east of I-25, guards that only snap into place can shift or blow off, while guards that fasten down stay put.

Where a guard attaches matters for the roof as well. Some styles slide under the first row of shingles to hold themselves in place. The guards Ethan installs attach to the gutter, not under the shingles, so there's no interference with the roof.

A guard is also only as solid as the gutter underneath it. The weight of ice and snow ends up on the gutter's hangers, and a heavy freeze can pull loose hangers right out of the fascia. Guards go onto existing gutters only when those gutters are sound and pitched right, and a run that's sagging or pulling away gets fixed first instead of capped.

A little prep in late fall makes winter easier on any gutter, with guards or without:

At a free on-site estimate, Ethan checks your gutters and roofline, then recommends gutter guards that fasten down and suit the debris your roof gets.