Gutter Guards in Highland Square, Akron

Highland Square lies just west of downtown Akron, and more than 7,600 people live in it. West Market Street is its spine. The branch library and the old theatre face each other there, and Portage Path, named for the trail where canoes were once carried between two rivers, crosses a few blocks on.

The houses are on the side streets. Half of them were already standing by 1918, which makes this one of the older residential parts of the city. The styles are the ones the 1920s loved: colonials, and Tudors with tall front gables.

A typical Highland Square house rises two and a half stories. That puts the main gutter well above twenty feet, out of reach of any ladder a homeowner is likely to keep in the garage.

The roof is rarely one simple shape. Dormers poke through it, and each dormer has a short gutter with two ends to close. A bay window may have its own strip of roof. Then there is the porch.

Highland Square is known for PorchRokr, the yearly festival where bands set up on front porches and thousands of people walk from house to house. Those porches are part of how the neighborhood was built, and nearly every one of them carries a gutter that drains the porch roof and often an upper downspout as well.

All of this adds corners. On a guard job that is extra cutting and fitting, since every corner gets a miter. It is not extra cost. Guttrz does not charge by the corner.

Street trees grow on the devil strip, the band of grass between sidewalk and curb. Where a house stands close to the sidewalk, a mature street tree reaches right over the front gutter. Yard trees do the same job at the back.

Oaks and maples make up much of that canopy. The maples send down winged seeds, then leaves. The oaks shed tassels in May and hold their leaves late, so the gutters keep filling after the neighbors think the season is over. An oak leaf is stiff and slow to rot. A handful of them at a downspout outlet works like a cork.

Micro-mesh keeps all of it on top of the gutter instead of inside. The page comparing micro-mesh with screens and other guard types explains why the small debris is what decides the matter.

The guard fastens to the fascia board, and on a house from 1918 that board may be original. So the owner starts with the wood. He presses along it, pays attention below the roof valleys, and photographs anything soft.

Next come the hangers. Gutters of that era were commonly hung on spikes, and a century of winters loosens spikes. Where a run has started to dip, hidden hangers are screwed into the rafter tails so the mesh has a straight line to follow.

He also looks at how the job can be reached. Tall houses on tight lots leave narrow side yards, and a ladder needs firm footing and a safe angle. Sorting that out at the visit means no surprises on the day. More on all three checks is on the page about gutter guards for older Akron homes.

A gutter cleaning on a ranch is a short visit with a short ladder. On a two-and-a-half-story Tudor it is slow, careful work at height, and under this much canopy it wants doing twice a year. It is the kind of chore that gets put off. The first sign is usually water sheeting over the front edge in a downpour, or a stain creeping down the wall.

Guards change that arithmetic most on exactly this kind of house. After the install, upkeep is a hose rinse of the mesh once or twice a year.

Height does show up in the price. Two-story and steep runs carry the higher of two per-foot rates, while the porch roof is charged at the lower one. The gutter guard cost page shows how a mixed house is added up.

Akron collects loose leaves ward by ward each fall. Under the rules announced for 2026 they belong on the devil strip, not in the street, and signs go up about 48 hours before the trucks reach a ward. Guards can be fitted before or after that, because the gutters are cleaned as part of the installation either way.

Fitting guards is not construction. If an inspection ever turns up framing that needs rebuilding, the office to know is the Summit County Department of Building Standards at 1030 E. Tallmadge Ave., which issues building permits for the whole city. Akron's own Plans and Permits Center is at the same address.