I fell off a ladder cleaning gutters three years ago. Nothing broken — just bruised ribs and wounded pride — but it was enough to make me never want to climb up there again. My neighbor saw me limping around and said “just put mesh in the gutters.”

He was right. I installed plastic gutter mesh in an afternoon and have not cleaned my gutters since.

What You Need

Go to any hardware store and get roll-out plastic gutter guard mesh. It costs about $15 for a 20-foot roll. You also need a pair of tin snips to cut it and — here is the part nobody tells you — work gloves. The cut edges are sharp.

You do not need the expensive metal guards with the clamps and the brackets. The simple plastic mesh works fine for leaves and pine needles. The only thing it does not handle is those tiny helicopter seeds from maple trees, and honestly nothing handles those.

How to Install Without a Ladder

If your roof has a gentle slope and you can safely walk on it: crawl to the edge and tuck the mesh under the first row of shingles, then curve it down into the gutter. The shingles hold one edge, gravity holds the other.

If that is not safe for your roof — and it is not safe for most roofs — use a telescoping pole with a U-shaped attachment. Slide the mesh up, position it, and use the pole to tuck it in place. It is clumsy at first but you get the hang of it after the first few feet.

Wear a hard hat or at least a baseball cap. Bits of old leaves and roof grit will rain down on you. Eye protection too — gutter sediment in the eye is about as fun as it sounds.