The goal of Rain Harvesting is to have cleaner rainwater – and lots of it – for use around your home or property.
However, leaves in your gutters can compromise your rain harvesting system, meaning you may end up harvesting inferior rainwater and less of it.
As such, it’s important to keep leaves out of your rain harvesting system so you get the greatest possible volume of fit-for-purpose water in your rainwater tanks.
Why do leaves matter?
Leaves pose several problems for successful Rain Harvesting.
By clogging your gutters and downpipes, leaves can prevent rainwater from entering your rainwater system in the first place, significantly reducing the volume of water you collect. This then leaves you vulnerable to the vagaries of drought and low rainfall, restricting you from using your rainwater as desired.
In addition to this, fresh and composting leaves in your gutters and rainwater system can compromise your water’s opacity, colour and odour, sometimes even rendering it unfit for purpose. This can pose threats to your health and can lead to unnecessary wastage and water shortages.
A build-up of leaves in your gutters can also attract insects and larger pests. In turn, these pests can cause added clogging and contamination, adversely affecting your rainwater quantity and quality even further.
How can you keep leaves out?
One of the most effective solutions for keeping leaves – and accompanying pests – out of your gutters and Rain Harvesting system is to install over-the-gutter gutter mesh with an appropriate aperture (hole size).
Over-the-gutter gutter mesh forms a physical barrier over your gutters that’s designed to let rainwater in and keep leaves and other debris out. By keeping leaves out of the first point of entry into your Rain Harvesting system, it helps to prevent gutter clogging and rainwater supply contamination.
Additional protection is provided because the gutter mesh is installed in line with your roof angle, creating a continuous slope that helps leaves and other debris blow off the mesh more easily. This further reduces opportunities for contamination as leaves are generally prevented from remaining on the mesh long enough to decompose.
Selecting appropriate gutter mesh
Gutter mesh is designed to keep leaves out of your gutters and rainwater catchment, but in order to do this, it’s important to choose gutter mesh with an appropriate aperture (hole size) for your environment.
Leaves aren’t a one-size-fits-all, and neither is your gutter mesh.
Generally speaking, if your home is located in an area with larger leaves, you can use gutter mesh with a larger aperture such as our 5.4mm Steel gutter mesh. However, if your home is situated in an area with smaller leaves, you’ll generally need a smaller aperture gutter mesh in order to keep leaves out of your gutters and rainwater system.
Try Mesh Matcher
Our Mesh Matcher tool provides added peace of mind and certainty by helping you select the right gutter mesh for keeping leaves out of your gutters and Rain Harvesting system.
Fast and easy-to-use, it asks the right questions in order to recommend the most appropriate gutter mesh for you. In addition to leaf size, it also considers other factors in order to provide the most optimal suggestions for you. Put simply, it’s mesh shopping made easy.
So, what are you waiting for? Try the Mesh Matcher tool today.