AMERIMAX HOME 85072009 STAINLESS SNOW GUARD 9"

• 9"
• Stainless Steel
• Designed to prevent mass quantities of snow and ice from avalanching off the roof.
• Protects gutters and roof edging.
• Helps prevent damage to lower roofs.

Strong, look great, should last forever:
Amerimax Stainless Snow Guard Amazon should clarify that the price shown is for one dozen snow guards. The principal reason to use snow guards is to prevent mass quantities of snow and ice from avalanching off a roof. The steeper the roof, the more important they are. They are also decorative and can improve the looks of a roof. Snow guards are particularly important on metal roofs, due to the smooth surface. However, these guards are for a shingle roof, as the strap goes under a shingle, with the guard portion showing. Snow guards come in copper, stainless steel, cast aluminum, cast bronze, galvanized malleable iron, galvanized steel, and various plastics such as UV resistant Polycarbonate, and in designs other than this model. Copper, bronze, or stainless steel guards should last several lifetimes, since they won't pit, rust, corrode, or crack. We used all copper roof flashing on a home addition and still chose stainless steel snow guards because of their superior strength. These "made in the USA" guards are excellent quality and are strong enough to actually hold back a large snow load. The metal is 16 gauge (.057" thick). The strap is 9" long. The guard is 2.75" high and 4.125" wide, has an embossed design to improve looks and strength, and it's securely attached to the strap with two 7/32" stainless steel rivets. Poor quality stainless steel will rust. An easy test for quality is to see if a magnet sticks, or is attracted to, the "stainless steel". If yes, it has a less than optimal chromium content, and may eventually rust. The metal in this product passes the magnet test, which means it's good quality. The only negative is that these guards are NOT polished as shown in the Amazon photo. Instead, the metal has a dull appearance. They are perfectly fine to use as is, but I wanted them to be shiny. So, I polished the face of each snow guard with a bench-mounted buffing wheel (see Customer Images). If you don't have access to a buffer wheel, you could sand the guard face with 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper, then polish with crocus cloth. Use a high quality brand of abrasives, such as GatorGrit or 3M. This approach won't result in as high a shine as buffer-polishing, but the guards will look better. We had 24 of these guards installed on a steep (10/12 pitch) roof, to catch/hold snow, and they look great.