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Leaf Guards for Effective Roofing Solutions from Leafless

At last there's a gutter guard that works.

For nearly 30 years Jonda Sheetmetal Australia has built a reputation as a general fabricator and quality manufacturer and supplier of rainwater goods.

Now the Melbourne company's willingness to innovate to meet customer needs is attracting interest and sales of its latest product Australia wide.

At Jonda's West Heidelberg premises John Nikolopoulos, who built the business with his wife Dani, has worked for several years to design and manufacture an effective leaf guard product.

"There are plenty of products on the market, but they all had drawbacks, especially the cheap ones," said daughter Laura Nikolopoulos, who now plays an active role in the business along with her brother Jake.

"Customers wanted a leaf guard that was going to last - one built for all roof types. John developed several different types of perforated meshes but then decided to develop one from scratch, not just adapt something already produced for another purpose. "The big problem with many mesh-type leaf guard products is that holes in the mesh are so small that they tend to clog up with dust, roof lichen and broken down plant material. "When these holes fill up, the mesh almost becomes a flat surface and water will flow over the top and over the edge of the gutter."

Jonda's Leafless solution uses a six millimetre hole which is too large to clog, yet too small to let debris though into the gutter. Aluminium construction ensures Leafless will not break down in sunlight as many plastic products will.

Optimum leaf shedding and drainage performance is achieved by corrugating the 2.5 metre rolls of the perforated material which are then powder coated to match the COLORBOND® steel range.

Aluminium was selected because of its suitability for hand shaping during installation to follow the profile of tile or metal roofs.

BlueScope Steel - Sheet Metal Supplies Sunshine branch has been a long-term supplier to Jonda and was able to source the aluminium feed for the machine that John Nikolopoulos designed and built to produce his Leafless gutter guard.

"They've been a supplier of all the sheet and coil products for our business and were extremely helpful in sourcing what we needed," Laura said. "We're getting strong inquiry and sales through the leafless.com.au website and we have also begun a radio advertising campaign which is working well for us. Originally sales were mainly in Victoria but Leafless is now also starting to go interstate.
"It's easy to install because it doesn't require any lifting of tiles and as a non-combustible product it has a fire rating of ZERO in compliance with Australian Standard AS 3959. "That makes it ideal for building in bush fire prone areas, where plastic meshes simply aren't.
"Many sales are to DIY users, but Jim's Roofing franchisees are also using our product and our traditional roofing contractor customers are seeing it as a good product and an extra business opportunity. "We can arrange installation by highly reputable tradesmen who receive ongoing company training, are fully qualified and insured," Laura concluded.

For more information go to www.leafless.com.au

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