Madison County, Illinois
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Alton, IL
Alton gets about 42 inches of rain in a normal year, and on about 12 days a year an inch or more falls in a single day. The wettest season is spring (March to May), with about 13.8 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 7.6. Every 1,000 square feet of roof sheds about 26,000 gallons a year, and all of it goes through the gutters.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving AltonAlton: rain and roofs
NOAA station USC00110137, 3 miBars to one scale; the longest is spring (March to May).
For days with an inch of rain or more, Alton ranks 89th for heavy-rain days of the 695 places in Illinois on this site (11.5 a year). By the age of its homes it sits 61st oldest by median year built of the 695 places in Illinois on this site (half built by 1953). The first frost here ranks among the latest for the first fall frost of the 695 places in Illinois on this site (November 5).
When to clean gutters in Alton
The first fall frost comes around November 5 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around April 4 (median dates, NOAA normals). Plan the fall visit for after the frost, when the trees over the roof have finished dropping, and the spring visit for after the pollen and catkins.
When to clean gutters explains how the trees over a roof change the schedule.
Gutter and downspout size for Alton rain
What overwhelms a gutter is a burst, not a season. In Alton the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 7.57 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 2). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 950 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 1,900, by the rule in the Copper Development Association’s design handbook. Try your own roof in the gutter and downspout calculator, which starts from this figure.
The houses in Alton
Half the homes in Alton were built by 1953, 84% before 1980 (ACS 2020–2024). In a neighborhood that age, many houses are on their second set of gutters or due for one, and the fascia board behind them is worth checking at the same visit. On a house built before 1978, replacing more than 20 square feet of painted fascia or trim falls under the EPA’s lead-safe rule, so ask whether the crew is certified.
57% of households own their home, and 75% of homes are detached houses, 1% townhouses. Where an HOA governs the exterior, its rules on gutter color and style apply before any order is placed.
Hiring in Illinois
Ask any contractor working in Alton what Illinois requires of them for gutter work, and to show proof of insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor
Gutter work in Alton
With half the homes built by 1953, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: