Oakland County, Michigan
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Birmingham, MI
Rain in Birmingham adds up to about 34 inches in a normal year, with about 5 days that bring an inch or more. The wettest season is summer (June to August), with about 9.7 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 6.3. Off a 1,000-square-foot roof, that comes to about 21,000 gallons a year for the gutters to carry.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving BirminghamBirmingham: rain and roofs
NOAA station USC00206658, 7 miBars to one scale; the longest is summer (June to August).
Counting days with an inch of rain or more, Birmingham sits among the fewest heavy-rain days of the 405 places in Michigan on this site (5.3 a year). By house age it falls near the middle of the 406 places in Michigan on this site (half built by 1960). By first frost it falls among the latest for the first fall frost of the 406 places in Michigan on this site (October 22).
When to clean gutters in Birmingham
The first fall frost comes around October 22 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around April 26 (median dates, NOAA normals). A fall cleaning set for the weeks after that frost, when the branches over the house are bare, gets the year’s leaves in one trip; a spring visit follows once the pollen and catkins have come down.
When to clean gutters explains how the trees over a roof change the schedule.
Gutter and downspout size for Birmingham rain
The short, hard downpour is what a gutter is sized for. In Birmingham the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 6.44 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 8). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 1,120 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 2,240, 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.
With about 36 inches of snow in a normal year here (NOAA normals), gutters carry ice as well as water. Ice dams start with heat from the house melting roof snow that refreezes at the edge (University of Minnesota Extension); the fix for the dam is in the attic, and the gutter’s part is to be hung strongly enough to take the weight.
The houses in Birmingham
Half the homes in Birmingham were built by 1960, 70% before 1980 (ACS 2020–2024). Houses that age have often had their gutters replaced once already; if not, the original runs and the boards behind them deserve a close look. 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.
76% of households own their home, and 71% of homes are detached houses, 5% townhouses. If an association maintains the exterior, the gutters may be its job rather than yours; check before calling.
Hiring in Michigan
Licensing for gutter work differs from state to state; ask a contractor in Birmingham which license or registration they hold in Michigan, and for proof of liability insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor
Gutter work in Birmingham
With half the homes built by 1960, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: