Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Butte des Morts, WI

When to clean gutters in Butte des Morts

The first fall frost comes around October 20 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around April 24 (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 Butte des Morts rain

Gutters are sized for the worst few minutes of a storm, not for the year. In Butte des Morts the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 6.55 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 8). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 1,100 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 2,200, 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.

Butte des Morts averages about 39 inches of snow a year (NOAA normals). Snow on a roof brings ice dams: heat escaping from the house melts the snow, and the water refreezes at the cold eave, in the gutter and over it. University of Minnesota Extension puts the cause in the attic, not in the gutter, so a gutter that fills with ice is a symptom; hangers spaced to carry ice and a sound fascia are what the gutter itself needs.

The houses in Butte des Morts

Half the homes in Butte des Morts were built by 1993, 32% before 1980 (ACS 2020–2024). At that age a gutter has seen decades of leaves and storms, and the fascia it hangs from has too.

84% of households own their home, and 91% 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 Wisconsin

Before hiring in Butte des Morts, ask which Wisconsin license or registration the contractor holds and for a certificate of liability insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor