Dubuque County, Iowa
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Cascade, IA
Cascade gets about 39 inches of rain in a normal year, and on about 10 days a year an inch or more falls in a single day. The wettest season is summer (June to August), with about 15.1 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 4.5. Off a 1,000-square-foot roof, that comes to about 24,400 gallons a year for the gutters to carry.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving CascadeCascade: rain and roofs
NOAA station USC00131257, 0 miBars to one scale; the longest is summer (June to August).
By heavy-rain days, Cascade falls 56th for heavy-rain days of the 290 places in Iowa on this site (9.7 a year). Its housing ranks among the newest by median year built of the 290 places in Iowa on this site (half built by 1976). By first frost it falls near the middle of the 290 places in Iowa on this site (October 10).
When to clean gutters in Cascade
The first fall frost comes around October 10 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around April 28 (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 Cascade rain
The short, hard downpour is what a gutter is sized for. In Cascade the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 8.00 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 8). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 900 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 1,800, 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.
Cascade averages about 31 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 Cascade
Half the homes in Cascade were built by 1976, 56% 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.
69% of households own their home, and 74% 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 Iowa
Licensing for gutter work differs from state to state; ask a contractor in Cascade which license or registration they hold in Iowa, and for proof of liability insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor
Gutter work in Cascade
With half the homes built by 1976, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: