Linn County, Iowa
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Cedar Rapids, IA
Cedar Rapids gets about 36 inches of rain in a normal year, and on about 9 days a year an inch or more falls in a single day. The wettest season is summer (June to August), with about 14.0 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 3.8. Every 1,000 square feet of roof sheds about 22,300 gallons a year, and all of it goes through the gutters.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving Cedar RapidsCedar Rapids: rain and roofs
NOAA station USW00014990, 6 miBars to one scale; the longest is summer (June to August).
For days with an inch of rain or more, Cedar Rapids ranks near the middle of the 290 places in Iowa on this site (8.9 a year). By the age of its homes it sits near the middle of the 290 places in Iowa on this site (half built by 1973). By its first fall frost it sits near the middle of the 290 places in Iowa on this site (October 11).
When to clean gutters in Cedar Rapids
The first fall frost comes around October 11 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around April 27 (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 Cedar Rapids rain
What overwhelms a gutter is a burst, not a season. In Cedar Rapids the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 7.62 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 8). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 940 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 1,890, 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.
Cedar Rapids averages about 34 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 Cedar Rapids
Half the homes in Cedar Rapids were built by 1973, 60% 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.
68% of households own their home, and 62% of homes are detached houses, 5% townhouses. In a townhouse or HOA community, check who owns the gutters and what colors are allowed before booking.
Hiring in Iowa
Ask any contractor working in Cedar Rapids what Iowa requires of them for gutter work, and to show proof of insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor
Gutter work in Cedar Rapids
With half the homes built by 1973, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: