Cook County, Illinois
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Chicago, IL
Chicago gets about 34 inches of rain in a normal year, and on about 7 days a year an inch or more falls in a single day. The wettest season is summer (June to August), with about 11.6 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 4.7. That is about 21,300 gallons a year off each 1,000 square feet of roof, every drop of it through a gutter and a downspout.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving ChicagoChicago: rain and roofs
NOAA station USW00014819, 5 miBars to one scale; the longest is summer (June to August).
Counting days with an inch of rain or more, Chicago sits among the fewest heavy-rain days of the 695 places in Illinois on this site (7.4 a year). By the age of its homes it sits 51st oldest by median year built of the 695 places in Illinois on this site (half built by 1952). By its first fall frost it sits among the latest for the first fall frost of the 695 places in Illinois on this site (November 5).
When to clean gutters in Chicago
The first fall frost comes around November 5 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around April 10 (median dates, NOAA normals). Booking the fall cleaning after the first frost, once the trees over the roof are bare, catches the season’s drop in one visit; the spring cleaning comes after the pollen and catkins are down.
When to clean gutters explains how the trees over a roof change the schedule.
Gutter and downspout size for Chicago rain
The short, hard downpour is what a gutter is sized for. In Chicago the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 7.44 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 2). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 970 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 1,940, 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 39 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 Chicago
Half the homes in Chicago were built by 1952, 76% 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.
46% of households own their home, and 26% of homes are detached houses, 4% townhouses. In a townhouse or HOA community, check who owns the gutters and what colors are allowed before booking.
Hiring in Illinois
Ask any contractor working in Chicago what Illinois requires of them for gutter work, and to show proof of insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor
Gutter work in Chicago
With half the homes built by 1952, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: