Butte County, California
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Chico, CA
Chico gets about 56 inches of rain in a normal year, and on about 21 days a year an inch or more falls in a single day. The wettest season is winter (December to February), with about 31.5 inches; the driest is summer (June to August), with 1.0. Every 1,000 square feet of roof sheds about 34,900 gallons a year, and all of it goes through the gutters.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving ChicoChico: rain and roofs
NOAA station USC00046685, 10 miBars to one scale; the longest is winter (December to February).
For days with an inch of rain or more, Chico ranks 11th for heavy-rain days of the 939 places in California on this site (20.6 a year). By the age of its homes it sits near the middle of the 938 places in California on this site (half built by 1983). By its first fall frost it sits 105th earliest for the first fall frost of the 507 places in California on this site (November 17).
When to clean gutters in Chico
The first fall frost comes around November 17 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around March 4 (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 Chico rain
What overwhelms a gutter is a burst, not a season. In Chico the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 3.35 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 6). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 2,150 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 4,300, 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.
The houses in Chico
Half the homes in Chico were built by 1983, 45% 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.
44% of households own their home, and 52% of homes are detached houses, 4% townhouses. Where an HOA governs the exterior, its rules on gutter color and style apply before any order is placed.
Hiring in California
Ask any contractor working in Chico what California requires of them for gutter work, and to show proof of insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor
In California’s fire hazard severity zones, the 2025 Wildland-Urban Interface Code (in force January 1, 2026) requires gutters and downspouts of noncombustible material, and gutters fitted with an approved means to keep leaves and debris from collecting (section 504.4). (2025 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code, Chapter 5 (UpCodes))
Gutter work in Chico
With half the homes built by 1983, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: