Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Clear Lake, IA
A normal year in Clear Lake brings about 36 inches of rain; on roughly 9 of its days, an inch or more comes down at once. The wettest season is summer (June to August), with about 13.6 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 3.4. That is about 22,500 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 Clear LakeClear Lake: rain and roofs
NOAA station USW00014940, 3 miBars to one scale; the longest is summer (June to August).
Counting days with an inch of rain or more, Clear Lake sits near the middle of the 290 places in Iowa on this site (8.9 a year). By house age it falls near the middle of the 290 places in Iowa on this site (half built by 1973). By its first fall frost it sits 2nd earliest for the first fall frost of the 290 places in Iowa on this site (October 1).
When to clean gutters in Clear Lake
The first fall frost comes around October 1 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around May 3 (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 Clear Lake rain
The short, hard downpour is what a gutter is sized for. In Clear Lake the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 8.23 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 8). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 870 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 1,750, 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.
Clear Lake averages about 44 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 Clear Lake
Half the homes in Clear Lake were built by 1973, 67% 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.
75% of households own their home, and 60% of homes are detached houses, 1% townhouses. In a townhouse or HOA community, check who owns the gutters and what colors are allowed before booking.
Hiring in Iowa
Licensing for gutter work differs from state to state; ask a contractor in Clear Lake which license or registration they hold in Iowa, and for proof of liability insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor
Gutter work in Clear Lake
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: