Washington County, Minnesota
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Cottage Grove, MN
Cottage Grove gets about 33 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 13.5 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 3.0. Every 1,000 square feet of roof sheds about 20,700 gallons a year, and all of it goes through the gutters.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving Cottage GroveCottage Grove: rain and roofs
NOAA station USC00213567, 4 miBars to one scale; the longest is summer (June to August).
For days with an inch of rain or more, Cottage Grove ranks near the middle of the 334 places in Minnesota on this site (7.4 a year). By the age of its homes it sits near the middle of the 335 places in Minnesota on this site (half built by 1988). The first frost here ranks among the latest for the first fall frost of the 336 places in Minnesota on this site (October 19).
When to clean gutters in Cottage Grove
The first fall frost comes around October 19 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around April 23 (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 Cottage Grove rain
What overwhelms a gutter is a burst, not a season. In Cottage Grove 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.
With about 41 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 Cottage Grove
Half the homes in Cottage Grove were built by 1988, 39% before 1980 (ACS 2020–2024). At that age a gutter has seen decades of leaves and storms, and the fascia it hangs from has too.
88% of households own their home, and 81% of homes are detached houses, 12% townhouses. Where an HOA governs the exterior, its rules on gutter color and style apply before any order is placed.
Hiring in Minnesota
Before hiring in Cottage Grove, ask which Minnesota license or registration the contractor holds and for a certificate of liability insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor
Gutter work in Cottage Grove
In a neighborhood with half its homes built by 1988, the usual calls are cleaning, guards and small repairs. The line takes all of it: