Montgomery County, Maryland
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Damascus, MD
A normal year in Damascus brings about 48 inches of rain; on roughly 13 of its days, an inch or more comes down at once. The wettest season is summer (June to August), with about 13.3 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 10.3. That is about 29,700 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 DamascusDamascus: rain and roofs
NOAA station USC00182336, 2 miBars to one scale; the longest is summer (June to August).
Counting days with an inch of rain or more, Damascus sits 7th for heavy-rain days of the 329 places in Maryland on this site (13.3 a year). By house age it falls near the middle of the 329 places in Maryland on this site (half built by 1983). By first frost it falls 54th earliest for the first fall frost of the 329 places in Maryland on this site (October 29).
When to clean gutters in Damascus
The first fall frost comes around October 29 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around April 14 (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 Damascus rain
The short, hard downpour is what a gutter is sized for. In Damascus the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 6.48 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 2). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 1,110 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 2,220, 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.
Damascus averages about 31 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 Damascus
Half the homes in Damascus were built by 1983, 38% 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.
92% of households own their home, and 77% of homes are detached houses, 15% townhouses. If an association maintains the exterior, the gutters may be its job rather than yours; check before calling.
Hiring in Maryland
Maryland requires a Maryland Home Improvement Commission license for home improvement work of any amount, gutters included, and a contractor may not take a deposit of more than one third of the contract price (Business Regulation § 8-617). Look the license up before signing, and keep the deposit to one third or less.
Source: Maryland Business Regulation § 8-101. Look-up: Maryland Home Improvement Commission, public query.
Gutter work in Damascus
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: