Lee County, Iowa
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Fort Madison, IA
Fort Madison gets about 39 inches of rain in a normal year, and on about 11 days a year an inch or more falls in a single day. The wettest season is summer (June to August), with about 13.0 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 5.5. Every 1,000 square feet of roof sheds about 24,400 gallons a year, and all of it goes through the gutters.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving Fort MadisonFort Madison: rain and roofs
NOAA station USC00133007, 1 miBars to one scale; the longest is summer (June to August).
For days with an inch of rain or more, Fort Madison ranks 8th for heavy-rain days of the 290 places in Iowa on this site (10.5 a year). By the age of its homes it sits 31st oldest by median year built of the 290 places in Iowa on this site (half built by 1951). The first frost here ranks among the latest for the first fall frost of the 290 places in Iowa on this site (October 25).
When to clean gutters in Fort Madison
The first fall frost comes around October 25 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around April 12 (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 Fort Madison rain
What overwhelms a gutter is a burst, not a season. In Fort Madison the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 7.73 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 8). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 930 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 1,860, 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 Fort Madison
Half the homes in Fort Madison were built by 1951, 86% 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.
73% of households own their home, and 75% of homes are detached houses, 3% townhouses. Where an HOA governs the exterior, its rules on gutter color and style apply before any order is placed.
Hiring in Iowa
Ask any contractor working in Fort Madison what Iowa requires of them for gutter work, and to show proof of insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor
Gutter work in Fort Madison
With half the homes built by 1951, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: