Washington County, Maryland
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Fountainhead-Orchard Hills, MD
A normal year in Fountainhead-Orchard Hills brings about 36 inches of rain; on roughly 6 of its days, an inch or more comes down at once. The wettest season is spring (March to May), with about 9.9 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 7.3. Off a 1,000-square-foot roof, that comes to about 22,100 gallons a year for the gutters to carry.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving Fountainhead-Orchard HillsFountainhead-Orchard Hills: rain and roofs
NOAA station USW00093706, 2 miBars to one scale; the longest is spring (March to May).
By heavy-rain days, Fountainhead-Orchard Hills falls among the fewest heavy-rain days of the 329 places in Maryland on this site (6.3 a year). Its housing ranks near the middle of the 329 places in Maryland on this site (half built by 1978). By first frost it falls near the middle of the 329 places in Maryland on this site (November 4).
When to clean gutters in Fountainhead-Orchard Hills
The first fall frost comes around November 4 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around April 7 (median dates, NOAA normals). A fall cleaning set for the weeks after that frost, when the branches over the house are bare, gets the year’s leaves in one trip; a spring visit follows once the pollen and catkins have come down.
When to clean gutters explains how the trees over a roof change the schedule.
Gutter and downspout size for Fountainhead-Orchard Hills rain
Gutters are sized for the worst few minutes of a storm, not for the year. In Fountainhead-Orchard Hills the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 6.59 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 2). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 1,090 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 2,190, 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 33 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 Fountainhead-Orchard Hills
Half the homes in Fountainhead-Orchard Hills were built by 1978, 52% 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. 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.
84% of households own their home, and 75% of homes are detached houses, 7% 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 Fountainhead-Orchard Hills
With half the homes built by 1978, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: