Venango County, Pennsylvania
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Franklin, PA
Rain in Franklin adds up to about 46 inches in a normal year, with about 9 days that bring an inch or more. The wettest season is summer (June to August), with about 14.4 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 9.3. Off a 1,000-square-foot roof, that comes to about 28,700 gallons a year for the gutters to carry.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving FranklinFranklin: rain and roofs
NOAA station USC00363028, 1 miBars to one scale; the longest is summer (June to August).
By heavy-rain days, Franklin falls near the middle of the 975 places in Pennsylvania on this site (9.3 a year). Its housing ranks 1st oldest by median year built of the 970 places in Pennsylvania on this site (half built by 1938). The first frost here ranks near the middle of the 975 places in Pennsylvania on this site (October 23).
When to clean gutters in Franklin
The first fall frost comes around October 23 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around May 2 (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 Franklin rain
Gutters are sized for the worst few minutes of a storm, not for the year. In Franklin the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 6.30 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 2). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 1,140 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 2,290, 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.
Franklin averages about 54 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 Franklin
Half the homes in Franklin were built by 1938, 85% 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.
50% of households own their home, and 65% of homes are detached houses, 2% townhouses. Where an HOA governs the exterior, its rules on gutter color and style apply before any order is placed.
Hiring in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania requires home improvement contractors to register with the Attorney General under the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act. On contracts over $5,000 the deposit may not exceed one third of the price, and the homeowner can cancel within three business days of signing. Ask for the registration number and check it before signing.
Source: Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, Act 132 of 2008. Look-up: Pennsylvania Attorney General, contractor registration search.
Gutter work in Franklin
With half the homes built by 1938, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: