McHenry County, Illinois
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Harvard, IL
A normal year in Harvard brings about 38 inches of rain; on roughly 8 of its days, an inch or more comes down at once. The wettest season is summer (June to August), with about 12.7 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 5.5. Every 1,000 square feet of roof sheds about 23,300 gallons a year, and all of it goes through the gutters.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving HarvardHarvard: rain and roofs
NOAA station USC00113902, 1 miBars to one scale; the longest is summer (June to August).
For days with an inch of rain or more, Harvard ranks among the fewest heavy-rain days of the 695 places in Illinois on this site (8.1 a year). By the age of its homes it sits near the middle of the 695 places in Illinois on this site (half built by 1980). By its first fall frost it sits 25th earliest for the first fall frost of the 695 places in Illinois on this site (October 12).
When to clean gutters in Harvard
The first fall frost comes around October 12 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around April 28 (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 Harvard rain
What overwhelms a gutter is a burst, not a season. In Harvard the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 7.34 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 2). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 980 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 1,960, 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 32 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 Harvard
Half the homes in Harvard were built by 1980, 50% 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.
61% of households own their home, and 64% of homes are detached houses, 12% townhouses. In a townhouse or HOA community, check who owns the gutters and what colors are allowed before booking.
Hiring in Illinois
Ask any contractor working in Harvard what Illinois requires of them for gutter work, and to show proof of insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor
Gutter work in Harvard
With half the homes built by 1980, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: