Tompkins County, New York
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Ithaca, NY
Ithaca gets about 38 inches of rain in a normal year, and on about 7 days a year an inch or more falls in a single day. The wettest season is summer (June to August), with about 11.7 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 6.8. That is about 23,700 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 IthacaIthaca: rain and roofs
NOAA station USC00304174, 3 miBars to one scale; the longest is summer (June to August).
Counting days with an inch of rain or more, Ithaca sits among the fewest heavy-rain days of the 817 places in New York on this site (6.6 a year). By house age it falls near the middle of the 810 places in New York on this site (half built by 1959). By its first fall frost it sits 30th earliest for the first fall frost of the 817 places in New York on this site (October 3).
When to clean gutters in Ithaca
The first fall frost comes around October 3 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around May 11 (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 Ithaca rain
The short, hard downpour is what a gutter is sized for. In Ithaca the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 6.68 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 10). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 1,080 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 2,160, 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 63 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 Ithaca
Half the homes in Ithaca were built by 1959, 64% 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. 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.
29% of households own their home, and 29% of homes are detached houses, 4% townhouses. In a townhouse or HOA community, check who owns the gutters and what colors are allowed before booking.
Hiring in New York
Licensing for gutter work differs from state to state; ask a contractor in Ithaca which license or registration they hold in New York, and for proof of liability insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor
Gutter work in Ithaca
With half the homes built by 1959, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: