Shelby County, Tennessee
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Memphis, TN
Rain in Memphis adds up to about 55 inches in a normal year, with about 18 days that bring an inch or more. The wettest season is spring (March to May), with about 16.9 inches; the driest is fall (September to November), with 11.7. Every 1,000 square feet of roof sheds about 34,100 gallons a year, and all of it goes through the gutters.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving MemphisMemphis: rain and roofs
NOAA station USW00013893, 4 miBars to one scale; the longest is spring (March to May).
For days with an inch of rain or more, Memphis ranks 53rd for heavy-rain days of the 296 places in Tennessee on this site (17.9 a year). Its housing ranks 35th oldest by median year built of the 296 places in Tennessee on this site (half built by 1970). The first frost here ranks among the latest for the first fall frost of the 296 places in Tennessee on this site (November 16).
When to clean gutters in Memphis
The first fall frost comes around November 16 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around March 16 (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 Memphis rain
Gutters are sized for the worst few minutes of a storm, not for the year. In Memphis the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 7.33 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.
The houses in Memphis
Half the homes in Memphis were built by 1970, 67% 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.
46% of households own their home, and 60% of homes are detached houses, 5% townhouses. Where an HOA governs the exterior, its rules on gutter color and style apply before any order is placed.
Hiring in Tennessee
Tennessee requires a home improvement license for residential projects from $3,000 to $24,999 only in the counties that adopted the law: Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Haywood, Knox, Marion, Robertson, Rutherford and Shelby. From $25,000 a contractor license is required statewide. In those nine counties, ask for the home improvement license number on any job of $3,000 or more and check it.
Source: Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors, Home Improvement. Look-up: Tennessee license verification.
Gutter work in Memphis
With half the homes built by 1970, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: