Franklin County, Tennessee
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Sewanee, TN
Rain in Sewanee adds up to about 64 inches in a normal year, with about 21 days that bring an inch or more. The wettest season is winter (December to February), with about 17.1 inches; the driest is fall (September to November), with 14.2. Every 1,000 square feet of roof sheds about 39,700 gallons a year, and all of it goes through the gutters.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving SewaneeSewanee: rain and roofs
NOAA station USC00408184, 0 miBars to one scale; the longest is winter (December to February).
For days with an inch of rain or more, Sewanee ranks 6th for heavy-rain days of the 296 places in Tennessee on this site (21.1 a year). Its housing ranks 56th oldest by median year built of the 296 places in Tennessee on this site (half built by 1973). The first frost here ranks among the latest for the first fall frost of the 296 places in Tennessee on this site (November 4).
When to clean gutters in Sewanee
The first fall frost comes around November 4 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around April 2 (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 Sewanee rain
What overwhelms a gutter is a burst, not a season. In Sewanee the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 7.78 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 2). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 930 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 1,850, 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 Sewanee
Half the homes in Sewanee were built by 1973, 60% 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.
80% of households own their home, and 91% of homes are detached houses, 1% 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 Sewanee
With half the homes built by 1973, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: