Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Somerset, PA
Rain in Somerset adds up to about 47 inches in a normal year, with about 8 days that bring an inch or more. The wettest season is spring (March to May), with about 13.2 inches; the driest is fall (September to November), with 10.7. Off a 1,000-square-foot roof, that comes to about 29,200 gallons a year for the gutters to carry.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving SomersetSomerset: rain and roofs
NOAA station USC00368244, 1 miBars to one scale; the longest is spring (March to May).
By heavy-rain days, Somerset falls near the middle of the 975 places in Pennsylvania on this site (8.1 a year). Its housing ranks near the middle of the 970 places in Pennsylvania on this site (half built by 1962). By first frost it falls 193rd earliest for the first fall frost of the 975 places in Pennsylvania on this site (October 17).
When to clean gutters in Somerset
The first fall frost comes around October 17 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 Somerset rain
Gutters are sized for the worst few minutes of a storm, not for the year. In Somerset the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 6.05 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 2). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 1,190 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 2,380, 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.
Somerset averages about 96 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 Somerset
Half the homes in Somerset were built by 1962, 83% 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.
54% of households own their home, and 54% of homes are detached houses, 2% townhouses. If an association maintains the exterior, the gutters may be its job rather than yours; check before calling.
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 Somerset
With half the homes built by 1962, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: