Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Waltham, MA
A normal year in Waltham brings about 43 inches of rain; on roughly 10 of its days, an inch or more comes down at once. The wettest season is fall (September to November), with about 11.5 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 9.3. That is about 26,400 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 WalthamWaltham: rain and roofs
NOAA station USW00014702, 6 miBars to one scale; the longest is fall (September to November).
Counting days with an inch of rain or more, Waltham sits among the fewest heavy-rain days of the 216 places in Massachusetts on this site (9.9 a year). By house age it falls near the middle of the 217 places in Massachusetts on this site (half built by 1962). By its first fall frost it sits 48th earliest for the first fall frost of the 216 places in Massachusetts on this site (October 10).
When to clean gutters in Waltham
The first fall frost comes around October 10 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around April 28 (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 Waltham rain
The short, hard downpour is what a gutter is sized for. In Waltham the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 7.02 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 10). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 1,030 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 2,050, 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.
Waltham averages about 59 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 Waltham
Half the homes in Waltham were built by 1962, 70% 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.
49% of households own their home, and 37% of homes are detached houses, 8% townhouses. In a townhouse or HOA community, check who owns the gutters and what colors are allowed before booking.
Hiring in Massachusetts
Licensing for gutter work differs from state to state; ask a contractor in Waltham which license or registration they hold in Massachusetts, and for proof of liability insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor
Gutter work in Waltham
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: