City of Atlanta
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Atlanta, GA
Around Atlanta, the NOAA normal is 48 inches a year, with 14 inch-plus days. Summer (June to August) is the wettest stretch (12.8 in). Each 1,000 square feet of roof drains 29,800 gallons a year.
Call (888) 217-8865 free call to a gutter contractor serving AtlantaAtlanta: rain and roofs
NOAA station USW00003888, 6 miBars to one scale; the longest is summer (June to August).
Inch-plus rain days put Atlanta among the fewest heavy-rain days of the 76 places on this site (13.6 a year). Its housing stock is near the middle of the 76 places on this site (half built by 1987). First frost lands near the middle of the 76 places on this site (November 8).
Cleanout calendar
Median frost dates for Atlanta: first in fall about November 8, last in spring about March 24 (NOAA). Wait for the frost and bare branches before the fall cleanout; come back after the yellow spring pollen settles.
More on the timing, and on how the trees over a roof change it: when to clean gutters in metro Atlanta.
Downpours and downspouts
Atlanta thunderstorms are the real test. For Atlanta, NOAA Atlas 14 puts the ten-year, five-minute burst at 7.76 inches an hour. Using the Copper Development Association rule, that means roughly 930 sq ft of roof per 2×3 downspout, or 1,860 sq ft per 3×4.
Work out your own roof with the gutter size calculator, which uses this figure for Atlanta.
Atlanta’s houses
The typical house in Atlanta dates to 1987, and 44% predate 1980 (Census ACS). Expect older gutters and tired fascia boards here. Painted fascia on pre-1978 houses brings in the EPA lead-safe rule above 20 square feet; ask for a certified crew.
Owners occupy 46% of homes; 36% are single-family detached and 6% attached. Townhome owners: your HOA may handle gutters, or set the colors.
Runoff, drains and the county
Atlanta is an incorporated city, so questions about street drains, ditches and runoff start with the city’s public works office; DeKalb County answers for the unincorporated areas around it. Wherever the water goes, it should leave the downspout well clear of the foundation and the beds along it. Downspouts and drainage
Trees cover 45.7% of the city, from 83.6% in Boulder Park to 2.8% in Oakland (2023 Urban Tree Canopy Assessment, commissioned by the City of Atlanta). Under that much canopy, how often a gutter needs cleaning depends more on the trees over the house than on the calendar.
Common calls from Atlanta
Mostly newer houses (median 1987): cleanouts, guards and small fixes lead.