Category: Gutter Maintenance

The overflow that is not a size problem

Before anyone changes a downspout, rule out the simple causes. A packed elbow, a crushed downspout or a run that has lost its slope will make any size of downspout look too small. If the spilling stops after a gutter cleaning and flush, size was never the problem. If a run still holds water in the middle a day after the rain, the hangers or the pitch need attention first, and that is a job for gutter repair.

NOAA Atlas 14 is the federal reference for rainfall intensity. Pulled from the NOAA Precipitation Frequency Data Server for Suwanee, it puts the hardest hour you should expect in a typical year at 1.32 inches. Inside that hour the rain is not steady. The hardest five minutes in a typical year fall at about 4.93 inches an hour, and in a 10 year storm the hardest hour reaches 2.10 inches.

To turn that into water at a downspout, multiply the roof area draining to it by the rainfall rate in inches per hour and then by 0.0104. One inch of rain on one square foot of roof is about 0.623 gallons, and spreading that over 60 minutes gives the 0.0104 figure, in gallons per minute.

Doubling the roof area that drains to one downspout doubles the water it has to carry. That is the case for a second downspout on a long run: it halves each downspout’s share without touching the gutter.

Source: NOAA Atlas 14, Volume 9, precipitation frequency estimates for Suwanee’s coordinates, pulled October 2026. Roof areas are round examples. Our Helene gutter check runs the same kind of math for your own town and home size.

A 2×3 downspout measures about 2 by 3 inches across, roughly 6 square inches of opening. A 3×4 measures about 3 by 4 inches, roughly 12 square inches, so it has about twice the room for water and for the leaves and needles that ride along with it. We pair 5 inch gutters with 2×3 or 3×4 downspouts depending on how much roof drains to each one, and 6 inch gutters with 3×4.

Does a bigger downspout clog less?

A larger opening gives debris more room, but no downspout is clog proof under Georgia trees. Sweetgum balls roll to the low point and wedge in the elbows, and wads of needles collect where the downspout bends at the top. If you clean more than twice a year and still find plugged elbows, gutter guards that keep debris out of the trough are the longer term fix.

1. Start at the corners.Inside corners collect water from two roof planes at once. A downspout close to the corner drains it before it jumps the gutter.
2. Find the valleys.Where two roof slopes meet, water pours onto one short stretch of gutter. An outlet nearby keeps it from shooting past the front edge.
3. Measure the long runs.Under 40 feet, one downspout can usually carry a 5 inch run. Over 40 feet, plan on two or more. Past 60 feet, we look at 6 inch gutters with downspouts spaced for the length.
4. Look upstream.If an upper gutter empties onto a lower roof, the lower gutter is carrying two loads, and that run often needs its own larger downspout.
5. Watch the bottom.Each downspout should end in an elbow turned away from the house, with an extension carrying the water out.

Adding a downspout or going to bigger gutters

Adding a downspout is usually the smaller job. Stepping up to a bigger gutter means replacing the run. When we do recommend a size change, we make it only on the runs that need it and leave the rest alone. On a two story home in Suwanee, Dacula or Cumming, that often means 5 inch up top and 6 inch on the lower runs that catch upper roof water. Homes in Johns Creek and Alpharetta with valleys pouring into corners often need 6 inch there. Our gutter sizes guide walks through how we decide.

• Every inside corner has a downspout within reach.
• No 5 inch run over 40 feet drains through a single outlet.
• Lower roofs that catch upper gutter water have their own downspout.
• Every downspout ends in an elbow turned away from the house.

The Department of Energy’s Building America guide says downspouts should end at least 5 feet from the foundation, onto ground that slopes away from the house so the water cannot run back. On red clay that matters more than most places. Water dumped at the wall soaks the loose backfill, hits the clay and sits against the foundation.

For most homes the answer is downspout extensions and redirects: a longer leader or a turned elbow that carries water past the beds and onto lawn that falls away from the house.

Rain barrels are another option in Gwinnett County. The county’s stormwater utility offers up to a 3 percent fee credit when each downspout is connected to its own rain barrel of at least 50 gallons, with partial credit if not every downspout is connected. At about 31 gallons a minute, a 50 gallon barrel under a busy downspout fills in under two minutes of a hard burst, so its overflow needs to head away from the foundation too.

Signs your downspouts are losing

• Water sheeting over the gutter right next to a downspout in a hard rain.
• A downspout that trickles while the gutter above it spills.
• Red clay splashed up the brick at the bottom of a downspout.
• A washed out channel or bare clay where a downspout empties.
• Water standing against the foundation hours after the rain stops.

If you see any of those, have us take a look. Our crews flush every downspout while you watch and give you a written plan for size and placement. Worn out runs get new seamless gutters formed on site.

Why a gutter can look fine in October

A gutter full of dry leaves can still pass a light shower, because water trickles through the loose pile. Once the leaves soak and mat down, they hold water instead of passing it, and wet leaves get heavy enough to pull on the hangers. If you judge your gutters by how they handled the driest month of the year, you are judging them on the easy part of the season. Spring pollen film under the leaves makes them stick, as our gutter cleaning page explains.

The side under the oaks will load fast in November. The corner by the sweetgum will plug at the downspout. The pine side never gets a break. That is why one date on the calendar rarely fits every side of the same house.

Valleys refill the gutter after it is cleaned

Leaves do not only land in the gutter. They collect in roof valleys and slide down with the next rain, so a gutter can refill after a cleaning even in a week when few new leaves fall. A real fall cleaning clears the valleys too, not only the trough below them.

1. Look up before you book.If most of the canopy over the roof is still green, the big drop is still ahead of you, and an early cleaning will not last.
2. Open lot, young trees.Newer subdivisions with small trees, like many in Buford and Hoschton, usually do fine with one fall cleaning once the leaves are down, plus a spring visit after pollen season.
3. Mixed hardwoods out back.Plan on one cleaning in the middle of the November drop and another after the last leaves come down in December.
4. Tall pines over the roof.Needles keep coming after the hardwoods finish, so these lots need visits spread through the year, and they gain the most from gutter guards.
5. Book early.The phones ring all at once the week the leaves come down, so getting on the schedule in October beats calling during the rush.

Why too early costs you a visit

A cleaning in early October feels responsible, but on a wooded lot the oaks can refill the gutters before the wet months begin. If you can only do one fall visit, later is usually better than earlier, as long as it happens before the winter rains settle in.

If you would rather not watch the trees at all, our gutter maintenance program sets your visits around what grows over each side of the roof and reaches out before each one comes due.

• Every downspout flushed after the last cleaning of the year.
• Inside corners and valleys cleared, not only the straight runs.
• Hangers checked on runs that carried wet leaves.
• Downspout extensions back in place at the bottom of each downspout.

Gwinnett County’s Clean Water guide from its Department of Water Resources is direct about it: compost yard waste like leaves and grass clippings, or use it as mulch, and do not blow it into the street, a storm drain or a drainage ditch. The county’s stormwater page goes further. Anything other than rainwater that enters a storm drain counts as an illicit discharge, which the County Code’s Illicit Discharge and Illegal Connection ordinance prohibits.

There is a practical reason, too. A fall flyer the City of Grayson shares with Gwinnett Water Resources points out that leaves can clog a storm drain pipe and cause localized flooding in your yard or on the road.

The easiest home for leaves is your own beds. In a UGA Extension article, Paul Pugliese recommends shredding leaves with a lawn mower, bagging attachment or leaf shredder so they do not blow away, then spreading a three to five inch layer around trees, shrubs and perennials, or using them as a base under pine straw or bark.

If you would rather bag them

In Gwinnett County’s residential trash service, yard waste pickup is an optional service you set up with your hauler for an added fee. The county asks for yard trimmings in Kraft paper bags or a personal container clearly marked “yard waste,” with each bag or container under 50 pounds. Rules differ from city to city, so check with your own city or hauler before you line the curb.

When our crew cleans your gutters, the debris leaves with us. We do not dump it in your beds or blow it toward the street, and we sweep the walks, decks and driveway of anything the cleaning knocked loose.

• Leaves shredded and spread in the beds, or composted.
• Nothing raked or blown into the curb, a storm drain or a ditch.
• Kraft paper bags, not plastic, if your hauler collects yard waste.
• Leaves raked away from the storm drain at the curb when you can.

If you do it yourself, set the ladder on firm, level ground, never on soft clay or a sloped bed, and have someone steady it. Move the ladder instead of reaching. Use a scoop and a bucket, wear gloves, and finish by running a hose down every downspout. A clean trough sitting over an elbow packed with sweetgum balls still overflows in the first real rain. Leave second story runs, steep sections and gutters over decks or slopes to a crew with the right equipment.

When we clean, a crew member works at gutter level along every run, lifts the wet leaves out by hand, then flushes each downspout and elbow. If a run still overflows halfway along after it has been cleaned, that is a slope or size problem for gutter repair, not a reason for another cleaning.

When guards make more sense than another ladder season

If you are cleaning more than twice a year and the gutters still fill between visits, a guard usually makes more sense than another round of cleanings. Under the pines and hardwoods here, our crews install BroGuard stainless micro-mesh, which keeps needles, leaves and sweetgum balls on top while the rain goes through. Our pine needle gutter guard guide compares the guard styles.

Fall is a good time to ask, because the crew can clean, repair and guard in one visit. Homeowners from Cumming and Roswell to Athens get the same local crew and the same free written estimate.