Storm-Season Gutter Checklist for Portland Homes
Portland's storm season does not look like anyone else's. There is no hurricane date circled on the calendar. What we get is a run of Pacific fronts from November through February that bring 40 to 60 mph gusts a few times a season, an atmospheric river or two that drops two inches over a day, and one east wind out of the Columbia Gorge that finds every loose gutter on the east side. Add a roof full of fir needles knocked down by the first big blow, and the first real storm of the year is when gutters fail.
September and early October are the dry weeks you have to prepare. Here is what we check, in the order we check it.
1. Hangers and straps
Walk the house and look up at every run. You are looking for a gap between the back of the gutter and the fascia, a spike head standing proud of the front lip, or a run that visibly dips. Tug the gutter gently where you can reach it; if it moves more than a quarter inch, the hangers are pulling out.
Loose hangers are what the wind exploits. A gutter that is tight to the fascia has nothing for a gust to get under. A gutter with a half-inch gap is a sail. The fix is hidden screw hangers every 24 inches driven into the rafter tails, and it is $150–$320 a run.
2. Fascia
Press a screwdriver into the fascia board behind each downspout outlet and at each corner. Solid old-growth fir will not give. If the tip sinks in, the board is rotting and no hanger will hold in it. Fascia and soffit repair Portland-wide runs $10–$24 a foot and it has to happen before the gutter can be secured. On a 1920s house this is the most common thing we find, and it is invisible from the ground.
3. Flow
Run a hose into the far end of each run for five minutes. Water should reach the outlet and come out the bottom of the downspout at close to the rate it went in. If it pools in the middle, the pitch has gone. If it backs up at the outlet, the outlet is undersized or the downspout is packed. Do this now — not in November when the trough is full of maple leaves and you cannot tell what is wrong.
4. Downspouts
Every elbow and every strap. A downspout strapped to the wall at only one point will rattle loose in the first storm, and a downspout that has separated at the top elbow dumps the whole run down the siding. Pull the bottom elbow and check for a plug of needles. Two straps minimum per story, three on a tall run.
5. Extensions and where the water lands
This is the one that protects the basement. Every downspout needs to end at least 6 feet from a basement wall, onto ground that slopes away. Hinged extensions get flipped up for the last mowing of the year and forgotten. Flip them down. Check that buried rain drains actually take water — pour a bucket in and see if it backs up. The downspouts and basements post has the distances and the options.
6. Roof edge
Look at where the shingles meet the gutter. On a composition roof the shingles should overhang the gutter by about an inch, with a metal drip edge under them. On cedar shake there is often no drip edge at all. If the fascia behind the gutter is dark and streaked, water has been running behind it. That is not a storm problem, it is an every-day problem, but a storm is when the fascia finally lets go.
7. Trees
Fir limbs over the roof are the other thing the wind brings. A limb that drops on a gutter does not dent it; it tears the run off the house. If a branch is within 6 feet of the roof, an arborist visit in September is cheaper than a gutter repair in January.
The quick version
- Gutter tight to the fascia, no gaps, no proud spikes
- Fascia solid under a screwdriver at corners and outlets
- Hose test: water reaches every outlet and exits every downspout
- Two straps per story on every downspout
- Extensions down and pointed away, rain drains taking water
- Drip edge present, fascia dry
- Nothing overhanging the roof that could come down
When to call
If the hose test fails, a run moves when you tug it, or the screwdriver sinks into a board, get a gutter contractor out before the end of October. Repairs made in dry weather cure properly. Repairs made in a December gap between fronts are done on wet wood with a sealant that may not set, and they cost the same. The full cleaning and inspection covers every item on this list from a ladder, which is the point of doing it once in the fall.
Need gutter work in Portland?
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