Quick answer
Getting a San Ramon home rain-ready: Treat the first real storm, which usually lands between mid-October and mid-November, as your deadline and work backward from it. Clear the trough and the downspout openings, flush every downspout until water comes out the bottom, follow each outlet to where the water lands, and read last winter’s streaks, sags and soft fascia for what needs repair. Book in September if you want your pick of dates, because the whole valley calls the same week the forecast first mentions rain. Call (925) 905-9555 or get a free quote online.
Your real deadline
The first storm is the deadline, so work backward from it
Not the ten-minute sprinkle that spots your windshield. The first storm that runs water down a roof for a few hours. In the Tri-Valley that usually shows up between mid-October and mid-November.
San Ramon averages somewhere around 18 to 20 inches of rain a year, depending on where in the valley you are. That sounds manageable spread across twelve months. It is not spread across twelve months. Nearly all of it falls between November and April, and within that window most of it arrives in a small number of big storms, often atmospheric rivers that drop an inch or more in a few hours.
That is why a system that handled last April’s light rain can still fail in December. A partly clogged gutter moves a trickle just fine. Put an inch-an-hour storm through it and it overflows at the weakest point, usually over the front lip and down the siding, or backward against the fascia where you will not see the damage until the paint bubbles. The failure is not gradual. It shows up the first time the system is tested at full volume.
An honest scheduling note
Everyone in the valley remembers their gutters during the same week, usually the week the forecast first mentions rain. Our phones light up, and so does every other gutter company’s. Call in mid-September and you get the appointment you want. Call the Thursday before the first storm and you get whatever is left. That is the whole pitch. No urgency beyond the calendar.
The pre-rain walk-through
A pre-rain walk-through you can finish in an afternoon
None of this takes long, and most of it happens from the ground with a hose. Do it in early October and you still have time to fix what you find.
- Clear the debris, including what you cannot see.Valley oak leaves, acorns, sweetgum balls and a summer of redwood and pine needles are sitting up there now. Acorns matter most, because they do not break down and they roll straight into downspout openings. A pre-season gutter cleaning is the single most valuable item on this list.
- Flush it and confirm the water comes out.Run a hose into the gutter at the far end from each downspout. Water should move steadily to the outlet and come out the bottom at about the volume you put in. A weak trickle means a blockage inside the downspout, which is common and easy to miss because the gutter above looks clean.
- Follow the water to where it lands.The step most people skip. Walk to every downspout outlet. Is there an extension, and does it still point away from the house? Lawn crews kick them loose and summer gardening moves them. Water dropping within a couple of feet of the foundation is a drainage problem no matter how clean the gutter is.
- Read the evidence from last winter.Your gutters already told you where they struggle. Look for the marks covered in the next section, then put anything you find on the list for a repair now instead of in the middle of January.
- Look up at the roof valleys.Debris in the valleys flushes straight into the gutter during the first storm, so a roof that looks clear from the driveway is not necessarily clear where it counts.
- Write down what you found.One note per elevation: clean, slow outlet, loose extension, stain, sag. It turns a vague worry into a short list, and it makes a phone call with us take five minutes.
What last winter left behind
Reading the marks last winter left on your house
Gutters leave a record. Ten minutes walking the perimeter on a dry October afternoon tells you where the water went last year, and where it will go again.
| What you see | What it usually means | What to do before the rain |
|---|---|---|
| Dark vertical streaks on stucco or fascia below the gutter | Water went over the front edge at that spot during storms | Clean and test that run. If it was clean last winter, check pitch and sizing. |
| A section that sags or holds standing water | Loose hangers or lost pitch, so water collects at the low point | Re-hang and re-pitch that section. This is a gutter repair, not a replacement. |
| Drips or rust lines at corners and end caps | Failed sealant at the seams, the most common leak point | Reseal the corners and end caps. |
| Soft, discolored or peeling fascia | Water has been getting behind the gutter | Have the board checked before anything gets re-hung on it. See fascia repair. |
| Washed-out mulch or a bare trench below an outlet | The downspout dumps too close and too hard | Add or reset an extension, or route it into underground drainage. |
| Water sheeting over a gutter you know was clean | A capacity problem, not a clog | Read five inches or six before you decide anything. |
If two or more of those show up on the same elevation, that is the side of the house to deal with first. Most homes have one side that takes the worst of it, often the one under the biggest tree or the one where two roof planes meet.
About the ladder
What you can do yourself, and where to hand it off
Straight talk, because this is where people get hurt. Plenty of this is a reasonable Saturday project. Some of it is not.
Reasonable for a homeowner
- A single-story roofline with a stable ladder on level ground and someone home with you.
- Hose-flushing downspouts from the ground.
- Walking the perimeter to check extensions and read stains.
- Resetting a loose downspout extension or splash block.
- Watching the gutters during the first storm and noting where they spill.
- Clearing a reachable downspout outlet at ground level.
Better handed to a crew
- Any two-story gutter. That puts you around 20 feet up on an extension ladder, often leaning sideways.
- Steep pitches, where footing and ladder angle both get worse.
- Tile roofs, which crack under foot traffic. Here is why tile is its own job.
- Gutters over a slope, a pool or hardscape.
- Anything that needs re-hanging, resealing or re-pitching.
- A downspout that stays blocked after flushing from the bottom.
Falls from ladders are the most common serious injury in home maintenance, and reaching out to the side while elevated is exactly the position that causes them. There is no shame in the split. Plenty of our customers handle their single-story back gutters and have us take care of the two-story front.
A simple booking timeline
Mid-September: call and pick your date. Late September to mid-October: cleaning, flush test and any repairs. Late October: walk the outlets once more after the first leaves come down. If your yard has heavy valley oak or sycamore drop, plan a follow-up after the trees finish; our season-by-season guide covers the rest of the year. If you would rather nobody had to remember any of it, our maintenance program puts you on the calendar.
Get your free pre-season inspection on the calendar. Call (925) 905-9555
Book My InspectionLocal tip: after any new landscaping, mowing service change or patio project, walk your downspout outlets. Extensions get moved for the work and rarely get put back. It is the most common reason a clean gutter still puts water at the foundation in the first storm.
Frequently Asked Questions
Before the first real storm, which usually lands between mid-October and mid-November. Book in mid-September for your choice of dates, and plan the cleaning for late September to mid-October. Homes under heavy valley oak may need a follow-up after the leaves finish.
Run a hose into each gutter at the far end from the downspout. Water should flow steadily to the outlet and come out the bottom at about the volume you put in. A weak trickle means a clog inside the downspout, even if the gutter above looks clean.
Far enough that the water keeps moving away instead of soaking in next to the slab. If water is landing within a couple of feet of the foundation, add or extend an extension, or route the downspout into buried drainage.
If a clean gutter sheets water over the front edge in a heavy storm, that is usually capacity or pitch, not debris. A run that sagged at one point overflows there first. A long run with one downspout can be undersized for an atmospheric river.
On a single-story home with a stable ladder on level ground and someone with you, it is a reasonable job. Two-story rooflines, steep pitches, tile roofs and anything over a slope or pool are jobs for a crew with the right equipment.
We check flow, seams, hangers, pitch and where each downspout discharges, then tell you plainly what needs doing and what can wait. Sometimes the answer is nothing, and we say that too. Call (925) 905-9555.
Free estimates
Want your gutters ready before the first Tri-Valley storm?
Free, no-pressure estimates from local Solutionists. Troughs cleared by hand, every downspout flush tested and loose seams fixed, with a written estimate first. Book in September for your pick of dates.
The Brothers That Just Do Gutters · San Ramon · (925) 905-9555 · Serving San Ramon, CA and the Tri-Valley
Licensed, Bonded & Insured · California Contractor License #1115646