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Petaluma averages about 25 inches of rain a year, less than most of the county, but it often comes with wind. Storms push in from the south and west through the break in the hills between the bay and the coast, and rain that would fall straight down elsewhere hits Petaluma houses at an angle. Gutters here have to catch water that's blowing sideways off the roof edge, and corners take the worst of it. Add the summer mornings that start in fog, which keep shaded gutters damp and mossy long after the rain stops, and you get gutters that wear out at the joints and rust from the inside. On the West Side, a lot of Victorian and early 1900s homes still carry narrow gutters that were never sized for their roofs. Many of those older gutters are steel, which rusts faster in that damp air.
We put up new seamless gutters, replace failing systems and fix leaks across Petaluma, from the West Side to the newer neighborhoods east of the freeway. For older homes, our gutter replacement page shows what happens when we take an old system down. If your main problem is water near the foundation, downspouts and drainage work is often the real fix. Estimates are free, and we'll put the price in writing. Most jobs here take a single day.
Wind-Driven Rain and Gutter Corners
When rain comes in sideways, it doesn't fall neatly into the trough. It hits the back of the gutter, sprays over the front lip at corners and gets pushed up under the roof edge. That's why so many Petaluma gutter leaks show up at inside and outside corners first. On homes that face the wind, we use deeper 6-inch gutters where they fit, add a strip of drip edge if the roof doesn't have one, and seal corners with miters cut from the same coil. Hangers go in closer together on exposed sides, since a gust that catches a full gutter puts real force on the fascia. Downspouts get extra straps so they don't rattle loose. If one side of your house shows more water staining than the others, that's usually the windward side, and it's where we start. Seamless runs help, too, since every seam on a windward wall is one more place for rain to be driven through. Homeowners in Cotati see the same pattern on their west-facing walls.
Fog, Moss and Older West Side Homes
On many summer mornings, fog settles over the river and the West Side, and north-facing roofs stay damp well into the day. Moss grows fast on shaded shingles, and when it breaks loose in the rain, it lands in the gutters along with the usual leaves and grit and packs into a sludge that blocks downspouts. Older homes around the historic downtown add another layer: narrow original gutters, coats of paint over old steel, and fascia boards that have been wet for years. On these houses we usually recommend a full replacement with seamless aluminum or copper half-round, sized up from the original, plus a check of every board behind it. For homes that can't take a full replacement this year, a careful gutter cleaning and a few targeted repairs can buy you another winter. Copper half-round in particular suits the trim on many of the West Side's older houses.