Seasonal

End-of-Storm-Season Gutter Check: What to Look For Now

By Houston Gutter Repair Co. · October 4, 2026 · 7 min read

Hurricane season officially runs through November 30, but by the second week of October the odds of a Gulf storm reaching Houston have dropped off a cliff. The fronts start coming through, the humidity breaks, and for the first time since May you can spend an hour outside without wanting to lie down. This is the mirror of the September checklist: that one was what to secure before the storms; this is what to look for after them.

A gutter inspection after storm season doesn't need special tools. It needs a dry day, a pair of eyes, and the list below.

What a Houston storm season does to a gutter

Five months of afternoon storms and a couple of tropical systems do specific things:

• Wind lifts the front edge. Every 40 mph gust gets under a gutter and pulls at the hangers. Spikes that were flush in May are a quarter inch out now.
• Downpours find the weak corner. Two-inch-an-hour rain overtops the run and washes down the fascia at the same spot, over and over. That fascia is now soft.
• Downspout elbows work loose. Water hammering into an elbow at full flow, then the metal shrinking each night — a snap-fit elbow with no screw walks off by October.
• Debris arrives in one go. Crepe myrtle blossoms in July, then a storm strips a few thousand small leaves and twigs off the oaks and puts them all in the gutter in one afternoon.
• Something hit it. A limb, a neighbor's trampoline, a ladder. Dents at the front lip hold water and start the pitch problem.

None of this is dramatic on its own. Together it's why a system that worked in April is dripping at three corners in October.

The walk-around

Take twenty minutes on the first cool Saturday.

1. Front edge of every run. Look for nail heads standing proud, gaps at the top where the gutter has pulled away, and any section that isn't straight along its length.
2. Every corner and end cap. Dark streaks on the fascia below, or green algae on the brick, mean it's been dripping for weeks.
3. Every downspout. Is it strapped? Are the elbows tight? Is the extension still on and pointing away from the house, or did the mower move it in June?
4. The fascia. Press near each corner with a screwdriver. Soft wood behind a gutter that overflowed all summer is the finding that changes the job from a $200 reseal to a fascia and soffit repair.
5. The ground. Trenches in the mulch, mud on the brick, a low spot at a corner — the water told you where it went.
6. Inside. Any new stain on a ceiling near an outside wall is worth checking from the outside; it's often water behind the gutter rather than a roof leak.

Repair now, and here's why

October is Houston's driest month on average, and it's the sweet spot for gutter work for three reasons. Sealant cures properly on dry metal. The crew isn't dodging a 3 p.m. storm. And the leaf drop hasn't started, so a cleaning done now stays clean until the pecans go in November.

It's also the month before the fronts. A strong November front can drop two or three inches on Houston in a day, and it lands on a system that's been loosened all summer. A gutter that survived the tropical storm in August with three hangers out doesn't always survive the front in November.

If a storm did real damage

Wind-torn gutters, runs on the lawn, downspouts bent flat — that's storm damage, and many Texas homeowners' policies cover it subject to a wind-and-hail deductible — check with your insurer or agent on what yours covers. Photograph everything before it's touched, including the fascia behind the missing gutter. The Texas Department of Insurance also publishes consumer guidance on storm claims. Ask the contractor who writes the gutter repair estimate to put the damage and the scope in writing with photos, so your adjuster has a clear record to review. If more than a third of the system is gone or damaged, it's usually a replacement claim rather than a patch.

The fascia, up close

Storm season is hardest on the wood behind the gutter. Look for paint that has bubbled or peeled since spring, especially at corners. Press the board with a screwdriver near each downspout. If it's firm, note it and move on. If it gives, mark the spot; that repair should be done before the next season starts.

Downspouts deserve their own check

Downspouts take a beating over a storm season and are easy to overlook. Look at each one from top to bottom. The top elbow should be tight to the gutter outlet. Straps should hold it flat to the wall with no rattle. The bottom elbow should still be on, and the extension should point away from the house, not into a bed. Squeeze the bottom section; a soft, crushed spot means a plug or mower damage. Run a hose in the gutter above and watch for leaks at every joint. Replacing a single bad section is quick, and upsizing to 3x4 at the same time is worth it on any run that overflowed this summer.

What to photograph and keep

Before anything is fixed, take a set of photos you can find again:

• Each side of the house, wide enough to show every run
• Close-ups of each problem spot, with a tape measure or a hand for scale
• Each downspout from top to bottom, and where it drains
• The fascia behind any gutter that has pulled away
• Any interior stain near an outside wall

Put them in one folder with the date. Add the estimate and invoice when the work is done. Next fall, take the same photos again and compare. It's the easiest way to spot a run that's slowly dropping.

If you hire the inspection out

Some homeowners would rather not climb. If you ask a contractor to look, ask for a ladder check of every run, photos of each finding, and a written list with a price beside each item. Ask which items are urgent and which can wait until spring. An inspection that turns up only one small item is a good result, not a sign that something was missed.

Mistakes after the season

• Assuming no visible damage means no damage. Loose hangers rarely show from the ground.
• Fixing the corners and ignoring soft fascia behind them.
• Leaving bent sections in place because they still "mostly work."
• Waiting until spring, when the oaks drop and storms return together.

Planning bigger work

If the walk-around turns up problems on most runs and the gutters are 20-plus years old, this is the month to get a replacement quoted and scheduled. Installs done in October and November go on in dry weather, the fascia is checked when it's dry enough to tell rot from stain, and the new system is in before the leaf drop and the winter fronts. The pricing page has what to expect; repair vs. replacement is how we'd decide.

The one thing to do if you do nothing else

Reset the downspout extensions. It's the cheapest item on the list and it's the one the summer undoes most reliably — the mower knocks them off, the kids move them, a storm floats them into the flower bed. Every downspout, four feet from the wall, pointed at ground that slopes away. If the season's only damage was a summer of water at the slab, that's the thing that stops it before the November rain.