A clogged gutter can weigh far more than the hangers holding it were designed for

Most homes run 5-inch K-style gutters, and when one fills completely with water, it holds roughly a gallon of water for every foot of length — somewhere around ten pounds per linear foot from water alone. A long, clogged run carries real structural weight that has nothing to do with rot or rust.

The hangers and screws fastening a gutter to the fascia are typically sized around the weight of an empty gutter, not one loaded with standing water plus trapped leaves, pine needles, and shingle grit on top of it. That extra load is often what pulls hangers loose and makes a gutter sag or separate from the roofline — sometimes well before any wood underneath has started to rot.