Fascias, soffits and guttering in Ashmore

Off, not over. The fascia is the board on the ends of the rafters, the soffit the panel underneath it, the bargeboard the one up the gable, and the verge where the tiles finish over it. On a full replacement all of it is removed rather than clad, so we can see the rafter feet, the wall plate and the bottom course of tiles before new material goes on. Any tile lifted at the eaves goes back as BS 5534 expects.

What is usually wrong. Rot starts at the top edge, where the felt has shrunk back over the eaves and water runs behind the fascia instead of dripping into the gutter. A felt support tray goes in as a matter of course, with a tilt fillet where the bottom course needs lifting, and a soft rafter foot gets a sound end spliced on. The signs show from the lawn: peeling and blown paint, a board dropped at one end, a leaking joint, a run pulled away from the wall, staining down the wall below. Push a screwdriver in, and if it goes in, capping plastic over the top hides it for a few winters and no longer. Where the timber is sound and dry and all you want is to stop painting it, capping the face and lining the soffit is a fair job, and we will say so.

Boards, gutters and profiles. Most houses go back in uPVC, which never wants painting and takes a bracket screw properly. Timber suits an older cottage with a moulded profile, primed on all four faces. Cast iron we would rather rub down, re-bed and repaint than remove, and aluminium suits one long run because it comes in a single length with no joints to leak. Half round gutter is the standard and fine on a modest roof, but a long steep slope in driving rain sheds more than it will carry, which is where square, ogee and deepflow profiles earn their keep. We re-hang to a fall towards the outlet with the brackets at the right centres, because a gutter hung dead level looks perfect from the road and holds water all year.

Outlets, downpipes and air. Every union gets a new seal, the outlet sits at the low end, and the downpipe is clipped back and finished with a shoe so it discharges into a gully rather than at the footings. Hoppers get checked, and where the water runs to a soakaway we will say honestly whether it is getting away. The eaves gap is how air reaches the roof, so new soffits go up with soffit vents, or an over fascia vent where the soffit is too narrow, and the air gap over the loft insulation stays clear: block it and you get condensation instead of a dry roof. Approved Document F sets the eaves ventilation figures. Birds and wasps nest behind a soffit where a corner has opened, and moss and debris off the tiles settle at the back of the gutter, a blocked outlet doing the same thing faster.

No rate per square metre, because a metre of fascia over a bay is not the same metre as one on a straight gable.

Getting to it. A downland cottage with the eaves low over a border, a farmhouse with one long straight gable, and a modern house with a bay window under the front run are three different jobs before a board comes off. A bungalow run comes off a tower, a two or three storey gable wants a scaffold, and a run over a conservatory or a bay window means building the platform around it. The work at height rules are why the access is a priced line rather than something absorbed into a rate.

What is behind the boards. Rotten fascia is a symptom. The question is whether the rafter feet and the wall plate behind it are still sound, and nobody knows until the old board comes off. Capping over with plastic hides that instead of fixing it, which is why we take the old boards off rather than clad them.

The run, not the metre. A straight gable is quick. Bay windows, a conservatory in the way, a corner return, a run that has to be worked around a satellite dish or a service cable, and every outlet, hopper and downpipe are priced one at a time. So is putting the fall back: a gutter hung level looks fine and holds water all year.

Comparing quotes? Ask whether the old boards are coming off or being capped over, what happens if the rafter feet or the wall plate turn out to be rotten, whether the gutter, outlets and downpipes are all being renewed or only the fascia, and whether the scaffold is in the price. Two quotes for the same job are usually two different jobs.

Ashmore is a conservation area, and what that controls is appearance, not repair. Renewing a rotten roofline in the same material and the same profile is maintenance and needs nothing from the council. Taking painted timber and moulded cast iron off a frontage and putting brilliant white plastic up instead is a change of appearance, and on a street like this one that is a planning question rather than a job you simply book.

Where a house is listed, and there are listed entries throughout the village, the boards and the rainwater goods are part of what is protected, so listed building consent comes before anything is taken off. Staying the right side of the line is not hard. Keep the profile, so an ogee gutter goes back as ogee and a moulded bargeboard is copied rather than squared off. Where the front is cast iron we would repair and repaint it. And if you do want plastic at the front, ask the conservation officer before you order it rather than after.

We cover Ashmore, Fontmell Magna, Compton Abbas, Melbury Abbas and the villages along the downland lanes, broadly SP5, under Dorset Council. You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free.