Fascia, soffit and guttering replacement in Ashmore

Boards come off. 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, not 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 Ashmore 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.

A roofline cannot be priced fairly by length alone. The metre round a bay window is slower than the metre along a plain gable.

Timber, plastic or cast iron. Timber boards that are painted properly can outlast plastic. Cast iron gutters can often be taken down, cleaned, re-sealed and rehung, and on an older house that may matter for how it looks. Matching an old ogee or half round profile costs more than a stock plastic run.

Behind the boards. Rotten fascia usually means water has been getting to the rafter feet and the wall plate. Nobody knows how far until the board is off, and capping over hides it.

Where the water goes. The ground in Ashmore shrinks and swells, so a downpipe discharging onto the soil beside a wall is a structural worry, not just a damp one. Taking it to a gully is part of a proper quote, and so is hanging the gutter to a true fall.

Access. An Ashmore cottage with the eaves low over a border comes off a tower, while a two or three storey gable goes up on scaffold, a line priced openly under the work at height rules. A bay or a conservatory under the run means building round it.

When comparing, check whether the other firm strips the boards or covers them, what they will do about soft rafter feet, whether gutters, hoppers and downpipes are part of it, and whether scaffold is counted.

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, not after.

From our base in Boscombe to Ashmore is 19.7 miles, and we replace rooflines through the parish and the villages nearby, including Tollard Royal (SP5), Fontmell Magna and Melbury Abbas (SP7). The local authority is Dorset Council.

We trade as Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, which is registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Thomas Hannen owns it and prices every run himself after checking the boards. There is a 10 out of 10 from a verified customer on our Checkatrade profile. The site visit is free, and the quote comes in writing, itemised and free. Before you book a visit in Ashmore, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Ashmore need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.