Fascia, soffit and guttering replacement in Barton on Sea
Old boards off, the rafter feet checked, and a new gutter run hung to a fall that drains. Stainless fixings on the seaward side.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Last updated
Fascia, soffit and guttering replacement in Barton on Sea is a rebuild of the eaves, not a clear out. The old gutter and the old boards come off, we look at the rafter feet and the wall plate behind them, and a new run goes up on a fall that actually drains.
On the Barton on Sea stretch of coast, the first signs are usually a loose gutter, faded boards or a damp loft. A length of gutter has come away from the wall and there is a wet stripe down the render under it. The white boards have gone grey and the paint is peeling off the bargeboard on the gable. Or somebody has been in the loft and found the underside of the felt wet, which is usually a soffit with no air getting through it. If a gutter is hanging loose above the render in a sea wind, or water is pouring down the wall, ring 07435 839745.
None of that is settled from the ground. We get up on the eaves, put a screwdriver into the fascia behind the gutter, and photograph what is there so you can see it too. Then you get a written itemised quote with the fascia, the soffit, the gutter run, each outlet and each downpipe on its own line.
The work
Boards off, rafter feet checked, a new run hung
What has actually failed. A soft fascia takes a screwdriver like cheese, and once it does the bracket screws have nothing to hold, which is why the gutter has dropped or pulled away. Peeling and blown paint on a timber board means water has been getting behind it for years. A run that sags between brackets, a leaking joint at a union, and water going over the back of the gutter in heavy rain are three different faults.
Stripping and renewing. The gutter comes off first, then the old fascia and soffit, so the rafter feet and the wall plate are visible. Rot usually stops at the last few inches of the rafter and those get cut back and spliced. New fascia goes on to a straight line, a felt support tray carries the underlay drip out over the gutter rather than down the back of the board, and a tilt fillet lifts the bottom course of tiles so they sit right. Capping plastic over a rotten fascia traps the damp against it, which is why we take the old boards off rather than clad them.
The gutter itself. uPVC in half round, ogee, square or deepflow, and the profile matters: a big hipped Barton on Sea bungalow roof sheds more water into one run than a half round gutter will carry, and a deepflow section is the answer rather than a second downpipe. Timber fascias get painted properly if you want to keep them, cast iron gets its joints re-bedded and repainted where the run is worth saving, and aluminium is worth asking about on an exposed elevation. Brackets go back at proper spacing and the run is set to a fall, because a gutter hung dead level looks perfect from the pavement and holds water all year.
Outlets, downpipes and where the water goes. Every outlet, hopper, union, downpipe and shoe is checked, and we follow the rainwater down to see where it discharges. A downpipe into a silted gully, or one stopping short of a soakaway that gave up years ago, keeps staining the brickwork however good the new gutter is.
Air, birds and moss. New soffits get vents, or an over fascia vent strip where the soffit is too narrow, so the eaves keep an air gap into the loft and the condensation stops. Birds nesting behind a loose soffit and wasps in a gable end are common in Barton on Sea, and both get sorted before the new boards go on. Moss off the tiles is what blocks an outlet, so we clear the run before we leave.
How it runs
Stripping and renewing a bungalow roofline
Thomas walks round your Barton on Sea house with you, from the front bay to the back corner, and pokes a screwdriver into the timber anywhere the paint has gone. He then writes a quote that prices each run separately: the tower or scaffold, taking down old boards and gutter, new fascia, soffit and any bargeboard, the gutter itself with its outlets and downpipes, and the skip. Thomas is the person you speak to from the quote to the finish.
Most Barton on Sea roofline is on bungalows, so a tower wheeled along the eaves usually does the job. Chalets with dormers and two storey houses get a scaffold. For a block of flats, the managing agent books the work, and a communal path under the run has to be kept safe. We take the old boards off instead of covering them, make sure water always has somewhere to drain at the end of the day, and take the offcuts away. If the rafter feet are rotten, Thomas shows you a photo and a price before he cuts in new timber.
Replacing fascias, soffits and gutters like for like is a repair, so the council has nothing to approve and building control is not involved. Barton has no conservation area, so on an ordinary house the colour and gutter profile are up to you. New Forest District Council is the authority, and on a listed building, work affecting its character needs consent first.
Cost
Why two rooflines of the same length price differently
No rate per metre from us, because the metres tell you little until the old boards are off. How much roofline a bungalow has. A hipped bungalow has eaves on every side, so there is more fascia and gutter per room than on a house. Bay windows and porches add returns and corners, and each is cut and fixed separately.
What the boards are hiding. On Barton on Sea houses of this age the original timber fascia has often been painted for decades or already capped in plastic. Behind it, the rafter feet and the wall plate may be sound, or may have rotted where the gutter dripped. Capping over again hides that. We strip back to the timber and quote the repair if we find it.
Salt and wind. On the seaward side metal brackets and screws corrode faster, and a south westerly will lift a loose soffit board. Stainless fixings and a soffit properly vented and fixed are worth their line on the quote.
Getting to it. A tower along bungalow eaves, a scaffold built round a conservatory, or a platform over a shared path at a block. The work at height rules decide which, and it is priced on its own.
Water. All the outlets, hoppers and downpipes are counted, and a straight gable run is quicker than one round a bay. A gutter hung without a fall holds water all year, so setting the fall is part of the job.
Ask a rival quote whether the old boards come off or get capped over, what happens if the rafter feet are rotten, and whether all the gutters and downpipes are being renewed.
If a section has come away
A gutter hanging loose or a fascia gone soft
A run of gutter hanging off its brackets can come down on someone, so keep the path and the car clear of it, and leave it alone in a wind. A downpipe that has snapped at the swan neck, or a fascia so soft your finger goes in, lets the next downpour run straight down the brickwork.
Call us about it instead of using the form. The first visit props or ties the run so it holds and points the water somewhere harmless, and then we price the proper repair once the extent of the rot is clear. Booked work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, and if you ring and nobody answers, we get back to you as soon as we can.
Worth knowing
Salt eats the fixings before it touches the boards
Barton on Sea sits on the clifftop, open to the Channel, and what salt goes for is not the plastic. It is the metal.
Bracket screws, the fixings holding a downpipe clip to the wall, and anything mild steel behind a fascia corrode from the exposed end of the run inwards, so the gable nearest the sea lets go first while the sheltered end still looks sound. That is why a gutter in Barton on Sea often comes away at one end and stays perfectly hung at the other.
Salt shows up on a Barton on Sea quote as well. We fix with stainless steel rather than whatever came in the box, and it says so in writing. And a north facing soffit on the seaward elevation of a Barton on Sea house stays damp between showers in a way it does not inland, which rots a timber board from behind and greens a white one on the face. Keep timber and that elevation wants painting on a shorter cycle than the rest of the house. Go to plastic and that is where the ventilation detail matters most.
Who you are dealing with
Your roofline, looked at by the man who prices it
Our base is seven and a half miles away in Boscombe. For fascias, soffits and gutters we come out across Barton Common, Becton and the clifftop, and along to Milford on Sea and Highcliffe, with New Forest District Council as the council for all of it.
The legal name is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 15471719. Thomas Hannen owns it and is the person who walks your roofline with you and prices it. A verified customer rated the firm 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. Looking at the job is free, as is the itemised quote we write up afterwards. Before you book a visit in Barton on Sea, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Barton on Sea?
Most repairs in Barton on Sea 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.
| Question | In Barton on Sea |
|---|---|
| Who decides | New Forest District Council is the planning authority for Barton on Sea. The National Park boundary runs close by, and the Park's property map shows which side an address falls. |
| Conservation area | None covers Barton on Sea, so a like-for-like repair is ordinary maintenance. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Barton on Sea. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Barton on Sea. |
Questions
Questions about fascias and guttering in Barton on Sea
Can you just cap over my timber fascias?
Only if the timber under them is sound, and nobody knows that until somebody has pushed a screwdriver into it. Where the boards are solid and it is the paint you have had enough of, capping over is fair. Where the fascia is soft, capping seals the damp in against the rafter feet and you pay for the same run twice.
My gutter overflows at the back instead of the front. Why?
Usually the run has dropped away from the wall at the fixings, or there is no felt support tray and the underlay drip lands behind the gutter instead of in it. Sometimes it is moss packed into the outlet. From a Barton on Sea garden they look identical, but each needs a different repair.
Does being this close to the sea change what you fit?
It changes the fixings more than the boards. Salt corrodes mild steel from the exposed end of a run inwards, so stainless steel screws and non ferrous fixings go on the seaward elevations as a matter of course.
Will new soffits stop the damp in my loft?
If the damp is condensation, yes. A sealed soffit with no air gap lets warm wet air sit against a cold roof and you get water on the underside of the felt. Soffit vents or an over fascia vent strip give the eaves somewhere to breathe. If a tile has slipped instead, that is a different job.
Nearby, and next door
Fascias, soffits and guttering near Barton on Sea
Nearby places we also cover for fascias, soffits and guttering, with straight-line distances from Barton on Sea, and the other trades we offer in Barton on Sea itself.
Fascias, soffits and guttering nearby
Our other trades in Barton on Sea
Fascias, soffits and guttering guides
Gutter overflows in heavy rain but not light rainEverything we do in New Milton Fascias, soffits and guttering, all areas Every area we cover
Free quote
Get a price for your Barton on Sea roofline
Tell us which run has given up and what you have noticed. Thomas comes out, gets up on the eaves, and puts an itemised price in writing. The visit and the quote are free.