Fascias, soffits and guttering in Boldre
The old boards come off, the rafter feet get checked, and the gutter is re-hung to a fall. Woodgrain and dark finishes where white would look wrong.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
This is roofline work: the fascia, the soffit, the bargeboard, the gutter and the pipes that take the water away, renewed or repaired. Not a clear out, a rebuild of the edge of the roof.
Three things bring people to it. A board that has gone soft and dark where the paint has blown. A gutter that has dropped at one end and now runs the wrong way. And a loft that is wet on the underside of the felt in winter, which almost always traces back to a soffit with nowhere for air to get through.
We come and look properly rather than from the drive. The gutter gets lifted so we can see the board behind it, a screwdriver goes into the timber, and the whole eaves is photographed so you can see what we saw. The quote that follows is written and itemised, with the boards, the gutter run, the outlets and the downpipes on separate lines rather than one figure for the lot.
The work
From a soft fascia to a run that drains
Finding out what is wrong. The fascia is the board on the face of the rafter ends and it does all the work, because the gutter brackets screw into it. When it rots, everything hanging on it starts moving. Peeling paint, a dark stripe under the gutter line, a bracket that has pulled its screws, a run sagging between fixings or a joint that leaks in ordinary rain are all symptoms of the same thing. So is a gutter that has pulled away from the wall at one end and now overflows at the back rather than the front.
What is behind the boards. Take the fascia off and you are looking at the rafter feet, the wall plate they sit on, and the bottom edge of the underlay. That is where the real condition of a roof edge shows. Rot normally stops in the last few inches of the rafters, and those get cut back and spliced with new timber. A wall plate that has gone is a bigger job, and it is far better found now than in two years. A felt support tray goes in so the underlay drips into the gutter rather than behind it, and a tilt fillet lifts the bottom course of tiles back to the right angle.
Capping, honestly. Screwing plastic over an existing timber fascia is quick and cheap and it has its place: where the timber is dry and solid and it is only the paintwork that has had enough, capping over is a sensible job. Over a soft board it seals damp against the rafter feet and buys you a few years before the same run comes down again, this time with the new plastic on it.
The new run. uPVC in half round, ogee, square or deepflow, and we pick the profile for the roof rather than the catalogue. A long slope emptying into one short length needs a deepflow section or it will spill in every heavy shower. Timber gets renewed in timber where that is what the building wants, and cast iron on an older elevation can usually be re-bedded at the joints, re-hung and repainted rather than replaced. Brackets go back at proper spacing, and the run is set to a fall, because a gutter hung level looks right and holds water in it all year.
Where it all goes, and what lives in it. Every outlet, union, hopper, downpipe clip and shoe gets renewed or refixed, and we follow the rainwater down to the ground. Out here a lot of downpipes discharge into a gully or straight to a soakaway, and a soakaway that has stopped taking water will keep the wall damp however new the gutter is. New soffits get vents, or an over fascia vent strip where the board is narrow, so the eaves ventilation is continuous and the condensation stops. Birds behind a lifted soffit, wasps in a gable end and moss washed off the tiles into the outlets all get dealt with while we are up there.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
Same team from first visit to last, one person to ring, and no sub-contracting your work out to somebody you have never met. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: access, the length of each run, stripping the old boards and gutter, the fascia, soffit and any bargeboard, the gutter, outlets and downpipes, and disposal on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
Renewing a roofline like for like is repair rather than development, so there is no planning application and nothing for building control. Boldre sits inside the New Forest National Park, and here it is the National Park Authority that is the planning authority rather than the district council, which matters if you want to change how the eaves look rather than simply renew them. Its heritage and conservation guidance sets out the approach, and there are listed entries in the parish, where the roofline needs consent before it is touched.
Cost
What decides the price of a roofline
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 terrace with the run carrying on over next door, a detached house with a conservatory under the back gutter, and a bungalow you can walk a tower right round are three different platforms 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.
If a section has come away
A gutter hanging off, or a fascia gone through
Ring rather than use the form. A length of gutter pulled off its brackets, a downpipe snapped at the bend or a fascia soft enough to put your hand through goes to the front of the queue, because the next heavy rain runs straight down the wall and into the brickwork. The first visit is about getting it supported and discharging somewhere sensible, and we price the run properly once we can see how far the rot goes. Out here a downpipe snapped at the bend can soak a wall for weeks before anybody indoors notices, so it is worth ringing about even when nothing is dripping inside. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
In the National Park, what the eaves look like is a planning matter
The Park makes very little difference to a straight renewal. Taking a rotten timber fascia off and putting a new one back is repair, and repair is not development, so nobody needs to be asked. What the National Park Authority does look at closely is change that is visible: the appearance of a building, and particularly the parts of it you can see from a lane or a green. A roofline is one of the most visible things on a house, because it is the line your eye follows along the whole elevation.
In practice that means the decision to swap dark stained timber for bright white plastic is worth thinking about here in a way it is not on an estate. Plastic does come in woodgrain, black and darker greys, and on an older cottage those read far better from the road than gloss white. If your building is listed, and there are a fair number in the parish, then the roofline is not a free choice at all and consent comes before the boards move. If it is an ordinary house set back from the road, none of this need slow you down, and we will tell you which of those you are.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Boldre, Pilley, South Baddesley, Lymington and Brockenhurst, broadly SO41, inside the New Forest National Park. 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.
Questions
Boldre questions we get asked
Can you replace the gutter without replacing the boards?
Yes, if the fascia behind it is sound. That is a common job and a much smaller one. What we will not do is screw new brackets into timber that has gone soft, because the run will drop again and you will have paid twice.
Why is my loft wet if the roof is fine?
Because warm damp air from the house has nowhere to leave. Eaves ventilation is the escape route, and old soffits are often solid boards with no vents at all. New soffits with vents, or an over fascia vent strip, give the air gap back and the condensation on the underside of the felt usually stops.
Do I have to have white?
No. uPVC comes in black, anthracite, rosewood and a range of woodgrain finishes, and on an older building those sit far better than gloss white. It costs a little more than the standard board and it is worth it on anything you can see from the road.
How long will the job take?
A typical house is a couple of days once the platform is up. Bay windows, a corner return, a conservatory to work around, or rafter feet that need splicing all add time, and anything found once the boards are off is photographed and priced before we carry on.
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Get a price for your Boldre roofline
Tell us what you have noticed and where. Thomas comes out, lifts the gutter to see the board behind it, and puts an itemised price in writing. Both are free.