Fascia, soffit and guttering replacement 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.
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Fascia, soffit and guttering replacement and repair in Boldre covers the fascia, the soffit, the bargeboard, the gutter and the pipes that take the water away. Not a clear out, a rebuild of the edge of the roof.
A Boldre roofline shows trouble in the boards, the gutter and the loft. 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. If a gutter under the trees has come down in a gale and hangs loose, or water is pouring down a wall, ring 07435 839745.
We come and look properly, from the eaves and not 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, not 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 to suit the roof, not 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 Boldre 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 in Boldre 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
Stripping the old boards and hanging a new roofline
Thomas walks round the house with you and looks at every run: the fascia, the soffit under it, any bargeboard on the gables, the gutter and each downpipe. He pushes a screwdriver into the fascia ends, because that is where rot starts.
On the written quote each of these has its own line: access; how long each run is; stripping the old boards and gutter; the replacement fascia and soffit, plus any bargeboard; the gutter itself, each outlet and every downpipe; and disposal.
The old roofline comes off and the new one goes up under one written quote. Most houses in Boldre are two storey terraces and semis, so the work usually goes off a tower that moves along the run, with scaffold for a high gable or where a conservatory sits under the eaves. The ground is sheeted and swept each day, and the old timber and plastic go with us. If a rafter foot or the wall plate behind the fascia has gone, you get a photo and a price, and nothing more happens until you say yes.
Replacing a roofline like for like needs no planning application or building control. Altering how it looks is different. Boldre Village, the church and Heywood Manor, and Bull Hill and Pilley all fall inside the Forest South East Conservation Area, and planning here is decided by the Park Authority; its heritage and conservation guidance explains its approach. On a listed house the eaves detail and any cast iron gutters need consent before they are changed.
Cost
Why two fascia quotes on the same terrace can differ
A metre of fascia round a bay is slow work, and a metre along a plain eaves is quick, which is why we do not quote by the metre.
What the platform has to get round. On a Boldre mid terrace the new boards stop at next door’s and have to be finished neatly against them. A semi with a conservatory under the back gutter means the tower or scaffold is built around the glass. A bungalow can be done from a tower that walks all the way round. The work at height rules are why access is its own line.
Softwood behind the paint. Eighties houses in Boldre mostly had softwood fascias, painted a few times and then forgotten. When the paint goes, rot travels along the board and into the rafter feet. A plastic cover board hides that for a while. We take the old boards down so the rafter ends and the wall plate can be checked and repaired.
Oak and beech overhead. Many Boldre houses sit under big trees. A deeper gutter or a leaf guard may be worth it, and vented soffits help keep the roof space dry.
Every fitting. Hoppers, outlets, downpipes, corner returns and a satellite dish bracket each add time, as does hanging the gutter to a true fall instead of dead level.
Ask a competing quote whether the old boards come off or get covered, what happens if the rafter feet are rotten, and whether the downpipes are renewed or only the fascia.
If a section has come away
Gutter hanging off or a fascia gone soft
If a length of gutter is swinging off its brackets, keep people and cars out from under it, and if you can do it safely from the ground, tie the loose end back.
A snapped downpipe pours against the wall every time it rains, soaking the brickwork, and on the clay ground around Boldre that water ends up beside the footings. Please phone instead of using the form. On the first visit we refix or prop the run, point the water away from the house, and see how far the rot in the fascia goes before pricing the repair. Booked jobs run Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. A missed call is returned as soon as we are off the ladder.
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 Boldre lane or 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 Boldre, 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
The firm behind your new fascias in Boldre
Thomas Hannen owns Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales with the number 15471719, and he prices every roofline himself after walking round it. Our base in Boscombe is around thirteen miles from Boldre. Before you book a visit in Boldre, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
We fit fascias, soffits and gutters in the village, Walhampton, Norleywood and Pilley, and in Lymington and Brockenhurst. Any change to how the eaves look is for the New Forest National Park Authority, not the district. One verified Checkatrade customer scored us 10 out of 10. The visit is free. So is the quote, set out run by run.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Boldre?
Most repairs in Boldre 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 Boldre |
|---|---|
| Who decides | New Forest National Park Authority is the planning authority for Boldre. New Forest National Park Authority's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Forest South East Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Boldre. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | Inside the New Forest National Park, where design is looked at more closely and permitted development rights are narrower. |
Questions
Questions about fascias and guttering in Boldre
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 Boldre 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.