Fascias, soffits and guttering in Bransgore

The boards. Fascia, soffit, bargeboard and the capping over a gable ladder are one assembly. On the older properties here they are painted softwood, and softwood behind a gutter never really dries out. It rots at the end of a length, under a weeping union, and along its top edge where the felt has been shedding onto it. Peeling, blown paint is the warning sign, and a screwdriver is the test: if the point goes in, the board is finished whatever the paint looks like from below.

What sits behind them. Off come the boards and you can finally see the rafter feet, the wall plate and the bottom course of tiles. Soft rafter ends get cut back and spliced. The tilt fillet that kicks the bottom tile up goes back in, and a tray goes under the felt so it carries out over the lip of the gutter instead of stopping short and shedding behind it. That is the whole case against capping. Screwing plastic over a wet board hides it and holds the damp in. Over a dry, sound, well fixed board, capping over is a sensible job and we will price it as one.

The rainwater run. Gutter, outlets, unions, brackets, hoppers, downpipes and shoes all get renewed or refixed one item at a time. Half round is the ordinary profile, ogee is the square fronted one that sits tight to the fascia, and deepflow is worth specifying where a long or steep slope sheds into a single short length and the existing run overflows in every downpour. Materials go from uPVC through aluminium, which comes in longer lengths with fewer joints, to cast iron on the older properties, which we would rather strip, prime and paint than remove.

Fall, fixing and proving it. On an exposed elevation the fixings do the work, so this is where the time goes. The line is struck first, the fall set towards the outlet, and the brackets go in closer than the minimum, because a length that can bow in a gale will bow. Each takes a screw into sound timber and not into a soft edge. Downpipes are clipped back tight to the wall, since a pipe with slack in it is what a south westerly pulls off. Then water in at one end and out at the shoe, into a gully rather than at the brickwork.

Air and nuisance. Air matters here as much as water. A roof space needs a through draught, so the eaves ventilation goes in as the boards go back and the gap above the loft insulation is left genuinely open rather than stuffed. Skip that and you find condensation beading on the underside of the felt in January and damp settling into the timbers. Closing gaps is the other half of it. An open verge is an invitation to nesting birds and wasps, and moss and grit washed down off the tiles is what fills an outlet until it is blocked.

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 detached house with a gable at each end, a bungalow with a deep overhang over a hedge, and a cottage with a low eaves and a bay beneath it are three different ways in. 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.

We cover Bransgore, Burley, Sopley, Hinton, Thorney Hill and Highcliffe, broadly BH23, under New Forest District 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.