Fascia, soffit and guttering replacement in Canford Cliffs
Rotten boards stripped and replaced, and gutters sized for pine needles, fixed to stand up to the salt off the bay.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Last updated
In Canford Cliffs a roofline usually needs work because of a gutter full of pine needles or a timber fascia gone soft behind its paint. We take the old boards off, check what is behind them, and fit new fascias, soffits and guttering at an itemised price.
Rooflines in Canford Cliffs need work once the water, the paint or a bracket gives way. Water sheets over the front of the gutter every time it rains hard, and the wall below has gone green. A painted timber fascia has started peeling at the joints and a screwdriver goes into it. Or a length of gutter has dropped at one end, a bracket has gone, and the downpipe no longer lines up with the outlet.
We come out, get a ladder or a tower up to the eaves, and look at the boards, the brackets and the rafter ends behind them before we price anything. If a failed gutter is now sending water into a room, ring 07435 839745 instead of using the form and tell us where it is showing.
The work
Boards, gutters and downpipes under the pines
The whole roofline is replaced. We remove the old fascia, soffit and the barge board on each gable, and new ones go back fixed to the rafter feet with stainless screws.
Most of the houses in Canford Cliffs were built after the war and plenty still have their first painted timber, now rotten at the joints and behind the gutter brackets. uPVC boards suit most houses now because they do not need painting, and we fit a new felt support tray at the eaves so water running off the tiles drips into the gutter instead of rotting the new board. A typical detached house takes two or three days off a scaffold.
Why we do not cap over. Capping clips a plastic board over the rotten one, which hides the problem without fixing it. If the rafter feet, the tilt fillet or the wall plate have gone, the new fascia is screwed into timber that is already failing. We strip back and show you what is there. When the timber is sound and only needs painting, we will tell you that instead of selling you a replacement.
Gutters and downpipes. Half round, ogee, square and deepflow sections in uPVC (PVCu), and aluminium or cast iron where the house calls for it. Canford Cliffs is thick with pines, and their needles are the problem here more than leaves. They mat into a dense wet layer of debris that leaves outlets blocked and grows moss, the gutter starts overflowing, and in driving rain the water runs down the back of the gutter and behind the fascia instead of into it. A deeper section with a proper fall to each outlet copes better. Every union and shoe is sealed, and we make sure each downpipe discharges its rainwater into a gully or drain that is actually clear.
Soffits and ventilation. Plenty of Canford Cliffs roofs have no eaves ventilation at all, and the loft shows it with condensation and black mould on the rafters. A soffit vent strip or an over fascia vent give the air gap the roof space needs, and we keep insulation from blocking it.
Bungalows and blocks. The bungalows at Imbrecourt, off Canford Cliffs Road, have long straight runs that come off a tower. A block of flats wants a scaffold and an instruction from the managing agent. Wasp and bird nests behind old soffits are common and we deal with them before the boards come off. Anything we find wrong with the tiles above goes to our roofing side.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
One person to ring from the first visit to the last. 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.
Replacing a fascia, soffit or gutter like for like needs no application. Parts of Canford Cliffs are in a conservation area and the council keeps the list. If a house there is changing from timber and cast iron to something that looks different, we check with the council before ordering, and anything listed, such as St Ann's Hospital on Haven Road, needs consent in its own right.
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 bungalow with one long run, a two storey detached house with bays and gables, and a block of flats reached over landscaped gardens are three different jobs to get to, and a Canford Cliffs pine over the eaves can decide where the tower stands. 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.
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. Where the gutter belongs to a block, report it to the managing agent too, and keep people away from any section that is hanging loose. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For anything urgent, ring rather than use the form, and if we cannot pick up we ring you back as soon as we can.
Worth knowing
Salt air goes for the fixings first
The sea is less than a kilometre from the middle of Canford Cliffs, and salt carried up the cliff and the chines settles on everything at the eaves. uPVC boards do not mind it.
What fails is the metal holding them up: mild steel gutter brackets, galvanised nails and cheap screws rust from the head inwards, and a run that looks fine from the drive can be hanging on fixings that have all but gone. Rust staining down a white fascia is the sign, along with a run that has started sagging between brackets.
So on the seaward side of a Canford Cliffs house we fix with stainless screws, use brackets that will not corrode, and look hard at any existing cast iron before agreeing to keep it. Salt also keeps surfaces damp between showers, so green growth on a north facing soffit comes back faster than you would expect. None of this adds much to a quote, and it is the difference between a roofline that lasts and one you are looking at again in a few winters.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover all of Canford Cliffs, from Haven Road and the village out to Cliff Drive and down into Branksome Park, a little over four miles from our base in Boscombe. BCP Council is the planning and building control authority for BH13.
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. Before you book a visit in Canford Cliffs, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Canford Cliffs?
Most repairs in Canford Cliffs 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 Canford Cliffs |
|---|---|
| Who decides | BCP Council is the planning authority for Canford Cliffs. BCP Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Branksome Park and Chine Gardens Conservation Area and Canford Cliffs Village Conservation Area. They cover parts of Canford Cliffs, so check whether your street is inside one. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Canford Cliffs. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Canford Cliffs. |
Questions
Questions about fascias and guttering in Canford Cliffs
Do I need new fascias or just new gutters?
Push a screwdriver into the fascia behind a bracket. If it goes in, the board has to come off. If the timber is hard and only the gutter is leaking at its joints, new guttering on the existing boards is a fair job, and we will quote it that way.
Can you fit gutter guards against the pine needles?
They can be fitted, but Canford Cliffs pine needles are fine enough to lie on top of a guard or work through it, so a guard cuts down the clearing instead of ending it. A deeper gutter with enough outlets usually does more.
How long does the work take?
Where a single length has pulled away we can re-hang and refix it on new brackets. A full run on a straightforward Canford Cliffs house is usually two or three days from the scaffold going up to the old boards leaving with us. Bays, gables with bargeboards, and rot found behind the boards add time, and you get a photograph and a price before any extra is done.
Is the scaffold included?
Yes, as its own line on the quote. A bungalow can often be done from a tower, which is cheaper.
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Get a price for your Canford Cliffs roofline
Tell us what the gutters and boards are doing. We will check the rafter ends and the fixings behind them and put an itemised price in writing.