Fascias, soffits and guttering in Corfe Mullen

What a nineteen seventies eaves looks like when you open it. Most of the housing here went up between the war and the early eighties, and the detail is consistent: a softwood fascia nailed to the rafter feet, a thin soffit board tucked into the wall, a half round gutter on drive-in brackets, and a bargeboard up each gable. Thirty odd years of paint later, half of these were capped in plastic rather than replaced. Pull the capping off and the timber behind it is often wet, black and soft, because the board was rotting when it was covered and nothing about being covered stopped it.

Strip out and check. Everything comes off, boards and gutter together, and then we look at the parts that actually matter: the rafter feet, the wall plate they bear on, and the bottom course of tiles. A rafter foot that has gone soft gets a new end spliced on. A felt support tray goes in where the underfelt has torn back over the eaves, which is where the water was getting behind the fascia in the first place, and a tilt fillet sets the bottom course at the right angle so it drips into the gutter. Tiles lifted at the eaves or the verge go back the way BS 5534 expects. Where the timber genuinely is sound and dry, capping the face and lining the soffit is a reasonable job and cheaper, and we will say so rather than sell you a strip out you do not need.

New boards, and the air behind them. uPVC is the usual answer on this stock, in white, black or woodgrain, and it takes a bracket screw far better than tired softwood. Timber still suits the older cottages and anything with a moulded profile, and cast iron rainwater goods are worth repairing and repainting where they survive. Whatever goes up, the soffit goes up vented, or an over fascia vent goes in where the soffit is too shallow to take one, and the air gap over the loft insulation is left open. Eaves ventilation is the difference between a dry loft and condensation dripping on the insulation, and Approved Document F sets the figures.

Gutter, fall and downpipe. The run goes back on new brackets at proper centres, falling to the outlet. Hung level it looks fine from the drive and stands full of water all year, which is what perishes the union seals and softens a board from behind. Half round suits most of these roofs, but a long steep slope, or a run taking two roof planes off a hip, does better in ogee, square or deepflow because it holds more before water goes over the back of the gutter. Downpipes are clipped straight, the shoe set so it discharges into a gully rather than onto a drive, and hopper heads checked. Open corners get closed so birds and wasps cannot nest behind a soffit, and we point out where moss and debris off the tiles are blocking an outlet.

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 clear lawn all round, a semi with a conservatory under the back run, and a house with a bay window and a porch to work around are three different jobs 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.

The commonest thing we open up in Corfe Mullen is not a rotten fascia. It is a rotten fascia with plastic capped over it. When the original softwood on this stock began to go, a great many boards were clad rather than taken off. It was quick, it looked smart from the drive, and it left the rot exactly where it was, sealed in behind a sheet of white plastic with no way of drying out.

If your roofline was capped rather than replaced, the test is simple enough. Get up to it safely and press hard at the bottom edge of the fascia, and at the ends of the run where the gutter brackets screw in. Any give, any softness, any bracket that has started to pull, and the timber behind has gone. At that point the capping is holding the gutter up more or less on its own, and a run full of winter rain is a lot heavier than the same run in August. The honest answer then is to strip the whole lot off, splice or replace whatever the rafter feet need, and start again with the fall set properly. It costs more than capping it a second time. It is also the last time you will pay for it.

We cover Corfe Mullen, Broadstone, Lytchett Matravers, Upton and Wimborne, broadly BH21, under Dorset 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.