Fascias, soffits and guttering in Cranborne
Rotten boards off, rafter feet checked and spliced, and the run re-hung to a fall. Cast iron repaired where it is worth saving.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
We replace and repair the roofline: fascia, soffit, bargeboard, capping, gutter, outlets, hoppers and downpipes. It is the edge of the roof, and it is the part that rots and drops rather than the part that leaks.
Out here the first sign is usually on the wall rather than the ceiling. A green or brown stripe running down brickwork or render under one particular joint. A splash mark on a path where a downpipe should be discharging into a gully. Paint blistering along a bargeboard on the gable that takes the weather.
All of that points at the same handful of components, and none of it is diagnosed from the ground. We get the gutter lifted so the board behind it can be tested, look at the rafter feet where we can see them, and photograph the run. Then you get a written itemised quote with the boards, the gutter, the outlets and the downpipes on separate lines, and an honest answer about whether a repair will do.
The work
Village rooflines: cast iron, timber and deep eaves
Diagnosis first. A soft fascia is the root of most of it. The gutter brackets screw into that board, so when the timber goes the run sags, drops, pulls away from the wall and starts overflowing at the back instead of the front. Blown paint is the early warning and a screwdriver settles the argument. Separate from that, a leaking joint at a union, a cracked hopper, a downpipe off its clips or a shoe that has gone missing are all small repairs that get mistaken for a whole new roofline, and we would rather quote you for the small one.
Old timber, and what it is fixed to. On the older cottages the fascia is often deep, sometimes moulded, and the eaves detail is worth keeping. When the boards come off, the rafter feet, the wall plate and the bottom edge of the underlay are exposed and can be judged properly. Rot generally stops in the last few inches of each rafter and gets cut back and spliced. A felt support tray keeps the underlay dripping into the gutter rather than behind the board, and a tilt fillet lifts the bottom course of tiles so they sit as they should. Capping plastic over rotten timber hides every bit of that, so we take the old boards off. Where the timber is sound and only the paint has failed, capping is a fair job and cheaper.
Cast iron. A good deal of what hangs on the older buildings here is cast iron, usually ogee or half round, and it is frequently worth saving. The run comes down, the joints get raked out and re-bedded, brackets are renewed, the sections are wire brushed and painted and it goes back up to a proper fall. What ends a cast iron run is a cracked section or years of standing water in it. Where it has to be replaced, aluminium in the same profile keeps the elevation looking right, and uPVC in half round, ogee, square or deepflow is the straightforward answer everywhere the original look does not matter.
Hanging, and where the water finishes. Brackets at proper spacing and the run set to a fall towards the outlet. A gutter hung dead level looks tidy from the lane and holds water in it all year, which is how a new run ends up green and sagging. Then we follow the rainwater to the bottom. Most downpipes here go to a gully or a soakaway, and a soakaway that has silted up keeps the wall damp however new the gutter above it is.
Ventilation and nuisances. New soffits get vents, or an over fascia vent strip where the board will not take them, so there is a continuous air gap through the eaves and into the loft. That is what stops condensation forming on the underside of the felt. Birds behind a lifted soffit and wasps in a gable end are routine on older buildings and both get dealt with first, and moss coming off the tiles gets cleared out of the run and the outlets before we finish.
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, so no planning application and nothing for building control. Cranborne has its own conservation area, where appearance is controlled and a change of material on a visible elevation becomes a planning question rather than a repair. There are twenty five listed entries in and around the village, which is a lot for its size, and on a listed building the roofline needs listed building consent before a board is touched. Dorset Council holds both sets of boundaries and will tell you which apply to your address.
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 cottage with the eaves out over a pavement, a farmhouse with outbuildings and long low runs, and a modern detached with a conservatory under the back gutter 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. We are the better part of an hour away, so ring rather than wait for the next dry spell, and we will get something under it and discharging properly on the first visit. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Ask about consent before you choose a material, not after
For a village of this size Cranborne carries an unusual number of listed buildings, and it has its own conservation area over the older core. That combination changes the order in which you make decisions about a roofline. On an ordinary house you choose the board and the profile and get it fitted. Here the first question is what your building is, because a listed building needs consent for work that affects its character, and a roofline on a principal elevation affects character in a way that is hard to argue with.
None of that stops a repair. Renewing timber in timber, repairing and repainting cast iron, splicing rotten rafter feet and re-hanging the same run to a proper fall are maintenance and they are usually the right answer anyway. What needs asking about first is a change: cast iron to plastic, painted timber to white uPVC, or a different gutter profile on a frontage. Get that agreed before anything is ordered and the job runs smoothly. Do it the other way round and you can end up taking a new roofline back off, which is the one outcome nobody wants.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Cranborne, Alderholt, Verwood, Wimborne St Giles and the villages either side of the chase, 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.
Questions
Cranborne questions we get asked
Is cast iron guttering worth keeping?
Often, yes. If the sections are sound and it is the joints that leak, the run can be taken down, re-bedded, re-hung to a fall and repainted, and it will see out the plastic that would have replaced it. A cracked section or a run that has been holding water for years is a different story.
My gutter only overflows in very heavy rain. Is that a blockage?
Not necessarily. If the run is clear and it still spills in a downpour, the profile may be too small for the area of roof draining into it. A deepflow section carries considerably more than a standard half round and it solves that without adding another downpipe.
Can you paint rather than replace?
If the timber is sound, yes, and we will say so rather than sell you boards you do not need. Painting buys years on a fascia that has only lost its finish. It buys nothing at all on a board a screwdriver goes into.
Do you work on outbuildings and barns as well?
Yes. Long low runs on outbuildings are often easier and quicker than a house, and they are frequently the ones putting water into a wall because nobody looks at them. They get priced as their own line on the quote.
Nearby, and next door
Fascias, soffits and guttering near Cranborne
Fascias, soffits and guttering nearby
Our other trades in Cranborne
Everything we do in Verwood Fascias, soffits and guttering, all areas Every area we cover
Free quote
Get a price for your Cranborne roofline
Tell us what the wall is telling you and we will come and look at the run above it. Thomas prices every job himself and puts it in writing, free.