Fascias, soffits and guttering in Crossways
Estate eaves, gable verges, garage runs and downpipes stripped off and renewed, with the timber behind the boards checked before anything new goes on.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Nothing in Crossways is listed and there is no conservation area, so the board, the colour and the gutter profile are entirely your decision. What is not your decision is the state of the timber behind the fascia, and that is what a roofline quote should be built on.
The calls here are usually one of three. A gutter has come away from the wall at one end. A soffit has gone dark and spongy where a joint above it has dripped for years. Or the paint on a timber bargeboard has blistered and the joints have opened.
We come out, get on the eaves and push a screwdriver into the fascia next to a bracket. Sound timber stops it, soft timber does not, and that one check decides whether you are buying a repair or a renewal. The visit and the written itemised quote are both free.
The work
Estate eaves, garage runs and the original boards going
The six things people describe. Paint blown off a timber fascia. A soffit gone soft. A gutter pulled away from the wall. A run sagging between brackets. A leaking joint at a union. A clear gutter overflowing in a downpour. Only two of those are a full strip and renew, and the screwdriver settles which. When it is a renewal, fascia, soffit, bargeboard and capping come off as one set rather than four separate jobs.
The run. Six parts, and the fault is nearly always in one of them rather than in the length of gutter between: the union, the bracket, the outlet, a hopper head, the downpipe, the shoe. Out comes the old run. Brackets are set at the spacing that profile was made for, each union is left the gap it needs to expand, and the run goes back up to a fall pulled off a string line. A gutter hung dead level looks right from the garden and holds a film of water in every length all year, and that standing water is what perishes the seals.
Profile, and the materials. Half round is the ordinary domestic gutter and fits most of the 1970s and 1980s houses here. Ogee has a flat back against the fascia and carries more. Square is the modern sharp edged version. A long slope or a valley discharging into an eaves run wants deepflow or a second outlet. Boards go back in uPVC on most of the estate, and thickness matters more than colour because a thin board flexes between rafters and works the screws loose. Painted timber suits the older cottages, cast iron rusts from the inside where no brush reaches, and seamless aluminium is rolled on site and hung in one piece with no joints.
What is behind it all. The interesting part starts when the fascia is on the ground. Rafter feet first, because that is what a new board screws into. The wall plate under them next. Then the tilt fillet, which sets the bottom course of tiles at the angle that sheds into the run. Then the underlay, which too often stops on top of the old board instead of running over a felt support tray and dripping clear. BS 5534 sets out that eaves detail. Cap over dry, hard, painted timber and you have saved a strip out you did not need. Cap over anything else and you have only hidden it, with the new brackets biting into wet wood.
Air in, water away. Your loft draws its air in at the eaves, through the soffit, which is why a solid board fitted where a vented one came off changes the whole roof. Vent discs, a strip vent or an over fascia vent all put that intake back, and the air gap over the insulation has to stay open or January brings condensation on the felt and mould across sound rafters. Approved Document F is the standard for it. At the other end of the system the pipe has to finish somewhere real, a gully with a back inlet or a soakaway set well clear of the footings, and Approved Document H governs where rainwater may go. Water getting behind the run stains a render for years and driving rain keeps it wet. Birds take an open joint in a board as a front door, and a winter of moss and debris off the tiles is what blocks an outlet.
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.
Boards and rainwater goods swapped like for like are repair, so no application goes in and building control has nothing to see, which is the line regulation 12 of the Building Regulations 2010 draws. Crossways has no conservation area and no listed entries at all, which is unusual on this patch, so nobody has to be asked about a colour or a profile. Dorset Council is the planning authority, and where a nearby address is listed listed building consent sets out what applies.
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 house on the estate with straight eaves both sides, a bungalow with a carport under the run, and a cottage with a low back roof each need a different way 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.
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. Crossways is the far end of our patch at about twenty miles, so tell us on the phone if water is going down a wall and we will get there rather than book you in. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Nothing here is listed, so the only judge is next door
This is one of the few places we cover with no conservation area over it and nothing on the list at all. That is worth knowing, because it means the whole heritage conversation goes away. White, black, woodgrain, half round, ogee or square: on an ordinary house here it is your choice and there is no application to make and nobody to ask.
Which leaves one thing worth thinking about, and it is not the council. On an estate the houses were built together, so the roofline you are replacing is the same age and the same profile as the ones either side, and on a semi or a terrace the run often carries straight across the boundary. Changing the profile halfway along a shared run leaves a step where two shapes meet, which drips. If you are on a semi, either match what is there or talk to next door first. It is a five minute conversation that saves an awkward joint over a shared wall.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Crossways, Warmwell, Woodsford, Moreton, Broadmayne and Owermoigne, broadly DT2, 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
Crossways questions we get asked
Do I need permission for any of this?
No. There is nothing listed in Crossways and no conservation area, so renewing boards and rainwater goods is repair. There is no planning application and nothing for building control, and the profile and colour are yours to pick.
Can half a semi be done on its own?
It can, but the joint where the new run meets the old one is the weak point, especially if the profile changes. Where a gutter carries across a party wall we would rather set the join at a proper union with a fall running the right way than leave a step.
Where should my downpipe actually finish?
In a gully with a grating or a back inlet, or in a soakaway set far enough from the house to be doing something. A shoe spitting onto a border tight against the wall is how a wall stays wet all winter and how a bay ends up with damp plaster inside.
Is the whole roofline coming off, or just the fascia?
It depends what the screwdriver finds. Sometimes it is one bargeboard on a gable. Often the soffit above a dripping joint has gone while the rest is fine. We price each elevation on its own line so you can see what is being renewed and what is being left.
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Find out what is actually behind your fascia
Thomas Hannen comes out, checks the boards and the rafter feet and writes each elevation on its own line. Free visit, free written itemised quote.