Fascias, soffits and guttering in Iwerne Minster

An eaves with no fascia. On the older cottages the rafter feet sit exposed and the gutter is carried on rise and fall brackets spiked into the rafters or screwed to the wall. Nothing needs boarding in. What fails is the bracket fixing where the rafter end has gone soft, the joint between two lengths, and the paint on a cast iron run. We splice the rafter end, refix the brackets into sound timber, and re-hang the gutter to a fall. Boxing that eaves in with a new fascia and soffit is a change to the building, not a repair, and we will tell you so before anybody talks you into it.

Where there is timber. On the newer houses and the extensions there is a painted softwood fascia, soffit and bargeboard, and those rot from behind. It fails at the end of a length, beside a joint, and along its top edge where the felt has been shedding onto it, so peeling and blown paint is a warning rather than the whole story. Where the screwdriver goes in, the boards come off. That also lets us look at the wall plate, reinstate the tilt fillet under the bottom course of tiles, and slide a felt support tray in so the underlay actually reaches the gutter and drips into it. Getting the bottom course fixed and sitting right is what ' + C['bs5534'] + ' expects of a tiled roof, and it is easiest done while the eaves is open. Capping over is only fair on a dry, sound, well fixed board, and we will price it that way when that is what we find.

Cast iron. Where the run is still cast iron it is usually worth keeping. The metal outlasts anything that would replace it. What has failed is the putty and bolt at the joint, the fixing behind it, and the paint. Stripping and re-bedding a leaking joint, then preparing and painting the whole run, is a proper repair with years in it, and it keeps the look of the lane. A cracked length can be swapped on its own rather than the lot.

Profile, fall and pipework. Half round is the traditional shape and reads right on an old elevation. Ogee sits square against a fascia and deepflow carries more water for the same width where a long slope empties into a short length. Where a run is being renewed rather than repaired, uPVC is the usual answer, and aluminium is worth pricing on a long straight elevation since it arrives in longer sections with fewer joints to fail. We would not cap over soft timber to save removing it. Outlets, unions, brackets, hoppers, downpipes and shoes are itemised one by one. Whatever goes up, it drops towards the outlet rather than sitting level, which is the difference between a gutter that empties and one that holds water all year and gives up in every downpour. We fill it from the far end and watch it leave at the shoe. Downpipes are clipped back and made to deliver into a gully or a soakaway, since a pipe emptying at a wall leaves staining and damp in the stonework. Driving rain works at the back of the gutter rather than the front, which is how rainwater ends up in the wall instead of in the discharge.

Air and nuisance. Where there is a soffit, having it down is the cheap moment to sort the eaves ventilation. Soffit vents, or an over fascia vent where the boards are shallow, hold an air gap open above the loft insulation so the felt stays dry instead of growing condensation. Where the eaves is open there is nothing to ventilate, which is one of the quiet advantages of leaving it as it was built. Mesh goes on any new boards and at the verge, because birds and wasps will find a gap, and each outlet is picked clear of the moss and debris off the tiles that had it 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 cottage with an open eaves over a narrow lane, a semi with a bay under the front run, and a detached house with two gables 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 Iwerne Minster, Fontmell Magna, Child Okeford, Shillingstone, Blandford Forum and the villages along the Stour, broadly DT11, 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.