Fascia, soffit and guttering replacement 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 Iwerne Minster 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, not 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 BS 5534 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 an Iwerne Minster lane. A cracked length can be swapped on its own, without renewing 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, not 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 and never sits 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, not 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.

Fascia work in Iwerne Minster has no rate per metre. A metre of fascia along a straight bungalow eaves is not the same metre as one around a bay or up a steep bargeboard.

What is behind the board. On an older Iwerne Minster house the fascia is often the only thing keeping weather off rafter feet that have already started to go, and nobody knows until the old board is off. We take boards down instead of capping them in plastic, because capping hides the rot and gives water somewhere to sit.

The house itself. Detached houses are the biggest group in Iwerne Minster, and a detached house has roofline on every side, often with gables and a hip. A bungalow is all at one level but long. A cottage with open eaves may need rafter ends repaired and a soffit made to suit rather than a stock board fitted.

Gutters and the fall. Every outlet, hopper and downpipe is priced on its own, and the gutter is re-hung to a proper fall, because one hung level holds water all year. Cast iron is heavier to take down and dearer to match than plastic.

Access. The work at height rules make the tower or scaffold a line of its own, and a run over a conservatory means building the platform around it.

Ask another quote whether the old boards are coming off, what happens if the rafter feet are rotten, and whether the gutters and downpipes are renewed as well as the fascia.

Thomas Hannen works from a base in Boscombe, 20.8 miles south of Iwerne Minster, and covers the village along with Shillingstone, Child Okeford, Fontmell Magna, Blandford Forum and the villages along the Stour, under Dorset Council.

His business is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 15471719. He walks round your house and measures each run before writing the price. A verified customer's score for us on Checkatrade is 10 out of 10. You pay nothing for the site visit or for the written quote, which lists every item. Before you book a visit in Iwerne Minster, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Iwerne Minster 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.