Fascias, soffits and guttering in Lymington
The old run comes down, the timber behind it gets checked, and the new gutter is hung to a fall rather than to a line.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
We renew and repair the roofline itself. The boards, the bargeboards, the gutter run and everything hanging off it, taken down and put back rather than cleared out.
The call usually starts with something you can see from the garden. A gutter that has come away from the wall at one end. A brown stripe of rot showing through the paint on a fascia. A downpipe snapped at the bend and water sheeting down the render every time it rains hard.
Underneath those there is nearly always a second problem nobody has looked at, which is the state of the timber the whole run is screwed to. So the first thing we do is get up there and press a screwdriver into the fascia behind the gutter. If it goes in, the run is coming down whatever else happens. You get photographs of what is actually up there and a written itemised quote with the boards, the gutter, each outlet and each downpipe priced separately.
The work
What we take off, what goes back, and how it is fixed
The diagnosis. Rot in a fascia shows up as blown paint long before the board feels soft, and a bargeboard on an exposed gable usually goes first. A run sagging in the middle means the brackets are too far apart or the board has given way behind them. A leaking joint at a union drips in one spot. Water spilling over the back edge in a downpour means the run has tipped towards the wall or the underlay is dropping behind it. Each of those has a different answer, and only one of them needs the whole roofline replacing.
The strip. Gutter down first, then the old fascia and soffit come away and the rafter feet and wall plate are finally visible. That is the moment the job is properly priced. Soft rafter ends get cut back and new timber spliced in. A felt support tray goes under the underlay so the drip lands in the gutter rather than running down behind the new board, and a tilt fillet sets the bottom course of tiles up at the right angle. Where the existing timber is genuinely sound, capping over it in plastic is a reasonable and cheaper job. Where it is not, capping is just a lid on a rotten box.
The materials. Most houses here go back in uPVC, and the gutter profile is a real choice: half round for an ordinary run, ogee where you want the squarer face, square, or deepflow where one slope drains a lot of roof into a short length and a standard section simply cannot take it. Timber can be renewed in timber and painted. Cast iron on an older elevation is often worth keeping, with the joints re-bedded and the run repainted. Aluminium is worth a look this close to the water, because it does not mind salt the way steel fixings do.
The hanging, and the water. Brackets go back at proper centres and the run is set to a fall towards the outlet. Hung dead level it looks fine from the drive and holds standing water for the rest of its life, which is what turns a new gutter green and drops it between the clips. Outlets, unions, hoppers, downpipes and shoes are renewed or refixed, and we follow the rainwater to the bottom. Plenty of downpipes here discharge onto a path, into a gully that silted up years ago, or over a soakaway that has stopped taking anything, and that is what puts the damp stain on the wall, not the gutter.
Ventilation and the nuisances. A new soffit gets vents, or an over fascia vent strip where the board is too narrow to take them, so there is a continuous air gap into the loft. Approved Document F is what sets that expectation, and a sealed eaves is the usual reason a loft is running with condensation. Birds get behind a lifted soffit and wasps into a gable end, and both are sorted before new boards go on. Moss off the tiles is what packs an outlet, so the run is cleared and checked before we leave.
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.
Replacing a fascia, soffit, bargeboard or gutter like for like is repair, so no planning application and nothing for building control. Lymington is not in a conservation area but it carries a great many listed entries, more than anywhere else we cover, so it is worth knowing whether yours is one of them before you change a material: on a listed building works affecting its character need consent. New Forest District Council is the planning authority here rather than the National Park Authority.
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 terraced cottage with the eaves out over a narrow pavement, a 1980s detached with a conservatory under the back run, and a bungalow with a clear path all the way round 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. If the wind has taken a length off and it is still attached at one end, leave it and ring, because coming down it will take the gutter, the bracket and a piece of the fascia with it. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
The south west elevation is the one that fails first
Weather here comes off the Solent, and the most exposed face of almost every house in Lymington is the south west. That matters more to a roofline than to a roof, because wind and driven rain work at edges and openings rather than at the middle of a surface, and a roofline is nothing but edges. The bargeboard on that gable, the corner return, the stop end and the joint nearest the prevailing weather are where paint blows, where water gets behind a board, and where a run starts to drop.
The salt in that wind does the rest. It goes for metal rather than plastic, so bracket screws and downpipe fixings corrode from the exposed end of a run inwards while the sheltered end of the same house still looks new. So two things are worth insisting on. Stainless steel or non ferrous fixings throughout, not just at the front. And a genuine look at the south west elevation before anyone quotes the whole house, because it is common here for that one side to need a full strip while the other three only want a repair and a repaint.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Lymington, Pennington, Woodside, Boldre and Everton, broadly SO41, under New Forest District 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
Lymington questions we get asked
Do I need the whole house done at once?
Rarely. It is very common here for one elevation to be finished and the rest to have years left. We price each run separately so you can do the weather side now and the rest when it suits, and we will say plainly if we think a run does not need touching.
What is the difference between capping and replacing?
Capping leaves the old timber fascia in place and screws a plastic board over the face of it. Replacing takes the timber off. Capping is fine over sound, dry timber. Over a soft board it hides the rot, seals in the damp and leaves the rafter feet doing the work.
Which gutter profile should I have?
Half round suits most houses. Ogee gives a squarer face that sits better under some fascias. Deepflow is the one to ask about if a long or steep slope is draining into a short run, because a standard section will overflow in heavy rain no matter how clean it is.
Will you take the old boards away?
Yes. The old fascia, soffit, gutter and downpipe leave with us and the site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job. Disposal is a line on the quote so you can see what it is.
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Get a price for your Lymington roofline
Tell us which elevation is giving trouble. Thomas comes out, gets up on the eaves and puts an itemised price in writing. The visit and the quote are free.