Fascia, soffit and guttering replacement in Parkstone

Timber boards that have gone soft. Plenty of the older Parkstone houses still have their painted timber fascias and bargeboards. Once water gets behind the paint they rot from the back. We strip the old boards, check the rafter feet and the wall plate, cut out and splice any rotten ends, then fit new fascia and soffit.

We will not cap over rotten timber: a plastic capping hides the problem and holds the damp in, and the gutter brackets end up screwed into mush.

Full uPVC replacement. On the inter-war and post-war semis up the hill, and the newer houses, a full uPVC roofline usually makes sense: new fascia boards, vented soffits, and a new gutter in half round, square or deepflow section, with new downpipes, unions, stop ends and brackets. We fit a felt support tray at the eaves so the bottom edge of the underlay is not rotting in the gutter, and an over fascia vent or soffit vents so the loft keeps its eaves ventilation and does not start collecting condensation.

Cast iron and aluminium. Where a Parkstone period house still has cast iron gutters, we would rather reseal the joints, refix the brackets and paint the run than swap it for plastic. Where a length is cracked through, we replace it in cast iron or in cast aluminium made to the same ogee or half round profile.

Gutters that overflow. A gutter hung with the fall the wrong way, or one that has dropped at a bracket, overflows however clean it is. We re-hang it to fall to the outlet, replace perished unions and make sure the downpipe discharges into the gully, not onto the path against the wall. Moss and debris come out while we are there.

Bargeboards and verges. On gable fronts the bargeboard carries the verge. When it rots, the verge tiles or slates loosen, so we look at both together. Any loose slate is on our roof repairs in Parkstone page.

When would we talk you out of a new roofline? When the boards are sound and only need paint, or when one joint is leaking. Then it is a repair.

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 two storey Parkstone villa near the station, a bungalow up by Ashley Road and a terrace where the scaffold stands on the pavement each change the price before any work starts. 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.

We cover the whole of Parkstone, from Ashley Road and Heatherlands on the higher ground down to Ashley Cross and Penn Hill, across BH12 and BH14, under BCP 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. Before you book a visit in Parkstone, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Parkstone 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.