Fascia, soffit and guttering replacement in Ridge

Before a price exists. Nobody can judge a roofline standing on the grass. A ladder goes up for a first look and a tower or a scaffold goes up to work off, and on this ground at Ridge we start at the gable that faces the weather, because that is the end which gives up first.

A blade pushed into the board behind the gutter settles the argument. If it sinks, the fascia has gone soft and rotted through and paint is money thrown away. Peeling, blown paintwork says the same thing a season or two earlier.

The rainwater run comes down first. Gutter, brackets, unions, stop ends, outlet, downpipe, clips and shoe, all off before a board is touched. Faults you could only guess at from below are plain once the run is on the ground: a length that had dropped and was emptying over a joint, a union weeping in every downpour, a section pulled away from the wall, or a run that had been overflowing at the back of the gutter and leaving a green stain down the brickwork.

Then the boards. Soft fascia, soffit, bargeboard and any old capping come off rather than being clad over, because what matters is underneath them: the rafter feet, the wall plate and the eaves course of tiles. Cladding hides them. Where the timber under the failed paint is dry and firm, capping the face is a fair and cheaper job, and we will say so instead of selling you the bigger one.

Carpentry, where the job needs it. A rafter foot gone at the tail is cut back and a new tail sistered on. A wall plate that has been sitting wet for years is a bigger conversation, and you will see photographs of it before we go any further. On an exposed verge at Ridge the bargeboard goes back in one length rather than spliced, since a joint on the windward gable is one more place for driving rain to get in.

Closing the eaves back up. The tilt fillet is reset so the bottom course sits at its proper angle and drips forward. A felt support tray carries the underlay out over the edge, so anything running down the felt lands in the gutter and not behind the new board. New soffit takes soffit vents, or an over fascia vent goes on where the soffit is too narrow for them, keeping the air gap through to the loft open. Shut that eaves ventilation off and you have swapped a rotten fascia for condensation under the felt, which is the whole reason Approved Document C cares about it. The verge and the eaves course go back fixed as BS 5534 expects.

Hanging the new run. uPVC on most houses, painted timber where the look matters, cast iron repaired and kept where it is worth keeping, aluminium on a long unbroken length. Half round, ogee, square or deepflow is a capacity decision, not a matter of taste, because a wide slope in driving rain sheds more water than a small profile will carry. Then the fall. Brackets go on at closer centres on the exposed elevation, screwed into sound timber, with a real slope towards the outlet. Guttering hung level holds water the year round, and a full length is what tears a bracket out in a gale.

Before we leave. Water goes down each run to prove the fall and show the joints are dry. Every downpipe wants a shoe that discharges into a gully or a soakaway clear of the footings rather than spitting rainwater at the wall, which is how you end up with damp inside and staining outside. Open corners are closed so birds and wasps cannot nest behind a soffit, and the outlets are left clear of moss and debris off the tiles.

Nobody prices a roofline by the metre with any honesty. A metre over a bay window and a metre on a plain gable are different jobs.

The platform. A low eaves line over a hedge, a long single storey range and a two storey gable open to the weather are three different set ups before a board comes off. Soft ground under a tower means spreading the load. The work at height rules make access a priced line of its own.

The exposed side. The south west elevations in Ridge take the wind. Bargeboards and verge ends lift, and gutter brackets loosen, so on those faces we fix closer and use heavier brackets. It costs more there and it is where it pays.

What is behind the board. Rotten fascia is the symptom. The question is whether the rafter feet and wall plate are sound, and nobody knows until the old board is off.

Where the downpipes discharge. On the shrink-swell clay at Ridge, a downpipe spilling beside the wall is a structural matter as much as a damp one. Taking it into a gully or a soakaway is an Approved Document H job and gets priced properly.

Before you sign anything, ask whether the old boards come off or get capped, what happens if the rafter feet are rotten, and whether the downpipes are included.

We cover Ridge, Stoborough, Arne and Wareham, and on to Sandford and Holton Heath, all under Dorset Council. Ridge is 11.9 miles from our base on Wolverton Road, Boscombe. The business is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, number 15471719 on the register for England and Wales, and it belongs to Thomas Hannen. Before you book a visit in Ridge, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

He comes out himself, walks the roofline with you and writes the price. One verified customer scored us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. You pay nothing for the visit or for the itemised quote that follows.

Most repairs in Ridge 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.