Fascias, soffits and guttering in Walhampton and Portmore

Reading the boards. A fascia is the wettest timber on a building, because the gutter sits hard against it and the felt drips onto its top edge. It fails behind the gutter first, then at the ends of the run and either side of each joint, so peeling and blown paint is a prompt to look rather than a diagnosis. We test with a screwdriver. A soffit rots on the face nobody sees and announces it by hanging clear of the wall. The bargeboard and the gable capping are weathered from the side rather than soaked, and generally hold out longest.

What is behind them. Getting the boards off is the only way to see the rafter feet, the wall plate and the bottom course of tiles. Soft rafter ends are cut back and spliced. The tilt fillet is reinstated so the bottom tile lies at its proper angle, and a support tray takes the felt out past the fascia so its water lands in the gutter. That is the case against capping over rot: the plastic looks right while the timber under it keeps going. Over a dry, sound, firmly fixed board, capping over is a fair job and we will price it as one.

Long runs. On a terrace or a converted house the gutter often runs the whole length of a building rather than one house, which changes the specification. Fewer joints is better, so aluminium is worth pricing because it comes in longer lengths than uPVC. A single outlet serving a long run is what makes a gutter overflow in heavy rain even when it is perfectly clean, so the fix is often a second outlet or a deepflow profile rather than another clear out. Half round and ogee both work; the profile matters less than whether the run can carry what the roof sheds.

Fall, fixings and pipework. On a long run the fall is what keeps it honest. Hung level it holds water in every dip through the year, silting the outlet and rotting the timber behind a bracket, and on a shared elevation that becomes somebody else's ceiling eventually. A line goes up, the run drops steadily to the outlet, and the brackets go in close, each into timber that holds a screw. Outlets, unions, hoppers, downpipes and shoes are itemised. Cast iron on the older properties is repaired and repainted rather than removed wherever it is sound, and every downpipe is made to deliver into a gully or a soakaway rather than left throwing rainwater at the brickwork.

Air and nuisance. On a shared elevation the roof space usually runs further than one home, so ventilating it properly matters more than people expect. A vent through the soffit or above the fascia, with the air gap kept clear over the loft insulation, is what keeps condensation off the underside of the felt. Mesh and verge closures go on with the new boards, since a soft soffit on a long run gives nesting birds and wasps plenty of choice, and moss and debris off the tiles is what leaves an outlet 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 converted house with one long run over a shared elevation, a cottage with a low eaves on a lane, and a three storey property with a gable to the front 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 Walhampton, Portmore, Boldre, Lymington, Pilley and South Baddesley, broadly SO41, under the New Forest National Park Authority. 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.