Fascia, soffit and guttering replacement in Westbourne
New fascias, soffits, gutters and downpipes on villas, shop frontages and blocks across Westbourne and BH4, with the old boards taken off first.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Last updated
If your fascia is soft, your soffit is gaping or the gutter drips at every joint, the roofline in Westbourne usually wants renewing instead of capping over. We take the old boards off, check the rafter feet behind them, and fit new fascia, soffit, gutter and downpipes.
A Westbourne roofline needs work when the fascia paint peels, the gutter spills or a joint streaks the brickwork. Paint peeling off a timber fascia on a Victorian villa, with the wood underneath gone soft enough to push a screwdriver into. A gutter overflowing onto a path or a front step every time it rains hard. Or a green streak down the brickwork below a leaking joint, which has been there so long nobody notices it any more.
We come out to Westbourne, look at the eaves from a ladder or a tower, and tell you what is sound and what is not. If water is coming through a ceiling or pouring down an inside wall, ring 07435 839745 instead of using the form, because that is often a gutter problem before it is a roof problem.
The work
Villa eaves, gable boards and cast iron
Timber fascias and bargeboards on the villas. The late Victorian and Edwardian houses have deep timber eaves, and many have decorative bargeboards on the gables. Where the timber is sound, it can be repaired and painted.
Where it is rotten, the board comes off, the rafter feet and wall plate are checked, and a new board goes up. On a Westbourne gable that shows, we talk about whether a timber replacement or a plain uPVC board suits the house better, because that choice changes how it looks from the street.
Replacing, not capping. Capping over an old fascia with a thin plastic skin is quicker and cheaper, and it hides the rot instead of fixing it. We strip the old boards, renew anything soft behind them, and fit full replacement uPVC fascia and soffit, with a new tilt fillet or felt support tray at the eaves so the bottom course of tiles or slates drips into the gutter rather than behind it. That detail is covered by BS 5534.
Soffits and ventilation. A new soffit is the moment to sort the eaves ventilation, either with vented soffit boards or an over fascia vent, so the loft keeps an air gap and condensation does not build on the underside of the roof. Gaps at the soffit are also where birds and wasps get in, and we close them off when the new boards go up.
Gutters and downpipes. Half round, square and ogee profiles in plastic, aluminium or cast iron. A gutter needs a steady fall to the outlet and a bracket at every rafter or so, or it sags and holds water. Each downpipe needs a shoe discharging into a gully or drain, not onto the wall. On a long Westbourne frontage, a second outlet often does more than a bigger gutter.
Blocks and later houses. Westbourne's purpose-built blocks and more recent houses mostly have uPVC already. What fails there is usually a union seal, a dropped bracket or a blocked hopper, and that is a repair, not a replacement. A full roofline on a straightforward house is often two or three working days.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
One person to ring from the first visit to the last. 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 instead of 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 fascias, soffits and gutters on a house is not normally a planning matter. Inside the Westbourne Conservation Area, swapping period cast iron or painted timber on a street frontage for a different material can be, so we check the address against the council keeps the list before we specify anything.
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 Westbourne villa with deep eaves and bargeboards, a shop frontage with cast iron over the pavement and a later block with plain uPVC all over it are not the same job at all. 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 instead of 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.
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. In a Westbourne converted house or block, the gutters belong to the building rather than any one flat, so tell the managing agent as well. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For anything urgent, ring rather than use the form, and if we cannot pick up we ring you back as soon as we can.
Worth knowing
A kilometre from the sea, the fixings matter
The middle of Westbourne is only just over a kilometre from the beach at Alum Chine, and the salt carried inland on a south westerly wind gets onto everything at the eaves. It does not do much to uPVC itself.
What it attacks is the metal: mild steel screws, plated brackets, gutter clips and the nails holding the fascia to the rafter feet. They corrode from the surface in, often while the board still looks fine, until a bracket gives under a gutter full of water.
So we fix new boards with stainless steel screws or nails, and use brackets and clips that are rated for coastal exposure. On a cast iron gutter, we keep the paint in good order, because once rust gets into a joint it opens up every winter. If a quote does not say what the fixings are, ask. On a seaward elevation, it is the difference between a roofline that stays put and one that sags within a few winters.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Westbourne and the rest of BH4, from County Gates to the West Cliff side and down towards Alum Chine, and next door into Branksome and Canford Cliffs. BCP Council deals with planning and building control, and we are based in Boscombe.
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.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Westbourne?
Most repairs in Westbourne 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.
| Question | In Westbourne |
|---|---|
| Who decides | BCP Council is the planning authority for Westbourne. BCP Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Westbourne Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Westbourne. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Westbourne. |
Questions
Questions about fascias and guttering in Westbourne
Can you cap over my old fascias instead?
We would rather not. Capping hides rot instead of fixing it. We take the old boards off, check the rafter feet and fit new, so you know what is behind them.
Should I keep timber fascias on a period house?
On a gable or a frontage that shows, it is often worth it, and in the conservation area it may be expected. We explain the options on the quote, including repairing and painting what is sound.
How long does it take?
A whole roofline on a straightforward house is often two or three working days. A villa with several gables and bays takes longer.
My gutter overflows. Does it need replacing?
Not always. It is often a blocked outlet, a dropped bracket or a gutter that has lost its fall. We check before recommending anything bigger.
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Get your Westbourne roofline priced
Thomas comes out, looks at the boards, the gutters and what is behind them, and gives you a written itemised quote. The visit and the quote are both free.