Ashley gutters, and the moss feeding them
Here the gutter fills from the roof rather than from a tree. We dig out the moss and the outlets, then prove every downpipe with water.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
In Ashley the gutter does not usually fill from above. It fills from the roof. On the concrete tile that most of these bungalows were built with, moss lifts at the lap and washes down into the run every time it rains hard.
That produces a particular complaint, and we hear it a lot. The gutters were done last year, done properly, and they are overflowing again. Nothing went wrong with the clearing. The supply did not stop, because it is coming off the tiles above rather than out of a tree.
The site visit is free and the survey covers every run on the plot. We clear by hand into a bucket or lift it on a vacuum, dig out each outlet and shoe, then run water through each downpipe so you can see it go. Nothing is flushed into the drain, everything leaves with us, and the written itemised quote keeps clearing and repair apart.
The work
What comes off a sixties tile, and where it stops
Clearing a run fed by the roof. Moss out of a gutter is a different job from leaf out of a gutter. Leaf sits loose on top and comes away in handfuls. Moss arrives already wet, settles in the bottom of the run and knits into a mat that holds water along the whole length, and after a winter it has broken down into a heavy silt and sludge. It is dug and scooped out rather than rinsed along, and it goes into a bucket and into the van.
Outlets, downpipes and the gully. Washed moss is the worst thing there is for an outlet, because it arrives in small pieces and packs solid rather than bridging. Each outlet is dug out by hand, the downpipe is run through from the top and rodded from the shoe where water is backing up, and the gully at the bottom is lifted and cleared so the pipe is not discharging into a blockage. Then every downpipe is proved with water in front of you.
The rest of the plot. A late fifties bungalow rarely stands on its own by now. There is usually a garage with a short run, often a conservatory or a flat roofed extension whose gutter sits below the main eaves and takes everything off the tiles above it, and where that extension meets the main roof there is a box gutter or a short valley gutter invisible from the ground. A camera on a reach pole is how you get to look at one. Every run is counted and priced separately rather than lumped in as the gutters.
Repairs while we are there. A run carrying a mat of wet moss is heavy, and weight pulls a gutter out of shape. So on this stock we find the same three faults over and over: a bracket that has let go, a length sagging so water stands in the dip, and a union whose seal has hardened and started to drip. Brackets are refixed, the length gets a realign and a re-hang to its fall, and a union takes a new seal or is replaced. Plastic gone brittle in the sun is replaced rather than nursed along.
What the overflow reaches. On a single storey building the water comes over the front edge close to the wall, so the brickwork and render underneath stay wet all winter and go green. Water behind the gutter takes the fascia and runs along the soffit. Soft fascias, damp staining and anything showing on a ceiling get photographed and reported.
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 run, the number of outlets and downpipes, any repair, and where the debris goes 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.
Clearing and repairing gutters is maintenance: no planning application, and nothing for building control to sign off. There is no conservation area over this housing and only a few listed entries. The forest boundary runs close by, so if your address falls inside the National Park a change of material rather than a repair is worth checking against the property map the park authority publishes first.
Cost
What decides the price of a gutter clean
No rate per square metre, because a metre of gutter behind a conifer and a metre on an open gable are not the same metre.
Getting to it. A bungalow with a hipped roof, a garage and a conservatory, a chalet with a dormer in the front slope, and a two storey house on one of the later plots are three different afternoons, and only the last is ever likely to want a scaffold. A bungalow run comes off a ladder or a pole, a three storey gable wants a tower, and a valley gutter between two roofs wants a proper platform. The work at height rules are why the access is a priced line rather than something absorbed into a rate.
What is in it, and how far it has travelled. Leaf litter lifts out in minutes. Moss washed off the tiles sets into a wet mat that has to be dug out, and silt in a long run behind a hedge is heavier and slower than anything a photograph shows. The number of outlets matters more than the length, because that is where it packs.
Whether it is a clean or a repair. A joint that drips once it is running again, a downpipe blocked at the shoe, a length of plastic that has sagged between brackets: none of that is clearing, and it is the part that decides whether you are booking an hour or half a day.
Comparing quotes? Ask whether the downpipes are being run through or just the gutter cleared, whether the outlets and hoppers are checked, whether it is a clear or a clear and a check for leaks, and who takes the debris away. Two quotes for the same job are usually two different jobs.
If it is overflowing now
Water coming over the gutter in heavy rain
Ring rather than use the form. Water running down a wall in a downpour soaks the brickwork and finds its way to a ceiling faster than most people expect, so a blocked outlet in a wet week goes to the front of the queue. We clear it, run water through to prove it, and tell you honestly if what you actually have is a broken joint rather than a blockage. If the run was cleared within the last year and is overflowing again, say so, because that points at the roof feeding it rather than at the clearing. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
A gutter under a mossy roof refills, and that is not a fault
Half the homes here went up between the mid forties and the early eighties, and the standard covering on that stock is concrete tile. It weathers open, holds moisture in the surface, and on north and east slopes it grows moss readily. Every heavy shower detaches a little and sends it into the gutter, so the run is resupplied from above all year rather than loaded once each autumn. That is why a gutter here can be clear in November and struggling by March.
Two things follow. First, judge a gutter clean on the outlets rather than on how long it lasts, and treat it as seasonal rather than annual: one clear in spring and one in autumn, after the leaves are down, suits most of these bungalows. Under a mossy roof no single clear lasts a year, and anyone promising otherwise is telling you what you want to hear. Second, if the same run keeps refilling, the honest fix is upstream. Dealing with the moss on the roof itself is a separate job, and a different one from ours, but it is what reduces the load. If the gutter clear is all you need, we will say that too.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Ashley, New Milton, Bashley, Barton on Sea, Hordle and across towards Sway, broadly BH25, 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
Ashley questions we get asked
We had the gutters done last year and they are blocked again. Why?
Because the supply did not stop. On a concrete tile roof moss lifts at the lap and washes into the gutter with every heavy shower, so the run is fed all year rather than loaded once each autumn. It is not a sign the clearing was skimped, but an annual visit is often not enough here.
Is moss harder to get out of a gutter than leaves?
Yes. Leaf sits loose on top and lifts out in handfuls. Moss arrives wet, settles in the bottom of the run and knits into a mat that holds water, and after a winter it is a heavy silt. It is dug and scooped out rather than rinsed along.
Will clearing the gutters stop the moss coming back?
No, and it is worth being straight about that. Clearing deals with what has already arrived. Reducing what arrives means dealing with the moss on the roof itself, which is a different job. We tell you which of the two you need.
Why does our gutter hold a puddle in the middle of the run?
Weight. A mat of wet moss is heavy enough to pull a length down between its brackets, and once it is out of fall the water stands in the dip instead of running to the outlet. It is realigned and re-hung, and the brackets refixed at the same time.
Do you clear the conservatory and garage gutters too?
Yes, and they are on the quote as their own lines. A conservatory roof sits below the main eaves so it takes everything washing off the tiles above and blocks first, and a garage run is often the one nobody has looked at in years.
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Get the moss out of the runs and the outlets dug
Thomas comes out, clears every run, outlet and downpipe, proves them with water and sends a written itemised quote. Free.