Gutter cleaning in Ashmore

Getting it out. Moss and the grit that comes off a weathered tile do not sit loose in a gutter the way leaf does. They soak, settle and set into a dense sludge that fills the bottom of the run and holds water in it. A scoop cuts it and lifts it out in pieces, into a bucket and then the van, or off a reach pole with a vacuum head where a ladder cannot be footed. Jetting a set mat does not clear it, it slides it to the outlet.

Proving it runs. Every length is flushed and every downpipe has water put through it while somebody stands at the shoe to watch it come out. If nothing arrives, the pipe is backing up below the eaves and a rod or a camera settles where. On old iron the swan neck under the eaves is the usual place for it to stop.

Outlets, hoppers and shoes. Outlets are where a run blocks, not the middle of it. Where an upper roof discharges into a lower one there is usually a hopper, and a hopper packs quietly then overflows down the back of the pipe onto the wall. A shoe filled with grit holds water against the brickwork at ground level all winter.

Valleys and old ranges. Where two pitches meet, or a length runs behind a parapet, the water is carried in a lined channel. A valley gutter or a box gutter takes the wash off both slopes at once, so on a mossy roof it silts faster than anything on the eaves, and it has nowhere to overflow except into the roof. That is work off a tower.

Repairs, not just clearing. A union that has lost its seal drips in the same place whenever it rains. A sagging length between two brackets holds a puddle and goes green. A run hung with the fall away from the outlet overflows however clean it is. We refix a bracket, replace a union, re-hang or realign a length, and we say plainly when a run is past saving.

What it does, and when to do it. Water over the edge takes the soffits and fascias, then shows as a green stripe on render, a dark band on brickwork, damp at the head of a wall and staining on a ceiling. Timing here is not the usual autumn answer. See the note below, because on this ground the annual visit is better placed at the other end of the winter.

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 flint and brick cottage with the run at eaves height, a two storey house exposed on three sides, and a barn or outbuilding with a valley against it are three different platforms, and only the last is likely to want a tower or 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.

The standard advice everywhere is to clear gutters once the leaves are down. On this ground that advice is half right at best. The village sits high and open on the chalk with little hanging over most of the roofs, so the leaf actually landing in a run is modest. What does land in it is the roof itself: moss growing in the laps and on the north slopes, and the fine grit that a weathered clay or concrete tile sheds year after year.

That material comes off on a different schedule from leaf. Moss grows through the damp months, then frost lifts it and the first heavy rain after a cold spell washes it off the slope in one go. So the run that was clear in November is the one that overflows in February, and the useful annual visit here is late winter or early spring rather than late autumn. If you are only having it done once, have it done then. It also means a gutter clear and a look at the roof belong together: on a heavily mossed slope, clearing the gutter is a repeat purchase until something is done about what feeds it.

We cover Ashmore, Tollard Royal, Fontmell Magna, Melbury Abbas and the villages along the Chase ridge, broadly SP5, under Dorset 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.