Bere Regis gutter cleaning, before the wall suffers

Clearing first, then reading what the water has been doing. Emptying the run. Out comes leaf litter, moss washed down off the tiles and the dense silt underneath, by hand into a bag rather than flushed along, because a flush through a full gutter drives everything into the outlet. Old cast iron gets a light touch: the sockets are brittle, the bolts through the joints are usually seized, and nobody leans a ladder against the run itself.

Outlets, hoppers and pipes. In Bere Regis the blockage is nearly always at the outlet, in the swan neck or in a hopper head collecting two runs into one pipe. Each gets emptied by hand, then water goes in at the top of every run and we watch it come out at the shoe. Where a pipe is boxed in or discharges into a gully, a camera or a lifted grate settles whether the fault is above ground at all.

Reading the wall underneath. This is the part that belongs to Bere Regis, a village built of soft brick, flint and lime. A modern cavity wall sheds a soaking and dries. An old solid wall takes it in and lets it evaporate back out through the joint, so a wall that is repeatedly wetted from above never gets the chance. What you see is a vertical band of dark brickwork under one joint, mortar you can rake with a finger, green staining the height of the elevation, and eventually damp on the inside face. We photograph all of it so the cause and the damage sit on the same page.

Repairs to the rainwater goods. A weeping joint gets a new union seal or a re-bedded socket, and a cracked shoe is replaced on the visit. A run that has dropped and needs re-hanging, or brackets pulled out of soft masonry, is gutter repair in Bere Regis, priced separately.

Fascia, soffit and what is behind them. Timber behind a Bere Regis gutter that has been overflowing for years is usually soft, and it is far cheaper to find that on a clearing visit than after it has taken the gutter with it.

Length is only part of it. A long run on an open bungalow can be quicker than a short one under a tree.

Height and reach. Single storey eaves in Bere Regis come off a ladder or pole. A tall gable or a valley between two roofs means a tower, which the work at height rules decide, and it goes on the quote as its own item.

What has built up. Dry leaves lift out quickly. Moss rinsed down off the tiles sets hard like felt, and years of silt in a Bere Regis run are heavy work to dig out. Most of it gathers at the outlets, so how many there are counts for more than how long the run is.

Where the downpipe ends. Water dumped at the foot of an old solid wall in Bere Regis is more than a damp stain. If a downpipe is blocked at the shoe or has come away from the gully, we tell you, and clearing it properly takes longer.

Repairs found on the day. A leaking joint, a length sagging between its brackets or a hopper packed with roots needs repair, not a clean, and has its own price.

Before you choose, check whether a rival will rod the downpipes or only scoop the gutters, whether they test with water when finished, and whether the debris goes with them.

On an old wall in Bere Regis there is often one narrow strip that is worse than the rest of it, and that strip is almost always directly under a gutter joint, a hopper or a downpipe. It is not a coincidence and it is not bad brickwork.

Solid walls of soft brick, flint and lime mortar work by letting water evaporate back out through the joint, and a wall being soaked from above every time it rains never dries enough for that to happen. The mortar goes first, then the brick face behind it.

Which is why the order of work matters more in Bere Regis than the work itself. Repointing a wall while the gutter above it is still overflowing means paying for the same metre twice, and a good many people do exactly that. Get the rainwater system cleared, proved and repaired first, let the wall dry through a summer, and then decide what the masonry actually needs. Very often it needs a great deal less than it looked like it did in February.

Our base is in Boscombe, 17 miles from Bere Regis. We clear gutters across the village, Winterborne Kingston, Briantspuddle, Wool and out towards Wareham, which is BH20 and Dorset Council. You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Before you book a visit in Bere Regis, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

It is Thomas Hannen's business. Thomas visits, checks the runs and outlets, and sets the price himself. We have a 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade from a verified customer. The visit is free, and the written quote, with each item shown separately, costs you nothing either.

Most repairs in Bere Regis 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.