Gutter cleaning in Blandford Forum

Clearing comes first, then proving it. In Blandford Forum the debris comes out by hand into a bucket wherever we can safely stand next to it, with a scoop for the packed silt in a long run.

Where a ladder is the wrong tool it comes out on a gutter vacuum with a camera on the reach pole, so you see inside the run before and after. Then every downpipe is flushed and water is run through until it goes away at the shoe. A gutter that looks empty is not the same as a gutter that works.

What is actually in them here. On the Blandford Forum estates it is usually leaf litter and roof grit and it lifts out in minutes. On the older properties it is more often moss washed off the tiles by the first proper rain after a dry spell, which sets into a wet mat of sludge that has to be dug out. Both end up packed hard around the outlet, because that is the only part of a gutter narrow enough to catch anything.

Valley gutters and parapet gutters. Plenty of roofs in the old town of Blandford Forum drain inwards rather than over an eaves edge. A valley gutter between two pitches, or a lead lined box gutter behind a Georgian parapet, holds a lot of water and empties through one small outlet. Block that and it backs up over the upstand into the roof rather than onto the pavement. Those are cleared by hand and the leadwork looked over while we are up there.

Downpipes, hoppers and the bit at the bottom. A hopper head on an old elevation takes everything two runs throw at it and chokes at the spigot. A modern downpipe blocks at a bend or at the shoe. We rod and flush from the top and check the gully below is taking it, because clearing a downpipe into a blocked gully just moves the puddle.

The repairs that are not clearing. Once a run is empty the faults show. A dripping union wanting a new seal, a length sagging between brackets so water stands instead of running to the fall, a bracket pulled out of a soft fascia, a joint that has leaked long enough to rot the soffit. A seal or a bracket is sorted on the visit, and re-hanging or replacing a section is gutter repair in Blandford Forum, priced separately.

A long run in the open can take less time than a short one hidden behind a parapet. How high. One storey eaves are done off a ladder or pole. Tall town fronts take a tower, and a parapet or valley gutter needs a safe platform behind it, as the work at height rules require, so access has its own line. A tower on the pavement also means coning and managing the footway, which takes time.

What has collected. Dry leaves come out fast by hand. Moss shed by concrete tiles packs into a heavy mat, and a parapet gutter nobody can see from the street can hold years of it.

Outlets and downpipes. Blockages form at the outlets and in the shoe. Rodding a downpipe takes longer than scooping a gutter, and in a terrace one pipe may carry next door's water too.

Repairs. A joint that drips, a length that sags or a hopper full of roots is a repair, priced on its own.

Put this to other quotes. Are the downpipes rodded? Is the run tested with water? Are parapet and valley gutters included, and who removes the debris?

The centre of Blandford Forum was rebuilt in one go after the fire of 1731, which is why so much of it is three storeys of brick standing flush with the pavement and why 31.1% of the housing here is terraced.

Those frontages were designed so you cannot see the roof from the street, and the way that was done was to hide the eaves behind a parapet and run the water along a lead lined gutter tucked in behind it.

That changes the job twice over. An ordinary eaves gutter overflows over the front edge, makes a mess of the wall and tells you immediately. A parapet or box gutter has nowhere to go but upwards, so it fills, rises over the lead upstand and runs into the roof space, and the first you know is a damp patch on a bedroom ceiling. Access is the other half. There is no ladder answer to a three storey Blandford Forum frontage on a pavement with traffic on it, so it comes off a tower or a scaffold and the platform is a real part of the price. If the roof or the pointing are due anything, get the lot looked at in one visit and pay for the access once.

We are based in Boscombe, and Blandford Forum is 16.8 miles from there. Gutter clearing takes us across the town and to Blandford St Mary, Bryanston, Charlton Marshall and the Winterborne villages, which is DT11 and Dorset Council's area.

The company behind the work is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Owning the business himself, Thomas Hannen walks round to look up at your gutters and sets the price. One verified customer on Checkatrade gave us a score of 10 out of 10. We charge nothing to visit and nothing for the itemised quote in writing. Before you book a visit in Blandford Forum, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Blandford Forum 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.