Gutter cleaning in Blandford Forum
Cleared by hand, water run through to prove it goes, and an honest answer about whether what you have is a blockage or a broken joint.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Rainwater in Blandford Forum
The gutter is cheap. What it does to the wall is not
Clear the gutters before the wall gets wet rather than after. A blocked run costs an hour or two to put right, and a winter of water coming over the front edge costs you dried out brickwork, a stained ceiling and a repaint.
Three calls come out of this town more than any other. Somebody watched a curtain of water fall off the front of the gutter in a downpour instead of going anywhere near the downpipe. Somebody has a green stripe down the render or a dark patch on the brickwork under one joint, and it has been widening for two years. And somebody with a tall old frontage has damp on an upstairs ceiling with nothing wrong with the roof at all, because the water is standing behind the parapet.
The answer is the same in every case. The free site visit covers the whole rainwater system, not the length you can see from the pavement: every run, outlet, hopper and downpipe, and where each one finally discharges. You get a written itemised quote that keeps the clearing and any repair on separate lines.
The work
Half round on the estates, lead lined behind the Georgian fronts
Clearing, and proving it. 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 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 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. We refix, realign or re-hang where that will do, and say plainly when a section wants replacing.
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 gutters needs nobody's permission and there is nothing in it for building control. Changing them can be another matter. Blandford Forum has 209 listed entries, most in the Georgian streets of the centre, and on a listed building the cast iron gutters and hoppers are protected fabric, so swapping them for plastic needs listed building consent first. The conservation area boundary is Dorset Council's too, and we check an address 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 Georgian town house standing three storeys straight off the pavement, a 1970s semi on the estates and a single storey rear extension are three different jobs before anyone opens a ladder. 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. Say so when you ring if it is a parapet or a valley on one of the tall fronts in the centre, because that one floods inwards and will not wait for a dry week. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Behind a Georgian parapet, a blocked gutter floods inwards
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 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.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Blandford Forum, Blandford St Mary, Bryanston, Charlton Marshall and the Winterborne villages, broadly DT11, 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.
Questions
Blandford Forum questions we get asked
How often should Blandford Forum gutters be cleared?
Once a year for most houses, after the leaves are down, so late autumn into early winter. With mature trees over the roof make it twice, one clear in spring and one at the back end of autumn. A parapet or valley gutter wants checking annually whatever grows near it, because missing one costs so much more.
Can you reach a three storey frontage on the High Street?
Yes, but not off a ladder. A reach pole and vacuum do a lot of it from the pavement, and anything needing hands on the gutter, a lead lined parapet run or a repair, comes off a tower or a scaffold. That is its own line on the quote.
Our house is listed. Does that stop you cleaning the gutters?
No. Clearing and maintaining what is there is upkeep and needs nobody's consent. Replacement is the controlled part. Cast iron on a listed frontage is part of the building, so we repair, refix and repaint rather than take it off, and if a section really is beyond saving we set out the consent position first.
The gutter is clear but it still drips. What is wrong?
Almost always a joint. A union seal hardens and lets go, or a run sags between two brackets so water sits in a low spot and finds the nearest seam. Neither is a blockage and neither is cured by clearing. You get the photograph and a separate price.
Where does everything you take out of the gutter go?
Yes. It goes into bags and leaves with us, and the ground below is swept before we are. We do not tip a season of wet moss onto a border and call it mulch.
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Get the whole rainwater run looked at, not just the blocked bit
Thomas comes out, checks every gutter, outlet and downpipe on the building, and sends a written itemised quote with the clearing and any repair on separate lines. Free.