Gutter cleaning in Breamore
Cleared by hand, proved with water, and repaired in preference to replaced, which on a listed cottage is the answer that keeps you out of a consent.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Rainwater in the Avon valley
On an old cottage, the cheap answer is usually the wrong one
Ask for a repair before you accept a replacement. On the older properties here the rainwater goods are cast iron, they are often part of a listed building, and stripping them off to put plastic up is both the more expensive route in the end and the one that needs consent.
The calls come in three shapes. A gutter overflowing along its length after a wet autumn. A joint that has dripped onto a path for years and left a green stripe down the wall under it. And somebody who has been told by a passing contractor that the whole run is beyond saving and wants a second opinion before spending the money.
The free site visit deals with all three. We clear enough to see what is actually there, look at the run properly rather than from the ground, and give you a written itemised quote that separates the clearing from any repair and prices a replacement section, if one is genuinely needed, on its own line.
The work
Cast iron, lead hoppers and the estate cottage eaves
Clearing. Out by hand into a bucket where there is safe standing beside it, with a scoop for the silt and sludge that packs into the bottom of a long run. Where a ladder cannot be footed properly it comes out on a gutter vacuum with a camera on the reach pole. It is bagged and leaves with us. Then every downpipe is flushed and the run proved with water until it goes away at the shoe.
Cast iron, handled properly. Iron is cleared gently rather than scraped. It fails from the back face, out of sight, where rust lifts under old paint and thins the section until a bolted union starts to weep. With the run empty we can see that, and most of the time the answer is to wire back the affected area, treat it, renew the union seal and refix a bracket. A cast run that is looked after outlasts anything you could put up in its place.
Hoppers and downpipes. A hopper head taking two runs into one pipe is common on the older buildings here, and it chokes at the spigot rather than in the gutter. Some are lead. Those get cleared by hand and looked over for splits at the folds. We rod and flush from the top and check that whatever is below, gully, land drain or ditch, is taking the water.
Valley gutters. Where two pitches meet, the valley takes everything both slopes shed to a single point. Blocked, it does not spill over an eaves edge, it backs up under the covering and shows as damp staining on a ceiling. They are cleared by hand and the lead looked over while the access is there.
What we would talk you out of. Replacing a whole elevation of iron because one union weeps, and putting new brackets into a fascia that has gone soft under a long standing leak. The first is money you did not need to spend. The second fails again inside a year. If the timber has gone, that is said on the quote rather than found afterwards.
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 rainwater goods needs nobody's permission and building control has nothing to say about it. Replacement is where it changes. Breamore has its own conservation area and 63 listed entries, a high number for a village this size, so a change of appearance on a frontage is a planning matter and on a listed building the gutters, hoppers and brackets are protected fabric needing listed building consent before anything comes off the wall.
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. An estate cottage with deep eaves, a farmhouse with a hopper head at first floor level and a modern house on the edge of the village are three different jobs before anybody 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. Tell us if the overflow is landing on old brickwork or on cob rather than on a path, because those two soak it up and hold it. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
The one local thing
On a listed cottage the gutter is part of the building
Breamore carries 63 listed entries, which is a great deal for a village of this size, and it changes the sensible order of operations on a rainwater job. On a listed building the listing covers the whole thing, not just the front door and the chimneys. Cast iron gutters, lead hoppers, the brackets they sit on and the profile they were made in all count as part of the fabric. Taking them off and putting a modern plastic system up is an alteration, and alterations to a listed building need consent before the work rather than an apology afterwards.
The practical effect is not the burden people expect, because maintenance is not controlled at all. Clearing, flushing, renewing a union seal, refixing a bracket, wire brushing and repainting iron the colour it already was are all upkeep and need nobody's permission. The route that goes wrong is the quick one: a contractor takes a look at a weeping cast run, offers you a cheap replacement in plastic, and you end up with an unauthorised alteration to a listed building and a bill to put it back. So the order is repair first, replace only what genuinely cannot be repaired, match the profile and the material if a section has to be renewed, and check the address before anything is ordered. We do that as part of the survey.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Breamore, Woodgreen, Rockbourne, Fordingbridge and the villages along the Avon, broadly SP6, 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
Breamore questions we get asked
Should we repair the cast iron or take it off?
Far more often than people are told. Iron corrodes from the hidden back face, so a run that looks poor from the ground can still be sound in section. Clear it, look at it properly, treat and repaint what needs it and renew the seals, and you buy decades. We price both routes so you can see them side by side.
Does listing stop us having the gutters cleaned?
No. Cleaning and maintaining what is already there is upkeep and needs nobody's consent. Only alteration is controlled, which in gutter terms means replacing a run with something different, moving a downpipe or changing the profile on a visible elevation.
What about a lead hopper head?
Cleared by hand, never by machine, and checked at the folds where lead splits. They are usually worth keeping and often original. If one has failed we would rather talk about a repair or a matching replacement than a plastic hopper on an old elevation.
How often will a cottage here need doing?
Once a year for most, twice where mature trees overhang the roof. The autumn visit is the one that matters, because it puts the run into winter empty. On a long run falling to one outlet the higher frequency is worth it, since one blockage takes the whole length out.
Will you tell us if the fascia behind the gutter has gone?
Yes, with a photograph, before we do anything that relies on it. Fixing a bracket into soft timber is the commonest false economy in this trade. It looks fine on the day and it is back off within a couple of winters.
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Get a second opinion before you replace anything
Thomas comes out, clears enough to see the real condition, and sends a written itemised quote with repair and replacement priced separately. Free.