Gutter cleaning in Canford Cliffs

Pine needles, and why they are slower than leaves. Canford Cliffs sits among tall pines, and needles behave differently from broadleaf litter. They fall in fine strands that knit together in the bottom of the gutter, hold water like a sponge and turn into a dense wet mat with moss growing through it.

They also come down over a longer season than leaves do. We scoop that mat out by hand from the ladder, bag it as we go instead of dropping it into your borders, and scrape the silt off the bottom of the run so the gutter is back to its proper fall.

Outlets, downpipes and the gully. Needles slide down an outlet more easily than a leaf does, so in Canford Cliffs the blockage is often halfway down the pipe or packed in the shoe at the bottom. Every downpipe gets water run through it while you watch. Where one will not clear we rod it, and if it still backs up we put a camera down to see whether the problem is the pipe or the drain it empties into.

Big houses with complicated roofs. Many of the detached houses in Canford Cliffs have several gables, dormers, valleys and a long drop over a sloping garden. A valley gutter between two slopes takes the needles off both of them, and when it blocks the water goes under the tiles, not over an edge. Those get cleared from a safe platform, and on a three storey elevation that means a tower, not a ladder.

Blocks of flats. The flats that make up much of Canford Cliffs are mostly purpose built blocks from the seventies and eighties. Some have long eaves runs over a car park, others have flat roofs draining to outlets and hopper heads, sometimes into downpipes that run inside the building. We price those for the managing agent, agree a date that keeps the car park usable, and report outlet by outlet what we found.

Where we would talk you out of something. Gutter guards are the usual request under Canford Cliffs pines, and they help less than people hope, because needles lie on top of a mesh or feed through it. We would rather clear the run properly and tell you how often it needs doing on your elevation. A union that drips or a bracket that has let go is refixed on the day if you agree. A run that has sagged, rusted at its fixings or gone brittle is a replacement, and that is our fascias and guttering work, quoted on its own.

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 bungalow with one straight run, a detached house on a sloping plot with a valley and a gravel drive the tower has to stand on, and a block of flats with cars parked under the eaves are three different jobs, and a pine leaning over the back run can decide where the ladder goes. 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.

We clear gutters right across Canford Cliffs, BH13, from the shops along Haven Road and the houses on Canford Cliffs Road out to Cliff Drive above the chines, a little over four miles from our base in Boscombe. BCP Council is the planning and building control authority here.

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. Before you book a visit in Canford Cliffs, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Canford Cliffs 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.