Gutter clearing and repair in Christchurch
Close to the water it is the brackets, spikes and screws that fail first. We clear the run, then put a hand on everything holding it up.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Two miles from open water, the thing that ends a gutter here is rarely the gutter. It is the screws, brackets and bolts holding it to the fascia, which corrode from the fixing outwards while the run itself still looks sound from the ground.
So we clear it and then check what is carrying it. A fifth of the housing in the old town predates the First World War and some of it still has its original cast iron sitting on iron spikes driven into the rafter feet. Newer plastic runs hang on screws into a fascia that has spent decades in damp salt air. Either way the failure starts at the fixing.
Most people ring because water is coming over the front edge in heavy rain, or because a downpipe has started running down the wall instead of into it. Some ring because a gutter has visibly dropped at one end. We come out, look at every run and every outlet, tell you plainly which of those three you have, and send a written itemised quote.
The work
Clearing the run, then checking what holds it up
Clearing first, because you cannot judge a gutter full of silt.
Out by hand, then proved with water. Leaves, moss off the tiles and the wet black sludge they break down into all come out into a bag rather than over the flower bed. Where the ground is soft or there is no ladder pitch we lift it with a vacuum pole from below. Then every outlet is cleared and water is run through each downpipe so you can see it going, which is the only proof worth having.
The fixings, which is the local part. Salt air keeps a surface damp between showers and works into any small break in a paint film, so ferrous fixings go first. On cast iron the spike or the bolt through the joint rusts, swells and cracks the ear off the length it is holding. On plastic the screws into the fascia corrode and the bracket lets go, so the run sags between supports and the fall reverses. We put a hand on every bracket while we are there, refix or re-hang a short length, realign the fall and renew a union seal where one has gone, and tell you what is loose before it drops.
Cast iron is worth keeping. If yours is sound it will outlast anything you replace it with, and it wants clearing, a wire brush at the joints, and paint rather than a skip. A cast iron joint that weeps is usually one that has lost its bedding and its bolt, and it can be taken apart, cleaned back, re-bedded and drawn up again. We say honestly when a length is cracked or an ear has gone, because that one does have to be replaced.
Nests, and the flat roof outlets. Near the harbour, gutters and hopper heads collect nesting material that packs harder than leaves and blocks an outlet completely. The parapet and flat roof outlets over bays and porches take the same and are looked at half as often. Neither gets touched in the nesting season without checking first.
What it is doing to the wall. Overflow soaks the same strip of brickwork or render every time it rains, and the salt in the air keeps it from drying between downpours. Green staining, then damp on the inside face, then a soft fascia and soffit behind it. That is why this is maintenance rather than decoration.
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 needs nobody's permission. Christchurch Central is a conservation area and the town carries twenty four listed entries, and there what is controlled is appearance: taking a cast iron gutter off a frontage and putting plastic up in its place is a planning question rather than a repair, while clearing and repainting what is there is not. For those boundaries the council keeps the list.
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 quayside cottage with the run over a pavement, a semi with a conservatory under the back gutter, and a three storey town house all need a different way in. 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. We are twenty minutes away, so a run overflowing in a wet week gets looked at quickly. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Salt gets at the fixings long before the gutter
Two kilometres of open ground between here and the sea is not much, and the air carries salt well inland of that. Salt holds water, so a surface with salt on it stays damp between showers instead of drying. Metal that would last decades inland corrodes from every scratch and cut edge, and the small parts go first because there is least of them.
The practical version, when you are deciding what to spend, is that the fixings deserve the attention rather than the gutter. It is worth asking for the brackets and the outlets to be checked and reported on as part of a clear, not priced as a separate survey later. Change a corroded screw or a rusted spike at the time, because a bracket that lets go takes a section of run and sometimes a length of fascia with it. On a seaward elevation stainless or non-ferrous fixings are worth the difference. We show all of that as separate lines so you can see what is clearing, what is repair, and what is worth doing now rather than in two years.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover the town, Purewell, Stanpit, Mudeford, Highcliffe and Burton, broadly BH23, under Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 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
Christchurch questions we get asked
Should sound cast iron be painted, or taken down?
If it is sound, keep it. Sound cast iron outlasts anything you would put up instead, and it wants clearing, wire brushing at the joints and painting rather than a skip. A weeping joint can usually be taken apart, cleaned back, re-bedded and drawn up again. We only say replace when a length is cracked or an ear has broken off.
Does living near the sea mean gutters need doing more often?
Not for debris. Frequency is set by what overhangs the roof, so the usual autumn clear after the leaves are down applies here as anywhere, with a spring look where there is blossom and seed. What salt changes is the fixings, so the seasonal job worth adding is an annual check of the brackets, spikes and outlets while somebody is up there.
Can you clear a gutter that runs over a pavement?
Yes, with the footway managed properly. In the older streets the eaves sit right over the path, so we work off a tower or a pole with the area coned rather than leaning a ladder into a walkway. It takes a little longer and that shows on the quote as access.
There is a bird's nest in our gutter. Will you take it out?
Only once it is empty. An active nest is protected while it is in use, so we clear around it, note it, and come back rather than disturb it. Out of season the material comes out like anything else, and hopper heads near the quay collect a surprising amount of it.
Do you paint cast iron gutters as well as clearing them?
We do, and it is the sensible moment to do it, since the access is already up and the inside of the run is finally empty. It is priced as its own line so you can take it or leave it, and we will tell you honestly if the surface is too far gone for paint to be worth the money.
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Have the run cleared and the fixings checked in one visit
Thomas comes out, clears every run and outlet, proves the downpipes with water and reports on the brackets. The visit and the written quote are free.