Gutter cleaning in Corfe Mullen
Cleared by hand, then water run through every outlet and downpipe so you can see it goes. We tell you if it 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.
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If a Corfe Mullen gutter runs fine in drizzle and comes over the front edge in a downpour, the blockage is almost always at the outlet rather than along the run. That is half an hour to clear and a much bigger job to ignore.
A blocked gutter in Corfe Mullen usually gives itself away from outside. A curtain of water off the front of the house whenever it rains hard. A green stripe down the render or the brickwork under one joint. Or a fascia gone soft and dark, and somebody has finally looked up. If it is the curtain of water and it is pouring now, ring 07435 839745 and tell us which side of the house it is on.
Each of them comes back to the same thing: rainwater that is not being caught and taken away. The free site visit is a survey of every run on your Corfe Mullen property, garage and porch included. We clear it by hand, then run water through the outlets and downpipes so you can see it goes. Water down a wall ends up as staining outside and damp on a ceiling inside, so if what you have is a broken joint rather than a blockage, we say so.
The work
Clearing, outlets and the joints that drip
A small job that stops an expensive one. Here is what it involves. Clearing the run. Leaf litter, seed, moss off the tiles and the fine grit that comes off an ageing concrete tile all end up in the same place. Wet moss sets into a mat of sludge that has to be scooped out, not flushed, because flushing only moves the problem into the downpipe. The debris goes in a bag and the bag leaves with us.
The outlets, and the downpipes under them. The outlet is a hole a couple of inches across at the end of a run fifteen metres long, so it is where everything packs. We clear it, run water through and watch it come out at the shoe, and rod the downpipe if it is backing up. Any hopper head is checked too, because a hopper collects everything the gutter carries and nobody ever looks in one.
Overflowing, when the gutter is not blocked. Water over the front edge of a run you can see is clear usually means a dip from a bracket pulled out of soft fascia, and realigning it is gutter repair in Corfe Mullen, quoted separately.
Joints, unions and the drip on the windowsill. Much of the plastic guttering in Corfe Mullen went up with the houses, and the rubber seal inside a union goes hard and shrinks. You get a steady drip in one spot, a green stain on the wall below and, in time, a wet patch inside. A union is a five minute change once somebody is up there, and replacing a run for one perished seal is money nobody needs to spend.
Brackets, and the fascia behind them. Where the fascia has gone soft the screws have nothing to hold and the run sags visibly. A loose bracket in sound timber we refix on the day. Where the timber has gone, we photograph it and tell you straight.
How we reach it. Most of this comes off a ladder with a stand-off, so nothing rests on the gutter itself. Where a ladder cannot be footed safely we use a gutter vacuum on a reach pole with a camera head, so you see inside the run on a screen. Rotten soffit and fascias get photographed, not covered over.
How it runs
Clearing and proving gutters on bungalows and chalets
Thomas comes out and prices the clear himself. Bungalows make up a big share of the houses in Corfe Mullen, which means long runs at low level, and chalet bungalows add dormers with short gutters that block easily. The quote shows access, how many metres of gutter, how many outlets and downpipes, any repair work, and taking the debris away, each priced on its own. Nothing is lumped into a single figure.
We clear by hand, bag it, and then run water through every outlet and downpipe to prove it flows. Debris does not end up on your lawn, and the paths are swept before we leave. If a joint leaks when the water runs or a bracket has failed, we photograph it and price it, and the repair only goes ahead if you want it.
Clearing needs nobody's permission, and building control has no part in it. Replacing is a separate job. On a listed building rainwater goods need listed building consent, so check the Historic England list for your address, and for houses in the conservation area designated around Brogg Street and Sleight Lane, where a change of profile or colour on a visible elevation is worth checking with Dorset Council.
Cost
Low runs, dormers and conservatories: pricing a gutter clear
We do not set a rate per metre, because a metre of gutter over an open lawn is quicker than a metre above a conservatory roof.
Getting to it. A single storey bungalow off the Wareham Road comes off a ladder or a pole. A two storey semi with a conservatory under the back gutter, or a chalet with a dormer over the front door, needs more care and sometimes a tower. The work at height rules are the reason access is a separate line.
What is in it. Concrete tiles on Corfe Mullen roofs of this age hold moss, and it washes into the gutters as a heavy mat that has to be dug out. Leaves lift out quickly. Outlets are where it packs, so the number of outlets matters more than the length.
Clearing or mending. Leaky joints, a downpipe choked at the shoe and plastic gutter sagging between its brackets all count as repair, and they decide whether the visit is an hour or half a day.
Where it discharges. On clay that shrinks and swells, water tipped beside the footings matters. A downpipe that has come out of its gully is worth putting back while we are there.
Ask any other quote whether they run the downpipes through, whether hoppers, any valley and the dormer gutters are included, and who takes the debris away.
If it is overflowing now
A gutter spilling over in heavy rain
Pick up the phone rather than using the form. A gutter spilling in a downpour soaks the brickwork and can reach a ceiling faster than you would think, and here it also dumps water right beside the foundations.
We clear it, flush the run with water to show it flows, and say plainly if the real fault is a broken joint. If it is coming over above a door or a bay, mention it, because that wets a wall fastest. Gutter clearing is booked Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. No answer usually means we are on a job; we return the call at the first chance we get.
Worth knowing
The whole estate got its guttering in the same decade
Around six in ten homes in Corfe Mullen were built between 1945 and 1982, and the busiest stretch by far was the 1970s and early 1980s. That matters for gutters more than for most trades: a whole road got the same rainwater system, from the same supplier, in the same few years. They do not fail one at a time. They fail as a street.
The typical picture in Corfe Mullen is original plastic guttering that has done forty odd years outdoors. The plastic itself is usually sound. What has gone is everything rubber and everything screwed: the union seals have hardened so the joints weep, the brackets have worked loose in fascia timber that is no longer solid, and the runs have taken a dip between fixings. The honest answer on a house of that age is usually a clean plus half a dozen small repairs, done off the same ladder on the same visit.
The practical bit: if a Corfe Mullen neighbour has just had theirs done and perished unions turned up, yours are the same age. Ask us to check the joints while we are clearing, rather than book a second visit in November when it is already raining.
Who you are dealing with
Who comes to clear the gutters, and how to check us
From Boscombe we come about eight and a half miles out to Corfe Mullen, Broadstone, Merley and Lytchett Matravers, and across into Wimborne and Upton, broadly BH21 and BH16. Corfe Mullen is under Dorset Council, while Broadstone and Merley come under BCP Council. The owner, Thomas Hannen, comes to look at the gutters and price them.
It is registered in England and Wales as Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, company number 15471719. Checkatrade carries a 10 out of 10 from a verified customer. Looking and quoting cost you nothing, and the quote comes in writing with each item listed. Before you book a visit in Corfe Mullen, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Corfe Mullen?
Most repairs in Corfe Mullen 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.
| Question | In Corfe Mullen |
|---|---|
| Who decides | Dorset Council is the planning authority for Corfe Mullen. Dorset Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Brogg Street / Sleight Lane Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Corfe Mullen. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Corfe Mullen. |
Questions
Questions about gutter cleaning in Corfe Mullen
What sort of interval should we be booking this at?
An annual clear suits most properties in Corfe Mullen, done after the leaves are down rather than mid autumn so you are not doing it twice. Anything overhanging the roof doubles that seasonal frequency: once in late spring, once in early winter. As for how long it takes, an ordinary house is under an hour.
Can you tell whether it is blocked or broken before you come out?
Not reliably from a photograph, and we would rather not guess it. Water coming over evenly along a length means the run is full. Water off one spot, or a drip carrying on after the rain stops, means a joint or a dip. The visit sorts it out, free.
Does the quote cover flushing the pipes underneath?
Both, and we prove it: there is no point lifting debris out and leaving the outlet packed underneath, so we flush every downpipe and watch it come out at the shoe. A blocked one gets rodded, and if the blockage is below ground at the gully we tell you what that needs.
Are gutter guards or brushes worth fitting?
Honestly, usually not: they keep big leaves out and let the fine stuff through, so the run still silts up, only now it is harder to see and to clear. A mesh over the outlet alone can help. We would rather clear it once a year than sell you something that hides the problem.
Will you work on it in the winter?
Yes, and winter is when most people notice they need it. We only stop for wind, ice underfoot or anything that makes a ladder unsafe. Clearing does not need dry weather. Sealing a union does, so occasionally that part waits a few days.
Nearby, and next door
Gutter cleaning near Corfe Mullen
Nearby places we also cover for gutter cleaning, with straight-line distances from Corfe Mullen, and the other trades we offer in Corfe Mullen itself.
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Free quote
Get the gutters looked at before the wet weather
Thomas comes out, walks the whole property, and sends a written itemised quote with the access shown as its own line. Free.