Gutter cleaning in Downton
Terrace and cottage runs cleared end to end, every outlet opened and every downpipe proved running. Free site visit, free written itemised quote.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
On a terrace the gutter does not stop at your wall. It runs across several houses to one or two outlets, so a blockage over next door but one is what puts water down your brickwork.
Most of what we are called to here falls into three shapes. Water coming over the front edge in heavy rain, usually somewhere along a row rather than above the house that rang. A downpipe that has stopped taking anything, with a dark band spreading down the wall beneath it. And a joint dripping in the same spot until the soffit under it has gone soft.
What we do is empty the whole run by hand, open every outlet, and put water down each downpipe with somebody watching the shoe at the bottom. The free site visit is a survey of the length that serves your property rather than the bit above your own front door, and the written itemised quote separates clearing, any repair and the access.
The work
Clearing a run end to end rather than house by house
The clear. Leaf, moss off the tiles and the grit that comes with it settle into one wet sludge along the bottom. A scoop lifts it out in a piece, into a bucket and then the van, or off a reach pole with a vacuum head where a ladder cannot be footed on a pavement. Washing it along a shared run is worse than useless: it becomes somebody else's blockage two doors down.
Proving it. Every length is flushed and every downpipe has water run through it while somebody watches the shoe. If nothing arrives, the pipe is backing up below the eaves and a rod or a camera settles where. On a terrace the pipe is often shared as well, so we prove each one rather than assuming.
Outlets, hoppers and shoes. A long continuous run has very few outlets for its length, which is exactly why it backs up. Where a rear outshut or an upper roof discharges into a lower run there is usually a hopper, and a hopper packs quietly then overflows down the back of the pipe onto the wall. A shoe full of silt holds water against the brickwork at ground level.
Valleys and rear ranges. Older cottages here have been extended behind, and every join between two pitches makes a valley. A valley gutter or a box gutter collects off both slopes, silts faster than the eaves and has nowhere to overflow except into the roof, so it wants a tower rather than a ladder over the edge.
Repairs. A union that has lost its seal drips in the same place whenever it rains. A sagging length between two brackets holds a puddle and goes green. A run hung with the fall away from the outlet overflows however clean it is. We refix a bracket, replace a union, re-hang or realign a length, and we say when a length has had it rather than clearing it for ever.
What it does, and how often. Water over the edge takes the soffits and fascias first, then shows as a green stripe on render, a dark band on brickwork, damp at the head of a wall and staining on a ceiling. An annual clear late in autumn after the leaves are down suits most of the housing here, with a second seasonal visit in spring where a valley or heavy planting is in the system.
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 no permission and nothing from building control. Changing what a building looks like can. The village has its own conservation area and well over a hundred entries on the national list, so replacing rainwater goods with a different material on a street elevation is a planning question rather than upkeep, and on a listed building it needs 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. A cottage on the street with no side access, a terrace with the run carried across three properties, and a detached house with a rear outshut are three different set ups, and the middle one is usually the awkward one rather than the tall one. 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. Where a run serves several houses the water finds the lowest joint rather than the blockage, so tell us which property is getting wet and which one you think is packed. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
A shared gutter is one job, however many front doors it crosses
Rather more of the housing here is terraced than in the villages around it, and a terrace changes the practical question from what is wrong with my gutter to where along this run is the problem. The gutter is continuous. It was hung as one length with a fall towards an outlet several properties away, and it does not know where one title ends and the next begins. So the water that is coming over your front edge is very often the result of a packed outlet above a neighbour, and clearing the twenty feet directly over your own house achieves nothing at all.
The sensible way to handle it is to ask the neighbours before booking, because doing the whole run in one visit is cheaper for everybody than three separate call outs to the same length of gutter. We are happy to quote it that way, with each property shown separately so nobody is guessing at their share. Where a neighbour will not engage, you are not stuck: the law gives you a right of access to do the work on adjoining land where it is reasonably necessary for the preservation of your own property, and clearing a shared gutter that is soaking your wall is close to the centre of what that is for. It needs asking properly first, in writing, which is usually where it ends.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Downton, Charlton All Saints, Redlynch, Morgan's Vale and the villages down the Avon valley, broadly SP5, under Wiltshire 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
Downton questions we get asked
Our gutter is shared with next door. Can just our bit be cleared?
It can be, and it often will not solve anything. The run has one fall and one outlet, so if the blockage is beyond your boundary the water still comes over above your house. We will clear whatever you instruct, but we will tell you first where the problem actually sits.
How do we get the neighbours to share it?
Usually by showing them a price. Doing the whole run in one visit costs less each than separate visits to the same gutter, and we will quote it with each property on its own line so nobody is guessing. Most rows sort it out in an afternoon once there is a figure to look at.
What if a neighbour refuses and our wall is getting wet?
Ask in writing first, setting out what needs doing and why. If that fails there is a statutory route to gain access to adjoining land for work that is reasonably necessary to preserve your own property. It is rarely needed, but it exists, and knowing it does tends to move the conversation along.
There is no side access to the back. Does that stop you?
No, it changes the method. Everything goes through the house on boards and sheets, or we work the rear off a pole from wherever there is standing room. It does add time, so it is shown as its own line on the quote rather than appearing as a surprise.
Is a street elevation any different to work on here?
Only in the set up. A ladder on a pavement needs footing and a bit of management, and on the older fronts we use a standoff so nothing leans on soft brick or the gutter itself. The clearing is the same job it would be at the back.
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Get the whole run priced, not just your frontage
Thomas comes out, works out where along the run the problem sits and sends a written itemised quote with each property shown separately. Free.