Gutter cleaning in Freshwater and Totland
Clearing, flushing and an honest look at the joints, on bungalows and old cottages where the wall behind the gutter has no cavity to protect it.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Rainwater at the west end
On an old wall, an overflowing gutter shows up inside
An overflowing gutter is a wall problem here more than a roof problem. A lot of the housing at this end of the Island is solid walled and pre-1919, so there is no cavity to stop water that has soaked the outside from arriving on the inside.
People ring for one of three reasons. The gutter has been overflowing in heavy rain for a season and there is now a dark, permanently damp band down the brickwork under it. A downpipe has stopped taking anything and is quietly running down the back of itself onto the render. Or the inside of an outside wall has gone patchy and cold in one corner and nobody can work out why, because the roof is fine.
We come and look at the whole system rather than the length you pointed at. Every run, every outlet, each downpipe from the top down to the shoe, and where the water goes once it leaves the building. The site visit is free and the written quote is itemised, so the clearing and any repair sit on separate lines and you can see which is which.
What we do here
Bungalow runs, cottage eaves and the downpipes between them
The clear itself. Debris out by hand into a bucket where we can stand safely beside it, and a scoop for the silt that packs into the bottom of a long run. Where the ground or the planting makes a ladder a poor idea, it comes out on a gutter vacuum with a camera on the reach pole. Everything is bagged and leaves with us. Then we flush each downpipe and run water through the length until it comes out at the shoe, because a gutter that looks empty and a gutter that works are two different things.
Bungalows, and why they are the easy ones. Nearly three in ten dwellings here are bungalows. That is a long low gutter run, most of it within reach from a ladder set on firm ground, so the access barely costs anything and the job is over in a morning. The catch is that a bungalow gutter sits close to the ground, which puts the overflow straight onto the cills, the airbricks and the bottom metre of wall, which is the part that stays wet longest.
Old cottage eaves. On the older properties the gutter is often hung on a timber fascia that has already had a leaking joint over it for years, or straight onto rafter feet with no fascia at all. Brackets pull loose from soft wood, a run drops out of level and water stands in the middle instead of running to the fall. We check every bracket while the run is empty, refix into sound timber and realign where a length has sagged.
Moss, and where it comes from. A shaded slope holds moss, and the first heavy rain after a dry spell washes a season of it into the gutter as a wet mat of sludge. It does not float and it does not flush, it has to be dug out. If a gutter fills faster than the trees nearby can explain, the roof is the source.
Repairs against replacement. Once a run is empty the real faults show: a union dripping because the seal has gone hard, a joint that has leaked long enough to rot the soffit behind it, a clip that has let a downpipe swing off the wall. Most of that is a refix, a new seal or a re-hang. We say plainly when a section is past that, and price replacement separately rather than folding it into a clean.
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 gutters needs nobody's permission and there is nothing in it for building control. Replacement can be different. There are 29 listed entries in Freshwater and Totland, and on a listed building the rainwater goods and their brackets count as part of the fabric, so taking cast iron off and putting plastic up needs listed building consent.
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 single storey bungalow off a ladder, a two storey cottage on the lane and a chalet with a dormer over the gutter are three different mornings before anyone touches the debris. 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 an old solid wall, because on those the water is inside within days rather than months. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
The one local thing
No cavity behind the wall, so the wall has to dry outwards
Over a quarter of the housing at this end of the Island went up before 1919, and that stock is nearly all solid wall. There is no cavity in the middle doing the job of stopping water crossing from the wet side to the dry side. What keeps a solid wall dry is that it gets a chance to dry out again between soakings, outwards, through the face.
A gutter running over takes that chance away. It puts the same strip of wall under water every time it rains, so the masonry never gets back to dry, and once it is saturated all the way through you get the cold patch, the staining and eventually mould on the inside face. That is why an overflow matters more on an old cottage than on a 1990s house that would shrug it off for years. It also changes what you should do about it. Do not seal or paint the outside of the wall to keep the water out, because that traps what is already in there. Fix the gutter, then let the wall dry. If the exposed southwest elevation is the one taking the weather, start there.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Freshwater, Totland, Norton, Yarmouth and the west of the Island, broadly PO40 and PO41, under Isle of Wight 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
Freshwater and Totland questions we get asked
Do you come over to the Island for gutter work?
Yes, and we plan it properly rather than turn up for one hour. We would rather take on everything a property needs in a single visit, so tell us on the call if the roof, the fascias or the pointing want looking at too.
Is a bungalow gutter really cheaper to clear?
Usually, and the saving is nearly all access. Most of a single storey run can be worked safely from a ladder on firm ground, with no tower to put up. The run itself is often longer than people expect, so the clearing time is much the same. It is the platform you are not paying for.
Why does my wall stay damp after the gutter was cleared?
Because a solid wall holds water and gives it back slowly. Once the source is off, an old wall can take weeks of decent weather to come back to normal, and longer if it is the shaded elevation. What you should not do is put a waterproof coating on it in the meantime.
Should we fit gutter guards?
Sometimes. Under a broad leaf they help. Under a pine they clog on top and make the run harder to clear rather than easier, and where the filling is moss off the roof they do nothing at all. We will tell you which of those you have.
What time of year is best?
Late autumn, once the leaves are down, so the run goes into winter empty. If you only do it once, that is the once. A second clear in spring pays where trees overhang the roof.
Nearby, and next door
Gutter cleaning near Freshwater and Totland
Gutter cleaning nearby
Our other trades in Freshwater and Totland
Everything we do in Lymington Gutter cleaning, all areas Every area we cover
Free quote
Get the gutters cleared before the wall takes another winter
Thomas comes out, looks at every run, outlet and downpipe, and sends a written itemised quote with the clearing and any repair priced separately. Free.