Gutter cleaning in Lover
Runs cleared of needle and leaf by hand, 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.
Needle is the worst thing that can land in a gutter. It is small enough to pass a guard, it packs instead of floating, and it goes straight to the outlet rather than sitting in the run where you can see it.
Three things bring people to the phone here. A run that comes over the front edge in a downpour, usually at the same end every year. A downpipe gone quiet, with a wet band spreading down the wall beneath. And a gutter cleared last winter that is somehow full again, which under conifer is no mystery.
The work is the same whichever it is. Everything comes out by hand, every outlet is opened up, and water goes down each downpipe with somebody watching the shoe at the bottom. The free site visit surveys every run on the property, and the written itemised quote separates the clearing, any repair and the access so you can see what each part costs.
The work
Getting needle out of a run, and out of the outlet
Emptying it properly. Needle, cone scale, leaf and the moss that comes off the tiles compact into a dense wet sludge that does not float and does not sweep. A scoop takes it out in a mat, into a bucket and then the van, or off a reach pole with a vacuum head where a ladder cannot be footed. Washing it along the gutter is the worst thing you can do with needle: it goes to the outlet and sets like felt.
The outlet, every time. Under conifer the outlet is the job. It is where the needle collects, packing into a plug an inch or two down the throat where you cannot see it from a ladder. Each one is opened, cleared from below as well as above, then water goes down the pipe while somebody watches the shoe. If it does not, the pipe is backing up and a rod or a camera says where.
Hoppers and shoes. Where 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. The shoe at the bottom silts with the same material and holds water against the brickwork. Both get opened and proved rather than glanced at.
Valleys and low roofs. Every join between two pitches makes a valley, and a valley gutter or a box gutter collects off both slopes at once. Under evergreen cover they silt faster than the eaves and have nowhere to overflow except into the roof, so they are cleared by hand off a tower rather than a ladder.
Repairs that come with it. 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 say when a run 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. Frequency under conifer is not an annual question. Needle drops all year rather than in one autumn fall, so two seasonal visits, one late in the year and one in spring, is the realistic pattern here.
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 a gutter needs no permission and nothing from building control. Changing the look of a building can. There is no conservation area of its own on this stretch and only a handful of listed entries, but this is a National Park, so new rainwater goods in a different material on a visible elevation are a planning question rather than upkeep and are worth checking before ordering anything.
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 lane with the run within reach of a standoff, a bungalow with a long unbroken gutter, and a two storey house with a valley behind it are three different set ups, and only the last of them is likely to want a tower rather than a ladder. 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. A needle plug in an outlet fills a run in a single heavy shower, so this is one of the few places where a gutter goes from fine to overflowing with no warning at all. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Under conifer a gutter guard usually makes things worse
Everybody living under pine or larch gets offered gutter guards, and the pitch sounds right: keep the needle out and the run stays clear. It does not work that way. A leaf guard is designed to stop something the size of an oak leaf. Needle is a fraction of that, so it drops through the mesh and carries on to the outlet as it would have done, while cone scale and small twig build up on top instead. You end up with a run that still blocks and a lid that has to come off first.
The honest answer under this kind of cover is not a product, it is a rhythm. Clear the runs and the outlets properly twice a year, prove every downpipe while somebody is up there, and keep the fall right so what does get in travels to the outlet rather than sitting in the middle. If a run is genuinely impossible, the useful changes are a larger outlet and a bigger downpipe rather than a cover, and we would rather tell you that at the visit than fit you something that hides the problem. Where a guard is already on, we take it off, clear underneath and put it back, with an honest opinion on whether it earns its keep.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Lover, Redlynch, Nomansland, Landford and the hamlets along the county boundary, broadly SP5, under the New Forest National Park Authority. 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
Lover questions we get asked
Pine needles go straight through a guard. Is anything worth fitting?
Rarely a mesh. Needle is small enough to pass most of them and cone scale builds on top, so you get a blocked outlet under a lid you have to remove first. A larger outlet and downpipe helps more than any cover does, and clearing twice a year helps more than either.
Why is the run full again six months after it was cleared?
Because conifer sheds all year rather than in one autumn fall. Broadleaf gives you a single heavy drop and then stops. Needle keeps arriving through the summer, so a once a year clear leaves the outlet loaded for half the year. Two visits is the pattern that actually works here.
The gutter looks empty but water still comes over. What is going on?
A needle plug in the throat of the outlet. It packs an inch or two down the pipe where you cannot see it from a ladder, and it holds the whole run back while the gutter above it looks perfectly clean. We clear the outlet from both sides and put water through to prove it.
Would a bigger downpipe fix it?
It can genuinely help under this cover, which is not true everywhere. A wider outlet and pipe give a needle plug less chance to bridge across. It is a repair rather than a clean, so it is priced separately, and we will only suggest it where the run itself is sound.
Do you take the needle away or leave it?
It goes in the van. Needle raked off a roof and left on the ground blows straight back up, and tipped into a gully it becomes the next blockage further down. The paths and beds underneath get cleared down before we leave.
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Get the outlets cleared, not just the gutters
Thomas comes out, opens every outlet and hopper, proves each downpipe and sends a written itemised quote. Free.