Gutter cleaning and clearing in Milborne St Andrew
Gutters cleared by hand and proved running, sagging lengths re-hung, and a straight answer about the eaves on a thatched roof.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Before anyone quotes for gutters here, look at what the roof is. On a thatched cottage there is usually no gutter at the eaves at all, and the work that actually needs doing is on the extension, the porch and the outbuildings behind it.
Most of what brings people to ring is the same anywhere. A run that comes over the front edge in heavy rain. A downpipe that has stopped taking water and left a dark band across the brickwork. A joint dripping in the same place all winter until the soffit under it goes soft.
What is different in a village with this much old roof is that half the answer is about which parts of the building even have a gutter. The free site visit surveys the whole property, and the written itemised quote separates clearing, repair and access so you can see what each one costs.
What we do here
Clearing, flushing and the small repairs that come with it
The clear itself. Leaf, moss and the grit that comes off an old tile settle into a wet mat in the bottom of the run. The sludge is scooped out by hand into a bucket, or lifted off a reach pole with a vacuum where a ladder cannot be footed, and it goes in the van. Washing it along the gutter only moves the problem to the outlet, which is where it will pack solid.
Then water through it. Every length gets flushed and every downpipe has water run through it while somebody watches the shoe at the bottom. If nothing comes out, the pipe is backing up below the eaves, and a rod or a camera tells us where. Clearing without proving is guesswork.
Outlets and hoppers. The number of outlets matters far more than the length of the run. Where a higher roof discharges into a lower one there is usually a hopper, and a hopper blocks quietly: it overflows down the back of the pipe onto the wall, and the first anyone knows is damp at the head of a wall or staining on a ceiling inside. Those get opened and checked every time.
Valleys and the joins between old and new. Cottages here have been extended in stages, and the awkward water is always at the join. A valley gutter between two pitches, or a length carried behind a parapet, silts faster than the eaves and has nowhere to overflow except into the roof. That is work off a tower, not a ladder.
Repairs, not just clearing. A dripping union has lost its seal. A run that sags between brackets holds a puddle and goes green, and the water tracking behind it takes the fascias and soffits with it. A gutter hung with the fall running 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 run is past saving rather than clearing it twice a year for ever.
Ladders and old walls. Cob, soft brick, lime render and thatch all take a ladder badly, and a ladder leaned on a gutter cracks it. We use standoffs, towers or poles as the building requires, which is what how a ladder is meant to be used comes down to in practice, and a scaffold only where nothing else will reach. Nothing gets propped against a coat of thatch at any price.
How often it needs doing. Frequency here follows the trees rather than the calendar. An annual clear after the leaves are down carries most properties through the winter. Where a run is under something evergreen, or where a box gutter or valley is involved, a second seasonal visit is money better spent than a bigger downpipe. We say which at the survey rather than selling you a contract.
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 what the building looks like can. There is no conservation area of its own here but twenty five entries on the national list, and on a listed cottage a new rainwater system is protected fabric, so it needs listed building 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 thatched cottage with a tiled rear extension, a two storey house with a conservatory under the run, and a detached garage with its own short gutter are three different set ups on one visit. 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 the eaves discharge straight onto the ground next to a solid wall, a blocked run puts water at the foot of the brickwork within a day. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Under thatch the water is dealt with before it gets to a gutter
A thatched roof works by throwing water clear of the wall. The coat oversails at the eaves, the pitch is steep, and the run off lands a good way out from the building rather than in a channel. That is why most thatched cottages have no eaves gutter at all, and why fitting one is not automatically an improvement. A gutter under thatch sits well out on long brackets, collects fragments of the coat as well as leaf, and gives you a maintenance job the roof did not have.
So the practical position on a thatched property is this. Get the ground right, so the water landing at the drip line runs away from the wall instead of into it, and keep the gutters that do exist working: the extension, the porch, the outbuilding, the garage. If a gutter has already been fitted under thatch we will clear it, but only off a tower or a pole. Ladders do not go against thatch.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Milborne St Andrew, Puddletown, Dewlish, Winterborne Whitechurch and the villages along the A354, broadly DT11, under Dorset 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
Milborne St Andrew questions we get asked
Our cottage is thatched. Do we even need gutters cleared?
Often only on the parts that have them. The thatch itself sheds clear of the wall, so the work is usually the tiled extension, the porch and the outbuildings. If somebody has fitted a gutter under the thatch we will clear it, off a tower or a pole rather than a ladder.
Is there a right time of year to book it?
Late autumn once the leaf is down is the useful visit, because clearing in September just means doing it again. Where a property is under heavy cover a second look in spring catches the seed and blossom that came down after the last one. We will tell you honestly which of the two you need.
Can you fit a gutter where there is none?
Sometimes, and sometimes we will talk you out of it. On a tiled elevation it is straightforward. Under thatch it is a change to a roof designed without one, and on a listed cottage it is a consent question first. We price it and set out what it commits you to.
Something is dripping between the gutter and the wall. What is that?
Nine times in ten a union that has lost its seal, or a bracket that has let the run drop so water tracks back underneath. Neither is a blockage and clearing will not stop it. The fix is a new seal or a refixed bracket, which is quick once somebody is up there.
How long does a gutter clear take on a cottage like ours?
Yes, if you want them done, and they are worth doing. A garage or a store with a blocked run puts water straight down its own wall, and those buildings usually have the shallowest foundations on the plot. They go on the quote as their own line so you can decide.
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Thomas comes out, walks the whole plot, checks the outbuildings as well as the house and sends a written itemised quote. Free.