Gutter cleaning in Post Green
Cleared by hand and proved with water. On the older buildings we tell you what a conservation area actually controls, and what it does not.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Last updated
Clearing a gutter is never controlled, whatever the building. It is also the job most gutters in Post Green actually need, whether they are plastic on an estate house or cast iron on the old road.
Most gutter work in Post Green, on this side of the Sherford, is ordinary: a run full of leaf and moss, an outlet packed solid, a downpipe that has not taken water properly for two winters. The difference is the mix of buildings. A modern estate house and a rendered cottage on the old road need the same clearing and completely different decisions about anything beyond it. If a run is coming over in a downpour right now, ring 07435 839745, whichever kind of house it is.
So the free site visit in Post Green covers both halves of the job. We survey every run, clear it by hand, flush each downpipe and watch it at the shoe. Then, if something is broken rather than blocked, you get a written itemised quote that says what the sensible repair is and whether the address is one where the material matters.
The work
Plastic, cast iron and the lead-lined valley
Sorting the work by what the gutter is actually made of is the quickest way to explain it. Plastic, on most of the housing. Half-round or square PVCu on brackets. It is quick to clear and quick to repair.
The failures are always the same three: a hardened union seal that weeps, a bracket that has let go, leaving a sagging length holding standing water, and an outlet packed with sludge that has to be scooped out, not flushed. A weeping union or a loose bracket we sort on the visit. A dropped length that needs re-hanging is gutter repair in Post Green, and rotten fascias behind the brackets get photographed, not covered over.
Cast iron, on the older buildings. It rusts from the inside and from the back, where nobody can see it, and the bolted joints go before the metal does. Clearing it out, wire brushing the inside and getting a coating back on the bare metal adds years for very little money. A length that has rusted through is a replacement job in matching profile, priced on its own. A cast iron run is heavy, so the brackets and the timber behind them get checked at the same time.
Valley and parapet gutters. Anywhere two roof slopes meet, or a roof sits behind a parapet, the water is funnelled into one lead-lined channel with nowhere else to go. A valley gutter or a box gutter fills with leaf and moss faster than an eaves run and it does not overflow harmlessly over a front edge: it starts backing up under the tiles and comes through a ceiling. These get cleared carefully, by hand, with nobody walking on the lead.
Downpipes, hoppers and shoes. Every downpipe is run through and watched at the bottom. Older Post Green properties often have a hopper head collecting a first floor run and an overflow from somewhere else, and a hopper collects everything. A missing shoe at the bottom throws water straight at the brickwork, which is how a wall picks up staining and how a soffit and its fascia start to rot.
Access. Ladder with a stand-off for most of it. A vacuum on a reach pole with a camera head where the ground will not take a ladder foot. A tower for a tall gable or a valley. A scaffold is not something gutter work in Post Green normally needs.
How it runs
Clearing the gutters on a Post Green house
Thomas comes out, walks round the house, looks at each run and where the downpipes go, and prices it himself. The clear follows on from that look. The written quote lists access, the length of run, the number of outlets and downpipes, any repair, and where the debris goes.
With so many bungalows in Post Green, most gutters can be cleared from the ground with a pole and vacuum or from a short ladder; a two storey house or a valley needs a tower. Garden trees fill gutters quickly in autumn, and moss washes off concrete tile roofs all year. We bag what comes out and take it away, and rinse any mess off paths and windows. If a joint leaks when water runs through, or a bracket has failed, you get a photo and a price and we fix it only if you say so.
Clearing needs no permission, and building control is not interested. Replacing rainwater goods is different on a listed building, and Post Green has listed entries: on one of those, swapping cast iron for plastic needs listed building consent. Post Green sits inside the Lytchett Minster Conservation Area, so ask Dorset Council before any gutters are changed in the older village. On clay ground, where the downpipes discharge matters, and Approved Document H sets how rainwater should be taken away from a building.
Cost
What decides the cost of a gutter clear here
We price by the job, not the metre, and the first thing that decides it is what is in the gutter. Leaves from Post Green garden trees come out quickly. Moss off a concrete tiled roof packs into a heavy wet mat that has to be scooped and bagged, and silt that has sat for years is heavier still.
How many outlets. A hipped bungalow has a gutter right round it and several downpipes, and it is the outlets and the tops of the downpipes that block. More downpipes means more to run through.
Height. Most bungalow gutters are reachable from the ground using a pole and vacuum, which is quick. A two storey house or a valley between roofs needs a ladder or a tower, and the work at height rules put that on a separate line.
Repair or clear. A leaking joint, a downpipe blocked at the bottom bend, or a gutter that has lost its fall and holds water is repair work, and it is what turns a quick clear into a longer visit. A downpipe that empties onto the ground next to the wall should go to a gully or soakaway on Post Green clay.
When you compare prices, ask whether the downpipes are being flushed through as well as the gutters, whether the joints are checked for leaks once water runs, and whether the debris is taken away.
If it is overflowing now
Gutters spilling over in a downpour
Ring rather than using the form. Water pouring over a gutter soaks the brickwork, gets behind window frames and can reach a ceiling. On clay ground, water pooling at the foot of a wall is also worth stopping.
The first visit clears the blockage, runs water through to prove it flows, and tells you honestly if the real problem is a split joint or a gutter with no fall. If a valley or a gutter behind a parapet is holding water, say so, as that one comes through a ceiling rather than over the edge. Gutter clears are booked Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For an overflow happening now, phone, and should nobody answer we phone you back as soon as we can.
Worth knowing
In the conservation area, clearing is never the problem
People assume a conservation area designation means they need to ask permission before anyone touches the outside of the house. For gutter work that is not the case, and the distinction is simple and worth knowing.
Clearing, flushing, refixing a bracket, changing a union, repainting cast iron in the colour it already is: all of that is maintenance and none of it is controlled anywhere in Post Green. What the designation bites on is a change of appearance. Taking a cast iron half-round off a frontage and putting a square white plastic one up in its place changes how the building looks from the road, and in a conservation area or on a listed building that is a planning question, not a decorating one.
The practical advice: if the run is sound, clear it and keep it, because cast iron that is cleared, brushed out and coated on a seasonal cycle lasts a very long time. A length that has genuinely failed is replacement work, and the address gets checked against the council's mapping first.
Who you are dealing with
Who clears your gutters
We keep our base in Boscombe, about nine and a half miles to the east. We clear gutters in Post Green, Lytchett Minster, Upton, Lytchett Matravers, Sandford and across towards Wareham, all Dorset Council, and Poole, which is BCP Council.
The firm is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 15471719. It belongs to Thomas Hannen, who walks round your house and prices the clear in person. A verified customer on Checkatrade rated us 10 out of 10. There is no charge for coming out, and the itemised quote is in writing and free. Before you book a visit in Post Green, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Post Green?
Most repairs in Post Green 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 Post Green |
|---|---|
| Who decides | Dorset Council is the planning authority for Post Green. Dorset Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Lytchett Minster Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Post Green. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Post Green. |
Questions
Questions about gutter cleaning in Post Green
Do we need consent to have our gutters cleared here?
Gutter clearing in Post Green needs no consent, because clearing and repair count as maintenance on any building. What can need consent is a change of appearance, which means a different material or profile on a listed building or in the conservation area. We check the address as part of the free visit.
Is it worth clearing old cast iron, or is it past it?
If it is sound, clearing it is exactly what keeps it going. Cast iron outlasts plastic by a wide margin when it is cleared out and coated, and on an older frontage it looks right. Only a length that has genuinely rusted through needs replacing, and then in the same profile.
What happens if a valley gutter blocks?
It backs up under the tiles instead of spilling over an edge, so the first sign is usually a damp patch on a bedroom ceiling rather than anything visible outside. That is why we clear valleys by hand and check them on every visit. A hose will not do it.
How long does a typical clear take?
An ordinary house is under an hour. Add time for a long run behind a hedge, for a valley, and for anything cast iron, since that is checked as well as cleared. On frequency, an annual visit after the leaves are down suits most properties, with a spring visit as well where there is heavy autumn fall.
Can you paint the cast iron while it is cleared out?
Yes, and it is the right moment to do it, since the inside of the gutter is the part that rusts and it is only accessible once the debris is out. It needs dry weather to go on properly, so occasionally that part waits a few days while the clearing does not.
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Gutter cleaning near Post Green
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Free quote
Have every run on the property looked at
Thomas surveys the lot, checks the address against the council mapping and sends a written itemised quote. The visit is free.