Sandleheath gutter cleaning, needles and all
Needles do not behave like leaves. They travel the run and pack the outlet, so the outlet is where the work is and where we prove it with water.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
What is over the roof decides how often, not how big the house is. A plot backing onto the heath with conifers along the boundary needs the gutters looking at twice as often as an open plot two streets away, and the debris that arrives is a different sort of debris.
The usual call is a puzzled one. The gutters were cleared not that long ago, the roof looks fine, and yet water is coming over one length every time it rains hard. What has happened is that a season of needles and grit has washed down the run and packed itself into the outlet, which is not something you can see from the ground at all.
So we clear the whole system rather than the length that looks worst. Everything out by hand into a bag, every outlet picked clear, and water put through each downpipe until it comes out at the shoe. Then a straight word about the interval this particular house needs, based on what came out of it. The site visit and the written itemised quote are free, and any repair is priced on its own line.
The work
Where fine debris ends up, and how it comes out
The same work everywhere, but what is in the gutter changes how it has to be done.
Needles, grit and silt. Conifer and pine drop fine debris all year rather than in one autumn burst, and needles behave nothing like leaf. They slip past a scoop, wash the length of the run and then knit together at the outlet into a plug that water will not push through. Behind them comes the grit off the tiles and the fine silt that sets like soil. Broadleaf litter sits where it lands and can be lifted. Needles have to be dug out of the outlet itself, which is why a quick pass along the run leaves the problem exactly where it was.
Proving every outlet and pipe. Each outlet is cleared by hand, then water goes in at the far end of each run and we watch it leave at the shoe. Where a downpipe is boxed in or runs into a gully, a camera or a lifted grate settles whether it is taking water. This is the part that matters on a house surrounded by conifer, because the run can look immaculate while the pipe below it is solid.
Two eras of gutter in one village. Some of the older cottages still carry cast iron on rise and fall brackets, and a good deal of the later housing has plastic that is now getting on. Cast iron wants a light hand, because the sockets are brittle and the bolts seize. Plastic of a certain age goes brittle in sunlight, the union seals harden and the brackets lose their grip. We treat them differently and say which you have got.
The repairs. A run that has lost its fall is re-hung: brackets off, the line realigned towards the outlet, the run refixed. A weeping joint gets a new union seal rather than sealant smeared over the outside, a cracked shoe is replaced and brackets that have pulled out of soft timber are refixed into sound material.
What is underneath. Fascia and soffit first, then brickwork or render, then damp on the inside face. Green staining down one strip of wall is the giveaway and we photograph it.
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 needs nobody's permission and replacing rainwater goods like for like is repair rather than development, so Planning Portal guidance leaves it alone. New or altered rainwater drainage sits under Approved Document H. Sandleheath has no conservation area and only a couple of listed entries, so for almost every house here the size, profile and colour of the gutter are simply the owner's choice. New Forest District Council is the planning authority.
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 with conifers along the boundary and a low eaves run, a detached house with a garage return, and a bungalow with a long rear length into one gully are three different set-ups before anybody starts. 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. Mention what is growing over the roof when you ring, because that tells us whether we are coming to clear a run or to dig out an outlet. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
A guard is rarely the answer under conifer
The question we get asked most on this side of Fordingbridge is whether a gutter guard is worth fitting, and where there are conifers over the roof the honest answer is usually no. Mesh and brush guards are designed around broadleaf, which sits on top and blows off. Needles are thin enough to go straight through a mesh and stiff enough to weave into a brush, so the debris ends up under the guard where nobody can reach it, and the guard itself then has to come off before anybody can clear the run properly.
The other half of the answer is that a guard does nothing about the outlet, which is where a needle blockage actually forms. What works better on a plot like that is a shorter interval and an outlet that is genuinely proved with water each time. If the trees are yours, keeping the branches back off the roof line does more good than any product fitted into the gutter. We will tell you which of those applies to your house rather than sell you something to bolt on.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Sandleheath, Fordingbridge, Alderholt, Damerham and across towards Ringwood, broadly SP6, under New Forest District 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
Sandleheath questions we get asked
Would a mesh over the top keep the needles out?
Where there are conifers over the roof, usually not. Needles go straight through a mesh and weave into a brush, so the debris collects under the guard where it cannot be reached, and the guard has to come off before the run can be cleared. They also do nothing for the outlet.
Why do our gutters block when the neighbours' do not?
Almost always what is growing over the roof. A plot backing onto the heath with conifer along the boundary receives fine debris all year rather than in one autumn burst, and that fine material travels to the outlet instead of sitting where it lands.
Can you clear it without going on the roof?
Yes, and we do not walk on tiles to clear a gutter. It is done from a ladder, from a tower or from the ground with a vacuum on a reach pole, depending on what is safe at that house. Anything that needs looking into properly gets a platform rather than a stretch.
How do we know the downpipe is actually clear?
Because water is put down it and watched out of the bottom. A run can be spotless while the pipe below is solid, which is exactly what happens with needles. If it does not come out at the shoe we find out where it is sitting rather than call it done.
Would cutting the branches back help?
More than anything you can fit to the gutter. Keeping growth off the roof line reduces what lands on the tiles as well as what goes straight in the run, and it slows the moss down too. If the trees are not yours it is worth a conversation before you spend on a shorter cleaning interval.
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Get the outlets dug out and proved
Thomas comes out, clears every run, digs out each outlet and proves the downpipes with water, then sends a written itemised quote. The visit is free.