Gutter and valley clearing in Tolpuddle
Eaves gutters cleared, lined valleys and parapet channels checked, and every downpipe run through and watched at the bottom.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
On the older roofs in this village the run that matters is often not on the eaves at all. It is the lined valley between two pitches, and that is the one with nowhere to overflow except into the building.
The calls divide neatly. Somebody has water coming over the front edge of a gutter in a downpour. Somebody has a downpipe that has gone quiet and a dark band spreading across the brickwork under it. And somebody has a stain on a bedroom ceiling in the middle of the house, nowhere near an outside wall, which almost always means the water is coming out of a valley.
So the free site visit is a survey of the whole rainwater system rather than the length you can see from the drive. Every run is cleared by hand, every outlet opened, every downpipe flushed and watched at the shoe, and the written itemised quote puts clearing, any repair and the access on separate lines.
The work
Eaves runs, lined valleys and the outlets between them
The clear itself. Leaf, moss and the grit that comes off an old tile settle into one wet sludge along the bottom of a run. A scoop lifts it out in a piece and it goes into a bucket and then the van. Where a ladder cannot be footed safely we work off a reach pole with a vacuum head. Blasting it along the gutter only moves it to the outlet, where it packs harder than it started.
Then water through everything. Each length is flushed, each downpipe has water run through it, and somebody stands at the shoe to watch it arrive. If it does not, the pipe is backing up below the eaves and a rod or a camera says where. An empty looking gutter that has not been proved is only half the job.
Valleys and parapet channels. Where two pitches meet, or a range runs behind a low parapet, the water is carried in a lead or fibreglass lined channel. A valley gutter or a box gutter takes debris off both slopes at once, so it silts faster than the eaves, and it has no front edge to spill over: when it fills it goes under the tiles. Those are cleared by hand and left dry, off a tower or a proper platform rather than a ladder hooked over the ridge.
Outlets, hoppers and shoes. Outlets block long before a run does, and hoppers where an upper roof discharges into a lower one block quietly. A packed hopper overflows down the back of the pipe, wetting the wall where nobody looks, and a shoe full of silt holds water against the brickwork at ground level.
The repairs that turn up. A union that has lost its seal drips in the same place whenever it rains. A sagging length between brackets holds a puddle and goes green. A gutter 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 plainly when a run is past saving.
What it does, and how often to stop it. 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 follows what hangs over the roof. An annual clear after the leaves are down suits most houses, and a second seasonal visit in spring earns its money where a valley is in the system.
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 gutters needs no permission and nothing from building control. Changing what the roof looks like can. The village has its own conservation area and twenty seven entries on the national list, so relining a valley in a different material, or swapping rainwater goods on a visible elevation, is a planning question rather than upkeep, and on a listed building it needs listed building consent first.
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 or tiled cottage on the street, a two storey house with an outshut behind it, and a long range with a valley down the middle are three different platforms, and only the last is likely to want a tower or a scaffold. 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 valley filling up gives no warning outside, so if a ceiling has started to stain in the middle of the house say so when you ring. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
A valley has no front edge to spill over
An eaves gutter is forgiving. When it blocks, it overflows down the outside of the building, and although that is bad for the wall it is at least obvious and it is outside. A valley gutter is not forgiving at all. It sits between two pitches with tiles or slates lapping over each side of it, and when it fills the water has only one way to go, which is sideways under the covering and into the roof structure. Nothing shows on the outside of the house until it is already showing on a ceiling.
That matters here because so much of the older housing has grown by addition. A cottage gets a rear outshut, two cottages get knocked together, a range picks up an extension at right angles, and every one of those joins makes a valley. They collect off two slopes, they run shallow, and they are the last thing anyone thinks to look at. So on a property with valleys we treat them as the priority rather than the extra: cleared out and left dry every visit, the lining and the laps looked over while somebody is up there, and photographed so you can see the state of them for yourself.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Tolpuddle, Affpuddle, Puddletown, Briantspuddle and the villages along the Piddle valley, broadly DT2, 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
Tolpuddle questions we get asked
There is a stain on the ceiling but no wet wall outside. Where is it coming from?
Very often a valley. It fills, the water backs sideways under the tiles and comes in over an internal wall, so nothing shows on the elevation. We clear the valley, run water down it and watch the laps. If it still comes in, the lining or the flashing has failed and that is a repair rather than a clean.
Can a valley be cleared off a ladder?
Not properly. You cannot work a valley with both hands from a ladder hooked over the edge, and standing on the tiles either side breaks them. It wants a tower or a roof ladder and somebody who knows where the load can go. That is why a valley is priced as its own line rather than folded into the run.
How often should the valleys be done?
Once a year for most properties here, late in autumn once the leaves are down. Where the roof takes off overhanging cover a spring visit is worth adding, because a valley that starts the summer half silted has no capacity left for a heavy shower in August.
Is it worth putting a mesh over a valley?
Rarely. Mesh across a valley catches the debris on top and holds it there, so the channel stops running while looking clear from the ground. On an eaves gutter a guard sometimes helps. Over a valley it usually just moves the blockage somewhere you cannot see it.
Does the conservation area limit what can be done to a valley?
No. Clearing and repairing what is already there is maintenance and needs nobody's permission. What the designation controls is change: a different material, a different profile, a valley relined in something that reads differently from the ground. We tell you which side of that line a job falls before it starts.
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Get the valleys checked, not just the gutters
Thomas comes out, clears and proves every run including the valleys, photographs what he finds and sends a written itemised quote. Free.