Wareham gutter cleaning, top and bottom
On this ground a clear downpipe can still back up from the bottom. We clear the run, the outlet and the gully, then prove the lot with water.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Clearing a gutter in Wareham only solves half the problem. On ground this low the question is where the water goes once it reaches the bottom of the downpipe, and on plenty of properties here it does not go anywhere.
The two calls we get from the town look different and are often the same fault. A gutter running over the front edge in heavy rain, and a downpipe that leaks at every joint on the way down. The second usually means the pipe is full from the bottom up, because the gully it discharges into has silted or surcharged.
So the site visit and survey cover the run and the ground. Every gutter is cleared by hand into a bucket or lifted on a vacuum, outlets and shoes are dug out, and then we run water through each downpipe and watch what happens at the bottom as well as the top. The written itemised quote keeps clearing, repair and anything at ground level on separate lines.
The work
From the outlet to the gully, in the old town
The runs themselves. Terraced streets make up close to a third of the housing here, and a terrace usually carries one continuous gutter over several properties with a couple of outlets serving the lot. Everything travels along the fall to those outlets, so one house takes the trouble for the row. We work the full length from both ends, scoop out leaf, moss, silt and sludge rather than flushing it towards the hole, and take it away.
Outlets, hoppers and downpipes. Outlets are dug out by hand, the pipe is run through from the top and rodded from the shoe where water is backing up, and the hopper heads on the older houses are emptied, because a hopper fills quietly and gives no warning. Then every downpipe is proved with water while you watch it.
The gully, which nobody quotes for. A downpipe on this ground often ends in a gully at the back of a pavement or in a yard, and a silted gully holds a full pipe of water. The pressure then finds every joint on the way down, which is why a clear downpipe still leaks. We lift the grating, clear the trap and run water again. Where the pipe goes to a soakaway instead, and this ground does not always take it, we say so rather than leaving you the same problem.
Cast iron and the old fabric. The town carries a great many listed buildings and much of the old part still runs cast iron. It is emptied by hand and never jetted, the bolt through each joint is checked, and the brackets are looked at, because cast iron gives way at its fixings. On the postwar housing the plastic faults are the ordinary ones: a bracket that has let go, a length sagging so water stands in the dip, a union whose seal has hardened and drips. Brackets are refixed, we realign and re-hang the length to its fall, and a union gets a new seal or is replaced.
Hidden runs, and what overflowing costs. Rear outshuts and extensions make valley gutters and box gutters that cannot be seen from the ground and flood inwards, so the first sign is a damp ceiling, and a camera on a reach pole is how you get to see one. Outside, water over the front edge keeps brickwork and render wet all winter and brings the green with it, and water behind the gutter takes the fascia and runs along the soffit. Soft fascias, staining and anything else are photographed and reported.
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 is maintenance, so no planning application and nothing for building control to sign off, and no conservation area over the housing here. Two local points matter. The town carries a very large number of listed entries, and on one of those changing cast iron for plastic is a change of appearance needing listed building consent. And where rainwater has to be redirected at ground level, Approved Document H sets out where it is allowed to go.
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 terraced house on the street with a shared run and a gully at the back of the pavement, a detached bungalow on the newer roads, and a house with a rear outshut and a valley between the ranges are three different afternoons, and none of them normally wants 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. If the downpipe is leaking at the joints rather than the gutter running over the top, say so, because that points at the gully rather than the roof. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
On low ground, the bottom of the pipe matters as much as the top
The town sits on flat, low ground between two rivers, and parts of it are inside the mapped flood zones. You can look your address up on the flood map for the town. That does not change how a gutter is cleared, but it changes what a clear gutter can achieve. When the ground is already saturated or a surface water system is running full, a downpipe has nowhere to discharge, and the water backs up the pipe rather than soaking away at the bottom of it.
The practical version is this. If your gutters are running over in ordinary rainfall, the fault is nearly always up top and clearing sorts it. If they only misbehave in prolonged heavy rain, and the downpipes weep at the joints while they do it, look at the ground first. Clearing the gully, and knowing whether the pipe runs to a drain or into a soakaway, is worth more than another gutter clean. We check it as part of the same visit and tell you which of the two you have, because paying to clear a clean gutter twice a year fixes nothing.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Wareham, Stoborough, Sandford, Ridge, Wool and across Purbeck to Corfe Castle, broadly BH20, 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
Wareham questions we get asked
Our downpipe leaks at every joint but the gutter looks clear. Why?
Because it is full from the bottom rather than blocked at the top. If the gully it discharges into is silted or running full, water stands inside the pipe and finds a way out at each joint. Clearing the gully is the fix, not clearing the gutter again.
Do you clear gullies and drains as well as gutters?
We lift the grating, clear the trap and run water through to check it takes. That is part of proving a downpipe rather than a separate drainage job, and it adds only minutes to how long the visit takes. If the problem is further down the system we say so.
Does living in a flood zone change how often gutters need clearing?
Not the frequency, but it changes what to expect. On low ground a downpipe can have nowhere to discharge during prolonged rain however clean the gutter is, so if the trouble only appears in a long wet spell, look at the ground before booking another clear.
Can old cast iron rainwater goods in the town be replaced with plastic?
Not without checking first. A great many buildings in the old town are listed, and on a listed building the original rainwater goods are protected fabric, so swapping them for plastic is a change of appearance rather than a repair.
What clearing routine suits a shared terrace run?
An annual clear in autumn, after the leaves are down, suits most of the town, with a second seasonal look in spring where trees overhang. On a shared run it is worth doing the whole length at once, because half a clear just moves the debris to the neighbour with the downpipe.
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Get the gutter, the outlet and the gully checked together
Thomas comes out, clears every run and outlet, proves each downpipe top and bottom, and sends a written itemised quote. Free.