Roofline is the least glamorous part of a roof and the part that causes the most avoidable damage. A gutter that overflows every time it rains soaks the wall below it, and within a couple of winters you have damp plaster inside, blown render outside and rotten fascia timber behind the gutter brackets. Replacing tired roofline is quick, comparatively cheap, and transforms how the whole house looks from the pavement.
Full roofline replacement
Where the timbers behind the boards have gone, we strip everything back to the rafter feet and replace it properly rather than capping over rot. Old timber fascia and soffit come off, any rotten rafter ends are cut back and repaired, and new UPVC fascia is fixed directly to sound timber with ventilated soffit boards to keep air moving into the roof space. New guttering is then hung to a consistent fall towards the downpipes. Capping over an existing rotten fascia with a thin plastic sheet is cheaper and we will not do it — the timber carries on rotting behind the plastic where nobody can see it.
Gutter cleaning and repairs
Most gutter problems are not the gutter. Moss washing down off the roof, leaf build-up and a sagging bracket or two account for the majority of the overflowing gutters we are called out to, and all three are fixable in an afternoon. We clear gutters, flush downpipes and gullies, re-seat brackets, re-fall runs that have dropped and replace failed union seals. On a roof with a lot of moss it is worth combining the clean with moss removal, otherwise the gutters fill straight back up with the next heavy rain.
Colours and profiles
White UPVC remains the default and the cheapest, but black, anthracite grey, rosewood and oak woodgrain finishes are all readily available and make a striking difference on a dark slate roof or a rendered frontage. Half-round is the standard domestic gutter profile; deepflow or ogee is worth specifying on a large roof area, a steep pitch or a property that has always had trouble coping with heavy downpours. Cast-iron effect UPVC is a sensible option on period properties where the look matters but the maintenance of real cast iron does not appeal.
What is included
- Full UPVC fascia, soffit and guttering replacement
- Rotten rafter ends and timber repaired, not capped over
- Ventilated soffits to keep the roof space breathing
- Gutter cleaning, re-falling and downpipe clearing
- White, black, anthracite, woodgrain and cast-iron effect
- Half-round, deepflow, ogee and square-line profiles
What it costs, roughly
We quote a fixed price in writing after looking at the job, because roofs vary far more than price lists admit. That said, people reasonably want a ballpark before they pick up the phone, so our roofing price guide sets out real indicative figures for every service we offer, including this one. No registration, no "prices from" that nobody has ever actually paid.