Gutter Replacement / Fascias & Soffits Too?

Crabman

Hi folks,

I'm looking to get guttering repaired/replaced for a family friend but have been unable to find anyone to do the job. It's roughly 30m of guttering and 15m of downpipes.

The tradesmen who have turned up are only interested in the job if it includes replacing the gutters on the entire house + capping the fascia boards and capping the soffits.

I was wondering whether the job I'm asking for is unreasonable? Any advice would be appreciated as I'm struggling to understand why nobody is interested in doing the work.

Ruski

Best post a picture and give us a clue as to why nobody's interested.

One reason may be rotten fascias - pointless putting new gutter brackets onto rotten wood - the snow will have them down first chance!

Maybe you've approached the wrong trade. Forget roofers - ask a handyman/multiskilled tradesperson.

HTH

Russ

michaelanthonyglass

where about are you maybe we could help you.

sillygoose

These things are usually done by windows companies these days as I suppose it comes under the field of UPVC, heading into winter it often gets very quiet for these companies and I would be very surprised if it was hard plenty of takers.

budgetdiyer

I'd normally use a general handyman for these type of jobs, and have never found one to turn down the work, but i would follow their advice if for example they were saying the fascias are rotten and therefore are unable to just replace the guttering.

Crabman

Thanks for the replies. I've now found a couple of companies willing to do gutter replacement only. Both will also install EPS.

They've pointed out that the soffits are looking damp in the box ends and proposed over-cladding. They say they won't cover up 'rotten timber' or 'bad wood' (they'll splice it out and replace).

The best quote for gutters only + EPS is £350. For over-cladding of fascias, soffits and new gutters it's £1400. Both use Freefoam products which carry a 50 year product guarantee and a 10 year installation guarantee. The latter is guaranteed by a company called IWA.biz.

I should mention the £1400 quote includes an extra length of fascia (no soffit) of roughly 10-12m which surrounds a single storey garage building that adjoins the house.

What I'm not sure about is why the existing wood fascias and soffits are being cladded over and not removed entirely - in terms of the future (e.g. 10-20 years ahead) what are the disadvantages of doing this instead of complete removal and replacement? By that time the installation guarantee will be over.

southcoastrgi

guttering is a plumbers job, believe it or not (you buy a new house all the guttering will have been done by the plumber), most don't bother with replacing it as a job (lazy, health & safety, ladders or a tower) whatever the reason, as others have said a general handiman should be able to sort it, now one of the things you have to watch with over cladding is because you are taking the guttering further away from the house & the tiles is that the water off of the tiles now actually goes into the guttering, i had one this wk 11m of guttering down the side of the house that i had to fit flashband to as the water was running off the tiles & down the wall because the gutter was now too far away from the tiles.

Crabman

Thanks very much southcoastrgi - that's exactly the sort of info I was looking for.

Is EPS generally sufficient to bridge the larger gap between tiles and gutter? I gather 1-2 rows of tiles need to be removed to fit it.

Aside from that possible issue of water off the tiles missing the gutter are there any other risks with overcladding?

As an example, I looked at Freefoam's fitting guide which says to remove old fascias, soffits and bargeboards. It also says if the existing ones are left in place to cut out rotted sections and replace with treated timber to prevent moisture from rotting the supporting timber.

It's the risk of existing moisture leading to rot in the supporting timber behind the new cladding that concerns me as this would only become a problem (for the householder) after the 10 year installation guarantee has ended. Currently the gutters do overspill a bit. The water runs down the fascia and drips off the soffit so there is moisture there.