Guttering, fascias and soffits in Hythe, Folkestone and Kent

Most gutter problems come down to water not reaching the outlet. A run needs a slight fall towards the downpipe, and once a bracket works loose or a section drops, water sits in the low spot, finds a joint and drips down the wall. On older plastic runs the rubber seals in the joints harden and shrink, which is why a gutter that has been fine for years can start leaking at every joint in the same winter.

On this coast there is more to it. Salt air corrodes steel brackets and screws, strong sun on south facing elevations makes cheaper plastic brittle, and the gulls that nest on rooftops in Hythe and Folkestone leave nesting material and debris that blocks gutters and outlets every spring.

Most of these can be seen from the pavement. The ones to take seriously are the ones that happen in the same place every time it rains.

The fascia is the board along the bottom edge of the roof that the gutter is fixed to, and the soffit closes the gap underneath it. On older houses both are timber, and once the paint goes the timber rots, usually worst where a gutter joint has been dripping on it for years.

The cheap fix is to clad the old boards in thin plastic, known as capping over. It looks new on the day, but the rotten timber is still underneath holding the gutter brackets, and it carries on rotting where nobody can see it. We would rather take the old boards off, see what state the rafter ends are in, and fix new boards to sound timber.

Soffits matter for another reason. On many roofs they are where air gets into the roof space, and vented soffits or a vent strip at the eaves keep air moving through the loft, which is what stops condensation forming on the underside of the roof in winter.

A lot of Victorian and Edwardian houses in Folkestone, Hythe and Sandgate still have their cast iron gutters and downpipes. Kept painted, cast iron lasts a very long time, and most of what goes wrong with it can be repaired: joints resealed, a cracked length replaced, brackets reset, and the whole run cleaned back and repainted.

Swapping it for plastic is cheaper and needs no painting, but plastic moves more with temperature, looks lighter on a period front and does not last as long. On a listed building, and in some conservation areas, changing cast iron for plastic can need consent, so check with the council before assuming it can go.

When a run does need replacing, plastic is the most common choice: light, cheap and quick to fit, in half round, square, deep flow and ogee profiles. Deep flow sections carry noticeably more water, which is worth having on a big roof or where a gutter takes the water from a valley. Aluminium, often formed on site in one seamless length, has no joints along the run to leak. Cast iron, or cast aluminium made to look like it, is the right answer on a period front or a listed building.

Size matters as much as material. A gutter that overflows on a large or steep roof is often simply too small for the area it drains, and replacing it like for like repeats the problem.

Most gutter work is done from ladders or a tower. A tall house, a steep bank or a terrace with no side access needs scaffolding, and scaffolding that stands on the pavement needs a licence from Kent County Council. We will tell you at quote stage which of those your house needs, so the price covers it.

While we are up there we check the bottom row of tiles and the felt behind the gutter. When that eaves felt has perished, rainwater runs down behind the gutter instead of into it and rots the fascia, and a new gutter on its own just moves the leak along.