Gutter Cleaning in Bournville

Tree-named streets, deep eaves and a hidden overflow

Deep eaves are the detail that makes Bournville gutters different. They throw the roof well past the wall, so the gutter line sits further out than on a plain interwar semi, and a blockage does not announce itself the way it does elsewhere. Where a plain gutter sheets visibly down the front elevation, this overflow lands clear of the wall and quietly soaks the border and the planting below. The first sign is often a gurgling downpipe or a damp patch inside, long before anyone looks up. Meanwhile clay tile roofs shed moss into the run all year, and the village canopy tops it up every October and November.

• Mature street planting on Linden Road, Sycamore Road and the other tree-named streets, feeding the gutters directly
• Deep eaves that hide an overflow instead of showing it down the front elevation
• Moss shedding off clay tile roofs and settling as a silt bed underneath the leaves
• Original guttering that ladder tops distort, on properties where external appearance is covenanted
• Painted render below the run, which ladder feet and boot marks damage visibly

A pole vacuum from the ground, with nothing touching the run

A pole-mounted vacuum reaches up to three storeys from the ground, so nothing touches your guttering, fascia, render or timber. We take out the silt and moss bed as well as the leaves, because a run cleared of leaves alone blocks again by January. Downpipes are then flushed to prove the whole run flows. While the camera is up there we record the condition of the run: cracked sections, sagging, loose brackets and gaps between gutter and fascia. On a village property that report matters, because guttering is part of the external appearance the covenants cover.

• Pole-mounted vacuum worked from ground level, with nothing resting on original guttering or painted render
• Silt and moss bed removed as well as leaf litter, so the run does not reblock by midwinter
• Downpipes flushed and checked, since a clear gutter feeding a blocked downpipe still overflows
• Photographs of cracked, sagging or failing sections, useful when you raise a replacement with the Trust

More detail on the equipment and the order of work: our gutter cleaning method.

Autumn in the village

October and November are the weeks that matter here, because the canopy that makes Bournville pleasant to live in drops within a fairly narrow window. We work the village core around the Village Green, Woodbrooke Road and the tree-named streets, then the interwar semis running towards Mary Vale Road, Griffins Brook Lane and Cotteridge. Properties backing onto Rowheath and the open ground near the Carillon collect the most. Nobody needs to be home, though we do ask for access to the rear, since village houses often have gated side entries.

Roof planes and years of silt set the time on a village house

Price follows the length of the run, the height and how much is sitting in it. A village terrace or semi with a modest frontage is quick if it was done the previous year. A larger detached village house with deep eaves, several roof planes and a rear extension has considerably more run than the frontage suggests, and the quote reflects that, not the width of the house. A run untouched for five years with rooted seedlings in it takes longer than an annual clear, so a first visit usually costs more than the ones after it. Where houses in a village terrace share a continuous run, doing several at once clears the whole run in one go.

Get a free, no-obligation quote

Late autumn once the limes are down, spring as well under them

Annually for most of B30, booked for late autumn once the leaves are actually down, not in September while they are still up. Twice yearly is worth it for properties directly under the mature limes on the tree-named streets, or backing onto the open ground at Rowheath, with a second clear in late spring after the blossom and seed drop. A neglected run wants its first clear whenever you call, not next October.