Gutter Cleaning in Hockley

Hidden parapet runs, cemetery leaf and inside downpipes

Three things generate gutter work in B18. First, the hidden runs. A parapet or valley gutter has nowhere to overflow except inwards, so when it silts up the water goes into the roof structure instead of down the front of the building, and the first anyone knows is a stain on a top-floor ceiling. Second, the rainwater goods themselves: original cast iron hoppers and downpipes on conservation-area frontages block with moss and roof grit and are far less forgiving than plastic. Third, the cemeteries. Buildings backing onto Key Hill and Warstone Lane take a leaf load that the paved streets two minutes away never see.

• Parapet, box and valley gutters behind workshop frontages, which overflow inwards into the building
• Original cast iron hoppers and downpipes on protected elevations, which block with moss and grit and crack where plastic would flex
• Buildings backing onto Key Hill and Warstone Lane cemeteries, which take a real autumn leaf load
• Managing agents and freeholders booking for a whole block, since no leaseholder owns the roof or the rainwater goods
• Flat and shallow roofs over rear extensions and courtyards, where standing silt holds water against the covering

Courtyard access and parapet runs cleared from below

Everything is cleared from the ground with a pole-mounted vacuum and a camera head, so nothing leans against a conservation-area frontage and nobody walks a roof they have no business on. We take out silt and moss as well as leaves, because on a shallow parapet run it is the silt that holds standing water. Hoppers are vacuumed out from the ground with the same pole, and downpipes are flushed through so we know the full run drains. Anything cracked, rusted through or pulling away from the wall is photographed and shown to you, with a plain view on whether it now needs a roofer.

• Pole-mounted vacuum and camera worked from the ground, so no ladder touches a protected frontage
• Silt and moss taken out along with the leaves, because silt is what holds water in a shallow parapet run
• Downpipes flushed through, including internal runs wherever we can reach the hopper
• Photographs of cracked cast iron, failed joints and standing water, with an honest view on whether it is a roofing job

More detail on the equipment and the order of work: how we do gutter cleaning, step by step.

Hidden gutters behind Victorian frontages

The work is on the workshop buildings and blocks around Vyse Street, Warstone Lane, Spencer Street, Hylton Street and Branston Street, plus the newer blocks out towards Icknield Street. Access is the whole story. We often work from a courtyard, not the street, we need the yard gate or the bin store route unlocked, and on a permit-controlled road we have to plan where the vehicle sits while the job runs. On a tall building we tell you at the quote whether the run is within safe reach from the ground, which is up to three storeys. We are insured, and the certificate is available on request for an agent’s file.

Height, run length and years of silt in a workshop gutter

We price on height, on the length of the run and on how much is sitting in it, and Hockley buildings tend to sit at the demanding end of all three. A three-storey workshop with a parapet gutter running the full frontage is a longer job than a suburban semi, and a run holding years of compacted silt takes longer again, sometimes needing the downpipe rodded as well as flushed. Where a freeholder owns several adjoining buildings they can go on the same visit, because the set-up and the access arrangements take more time here than the clearing. If a run is out of safe reach we say so and charge nothing for looking.

Get a free, no-obligation quote

Late autumn every year, and never missed on a parapet

Once a year is the minimum for a Quarter building, and late autumn is the moment, after leaf fall but before sustained winter rain. Anything backing onto Key Hill or Warstone Lane cemetery is a twice-yearly job. Parapet and valley runs deserve the more cautious answer, because the consequence of a blockage is water inside the building instead of a wet wall outside it, so an agent looking after several blocks is better off fixing an annual date and keeping to it.