Fascias,Soffits&BargeboardsinBournemouth&Poole

We take the old boards off rather than capping over them. That is the whole difference, and it is the difference between a repair and a cover up.

Old boards removed, never capped over
Rafter feet checked and repaired while they are exposed
Eaves ventilation kept, so the loft still breathes

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Tell us what the boards look like and we will come and see them.

1–2 daysTypical semi
15–20 yrGuarantee on roofs we install
5.0 ★From 21 Google reviews
BothOwners on every job

What the roofline actually does

The fascia is the board along the bottom edge of the roof. It carries your guttering, which means it carries the weight of everything running off the roof in a downpour. The soffit is the board underneath, closing off the gap between the wall and the roof edge. The bargeboard is the equivalent on a gable end, and it takes more weather than either. They are the least glamorous part of a roof and they matter more than they look. Wooden fascias behind an overflowing gutter get soaked every time it rains, and once the timber goes soft it stops holding the brackets, so the gutter sags, so it overflows more. It is a loop that gets worse. Replacing them is a straightforward job with one important decision in it: whether the old boards come off, or whether new plastic gets fixed over the top of them. We take them off. That is why we can tell you what state the rafter feet behind them are in, and the people who cap over cannot.

Fascia carries the guttering, soffit closes the eaves, bargeboard covers the gable
The old boards come off so the timber behind can be seen
Ventilation designed in rather than accidentally sealed off

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A roof edge stripped back, rotten battens and decayed eaves timber exposed with old felt hanging

New boards, old ones removed

Step 1
We look behind the boards
The fascia is only half the story. What matters is the state of the rafter feet behind it, and you cannot see those from the ground.
Step 2
We strip and repair
Old boards off, rotten rafter feet cut back and repaired. This is the part capping over skips entirely.
Step 3
We fit new and keep it breathing
New fascia, soffit and bargeboard, with eaves ventilation kept, then the guttering rehung to the right falls.

1–2 days

Typical semi

Boards we cap over

Vented

Eaves, every time

Towns we cover

Capping over, against taking the boards off

Both look identical when finished, and that is exactly the problem. Here is what you are actually buying.

	Capping over	Full replacement
What happens to the old timber	Stays there, sealed in behind new plastic	Comes off and gets looked at
Rafter feet	Never seen	Inspected, and repaired if they have gone
If the timber is wet	It carries on rotting where nobody can see it	It is dealt with now
Fixings	Screwed through into timber of unknown condition	Fixed to sound timber
Cost	Cheaper on the day	More on the day, cheaper over the life of it
How it looks finished	The same	The same
Our honest take	We do not do it, and we would be wary of a quote that is much cheaper without saying why	What we quote, every time

Swipe to see every column

What is included

On every roofline job we do.

The rafter feet checked

Old fascia off and the timber ends behind it inspected. Rot here is common where guttering has been overflowing for years, and capping over hides it.

Rotten timber cut back and repaired

Where a rafter foot has gone it is cut back to sound wood and repaired before anything is fixed to it. New board screwed into soft timber holds nothing.

Eaves ventilation kept

The eaves are how a cold roof breathes. Closing them off with solid soffit and no vent traps moisture in the loft and rots the timbers you just paid to expose.

Guttering rehung to the right falls

While the roofline is off, the gutter goes back running to the outlet rather than level, with brackets at the correct spacing.

Bargeboards done properly

Gable ends take more weather than anything else on the roofline, so they get the same treatment rather than being left as the tired bit.

Photographs of what was behind

You get pictures of the timber we found once the old boards came off. It is the part of the job you are paying for and cannot see.

Straight answer

What roofline work costs

Priced by the run, plus access

Roofline is priced on the length of fascia, soffit and bargeboard, plus the access to reach it. It is one of the more predictable jobs in roofing. The variable is timber repair, which we cannot fully know until the old boards are off, so we tell you what we expect and price any repairs honestly if we find them.

Fascia, soffit, bargeboard and guttering quoted together or separately
Timber repairs priced only where we find them
Access included and shown as its own line
Far cheaper alongside a re-roof, because the scaffold is already up

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If you are thinking about a new roof in the next few years, wait and do them together. The saving on access alone is worth the wait.

How the job runs

One to two days on a typical semi.

We look at what is behind

As far as we can from the access available, plus the loft, to get a view of the rafter feet before quoting.

Access up

Scaffold or a tower depending on the height and the run. If a re-roof is happening too, it is already there.

Old boards and gutter off

Everything comes off. Nothing gets capped, which is how the timber behind finally gets seen.

Timber repairs

Rotten rafter feet cut back and repaired, so the new boards are fixed to something solid.

New boards, vents and gutter

Fascia, soffit and bargeboard fitted with ventilation kept, then guttering rehung to the right falls and a water test run through it.

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A roofline job from start to finish

Our own work, photographed across a single day: the rotten fascia, what was behind it, and the finished job.

Before: the timber fascia rotted through behind the gutter

During: stripped back, showing the decayed battens underneath

After: new fascia fitted with the membrane run over the rafters

Captions name the stage each photo shows.

What customers say

We are a new company and we are building this up honestly. These are the jobs people have been kind enough to comment on.

Sam Young

Southern Counties Roofing completed a full re roof for me. I was very pleased with outcome and there professionalism. Would deffo recommend.

Kris Pass

Great job, thanks guys. Would highly recommend.

Clive Curley

Nice guys to deal with and a good price a1

Our projects

Jobs written up properly. What we found, what we did and how long it took.

Roof replacementOakdaleFull Re-Roof in OakdaleA house that had been patched for years, finally stripped and relaid.Read this job

SlateCharminsterSlate Re-Roof in CharminsterSlate replacement with asbestos removal and two chimneys taken down.Read this job

The things people ask

Mostly about whether the cheaper quote is the same job. It usually is not.

Why is another quote so much cheaper?
Usually because it is a capping job rather than a replacement. New plastic goes over the existing timber without anyone seeing what state it is in. It looks identical when finished, which is exactly why it is worth asking.
Will this stop my loft breathing?
No, because we keep the eaves ventilated. It is a real risk on this job though. Solid soffit with no vent traps moisture in the roof space and rots the timbers.
Do I need scaffold?
On a bungalow often not. On a two storey house usually yes. It is a visible line on the quote so you can see what it costs.

What you can see from the ground

Roofline is one of the few parts of a roof you can genuinely assess yourself.

Paint flaking or blistering on a wooden fascia
What it actually isMoisture getting into the timber. Repainting treats the symptom. Once the board is soft behind the paint, painting it again just seals the water in.
What it needs
The gutter sagging or dipping between brackets
What it actually isOften the fascia rather than the gutter. When the timber goes soft it stops holding the bracket screws, so the gutter drops and then ponds.
What it needs
Green staining running down the wall below the gutter
What it actually isThe gutter has been overflowing long enough to keep the wall wet. The wall is the visible casualty. The timber directly behind the gutter is the one nobody checks.
What it needs
Gaps in the soffit, or birds getting in
What it actually isThe soffit has failed or was never closed properly. Beyond the nuisance, it is an open route into the roof space for weather as well as wildlife.
What it needs

Any of these is worth looking at before the timber behind gets worse.

Why we will not cap over your old boards

There are two ways to fit new roofline, and from the pavement the finished job looks the same either way. That is the entire problem with this trade, and it is worth understanding before you compare quotes.

The first way is capping. New plastic fascia is fixed straight over the existing timber, with a thin capping board covering what is there. It is quick, it needs less labour, it produces far less waste, and it comes in noticeably cheaper. The house looks smart the same afternoon.

The second way is replacement. The old boards come off, whatever is behind them gets looked at, anything rotten gets cut out and repaired, and new boards are fixed to sound timber.

The difficulty with capping is what it does to timber that is already wet. The reason most people replace their roofline is that the gutter has been overflowing for years, and the thing directly behind an overflowing gutter is the fascia and the rafter feet. So the timber being capped over is very often the timber that most needs looking at. Seal it behind plastic and it stays damp, with no airflow, and it carries on rotting quietly where nobody will see it until the brackets pull out.

The other issue is the fixings. A capping board is screwed through into whatever is underneath. If that timber is soft, the screws are holding into nothing much, and the new fascia is carrying a full gutter in a downpour.

None of this makes capping fraudulent. On a house where the timber is genuinely sound and dry it is a reasonable job. But nobody can know it is sound without taking a board off, which is the one step capping is designed to avoid.

So we quote the replacement, we show you photographs of what was behind the old boards, and if a cheaper quote has landed on your mat we would encourage you to ask which of the two it is.

Questions about fascias, soffits and bargeboards

Can you cap over my existing fascias?

We do not. Capping means fixing new plastic over the existing timber without seeing what state it is in, and that timber is usually the part most likely to have rotted. It looks the same when finished, which is why it is worth asking any cheaper quote whether that is what it is.

How long does it take?

One to two days on a typical semi, depending on the run and the access. There is nothing to do inside the house.

Do I have to have plastic?

No, timber is still an option and on some period properties it is the right one. It needs painting and maintaining, which is why most people choose uPVC. Tell us which you would prefer and we will price it.

Will new soffits stop my loft breathing?

They should not, and we make sure they do not. The eaves are how a cold roof ventilates. Closing them off with solid soffit and no vent traps moisture in the loft, which causes condensation and rot in timbers that were fine before.

Should I do the guttering at the same time?

Almost always. The gutter has to come off to change the fascia, so fitting new guttering back costs very little more than rehanging the old and you get the falls set correctly at the same time.

What if you find rot behind the boards?

We tell you and show you before doing anything. Rotten rafter feet get cut back to sound timber and repaired, and that is priced honestly rather than being buried in the original figure or covered up.

Is it worth doing at the same time as a new roof?

Yes, and if you are considering a re-roof in the next few years it is worth waiting. The scaffold is already up and the roof edge is already exposed, so the extra cost is a fraction of doing it as its own job.

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