UPVC Fascias, Soffits & Guttering Crewe

New Roofline in Crewe

Crewe grew as a railway town and a great deal of its older housing was built to house railway workers, in long terraces put up quickly and to a pattern. Those streets are good solid houses, but they were roofed to a different logic from a modern estate, and the roofline on them is rarely the simple front-to-back run that a quotation assumes. There is usually something behind the fascia line that has to be dealt with at the same time.

Roofline Solutions works across Crewe and the surrounding area from our base at Elton, north of Chester, fitting fascias, soffits, bargeboards, guttering and downpipes in UPVC. We are fully insured. On an older terrace we want to see the roof arrangement properly before quoting, because what is going on above the front elevation frequently decides how big the job is.

None of that makes a terrace a difficult house to work on. It does mean the survey is worth more here than it is on a detached property where everything is visible from the garden. A run of terraces can share drainage between four houses without a single owner being aware of it, and it is better to find that out on the quoting visit than on day two.

Valley Gutters and Parapet Returns on the Crewe Terraces

A terrace roofed as one long structure often drains into a valley — a channel running between two pitches, or along the back of a parapet at the front wall rather than into a gutter hung on a fascia. The water is collected behind the front elevation and taken away at intervals. From the pavement you cannot see any of it, because the wall carries on up past the roof line and hides the whole arrangement.

That changes what a roofline job is. The fascia and soffit at the eaves are straightforward, and we fit those exactly as anywhere else. The valley or the parapet gutter behind them is a different piece of work with a different lining, and it is not a UPVC job. What matters is that the two meet properly: where a valley discharges into a hopper or an outlet, the new roofline has to leave that outlet clear and at the right height, not sit across it.

These arrangements are also shared, and that is the part worth knowing early. A valley may serve several houses in the row and run to one outlet at the end, so a blockage two doors along puts water into your roof space and there is nothing at all wrong with your own length. Where we find that, we say so, and we say which part of the problem is yours to sort and which is not. It is an honest conversation that saves everybody time.

Where the Water Shows First on an Older Crewe Terrace

On a terrace the first evidence is usually inside rather than outside. A damp patch in an upstairs corner, staining on the ceiling close to the party wall, or a smell in the roof space after heavy rain all point at water getting in above the wall head rather than through the roof covering. That is the valley or the parapet talking, and it is worth establishing before anybody starts pricing new fascias.

Outside, look at the front wall below roof level for a vertical line of staining, and at the back for a gutter standing away from the board or a downpipe with a wet trail beside it. Rear elevations on these houses take the weather and get looked at least. Send us a photograph from the ground on the contact page or by message and we will tell you what we think you are looking at.

Capping Over or Stripping Back in Crewe?

The fascia on a house of this age is generally a substantial piece of softwood, and it has often had a century of paint on it. Some of those boards are in better condition than the equivalent on a house half their age, because the timber was better to begin with and the section is deeper. Where that is the case, capping over with UPVC is a genuine option and we will tell you so.

Where it is not, the giveaway is at the ends and behind the gutter rather than in the middle of the run. End grain at a party wall or an abutment takes water first, and on a terrace it is the least visible part of the whole elevation. Nothing capped over a wet end joint dries out afterwards, so we take the boards off and look before making that call, not from the top of a ladder.

Guttering and Rainwater Goods in Crewe

Where an older Crewe house does have a hung gutter at the rear, replacing it is ordinary work, and half round or deep flow in black or white covers most of what people want. The thing to check is what it discharges into. A shared gully between two back yards, or a hopper head taking a valley outlet as well as the gutter, needs to still work once the new pipe goes on, and that is easier to sort while we are there.

Cast iron is still on a fair number of these houses, at the back if not the front. Taking it down is heavy work and not a one-person job, which is why it so often stays up long after it has stopped doing anything useful. It all goes with us when it comes off. If yours is sound and you would rather keep the look, cast-iron effect UPVC is made in a profile that reads correctly from the street.