Guttering, fascias and soffits in Worthing

We trace a damp ceiling, an overflowing gutter or a rotten fascia board back to its cause, then repair or replace the guttering, fascias and soffits so they shed water properly in sea weather.

Get a quote Call 01903 299063

Freshly re-roofed bungalow with new tiles and fascias

Leaks traced
to the source
Photos of
your own roof
Written quote,
one total price
10-year workmanship
guarantee, in writing

What we fit and repair along the roofline

Fascia boards

The board across the rafter ends that carries the gutter, replaced in uPVC or timber when it has rotted, split or lost its fixings.
Soffit boards

The panel closing the underside of the overhang, renewed with a ventilated board where the old one has sagged, gone mouldy or let birds into the roof space.
Guttering replacement

Whole runs of half-round, square or ogee guttering in uPVC, aluminium or cast iron, set to a fall so water reaches the downpipe instead of the wall.
Downpipes and hoppers

Blocked, cracked or loose downpipes refitted or renewed, with clean joints into the gully or drain so rain leaves the wall quickly.
Bargeboards and verge trims

The boards that finish a gable end, renewed with the fascias so the whole roofline matches and the verge edge stays closed to the weather.
Gutter cleaning and repair

Leaves, moss and silt cleared, leaking joints resealed and sagging runs re-bracketed, so a sound gutter keeps working before replacement is needed.

Brown water stain spreading across a white bedroom ceiling near the window

Signs the roofline needs attention

Gutter overflowing in light rain
Green streaks down the wall
Fascia board soft or flaking
Soffit sagging or speckled with mould
Birds or wasps using the eaves

Typical UK costs for roofline work

Typical UK price ranges
Job	UK range
Guttering replacement	£30 to £70 per metre
Fascia boards	£80 to £150 per metre
Soffit boards	£100 to £180 per metre

These are national guide figures for a typical house. Your own roofline is priced in a written quote once we have measured the runs and looked at the rafter ends. Source: MyBuilder gutter, fascia and soffit replacement cost guide, updated 21/08/2026.

How a guttering, fascia and soffit job runs

Describe the problemCall 01903 299063 or send a WhatsApp photo showing where the gutter spills, the board has softened or the soffit has dropped.
Roofline surveyWe check the boards, brackets, falls and downpipes from a ladder or tower, and look at the rafter ends behind anything that has failed.
A written quoteThe written quote gives a single sum for the job, alongside photographs of the damaged boards and gutters and a plain reason for each part we propose to replace.
Fit and clearWe strip the old roofline, fit the new boards and guttering, run water through to test the falls and take every offcut away.

The roofline guide

Getting water off the house and away from the timbers

What each roofline part does, how it fails, which material suits which house, how the details are fitted and what the work typically costs.

Chapter one

Reading the roofline from the ground

A handful of boards and channels at the roof edge protect the walls and the timbers behind them, and each leans on the others.

Look up at the edge of any house in Worthing and you are looking at a handful of parts doing one job: keeping rain off the walls and the timbers behind them. The rafters, the sloping timbers that carry the roof, run out past the wall to form the eaves, the overhang at the bottom of each slope. The fascia is the board fixed across the rafter ends. It is the face you see from the street, and on most houses it carries the gutter. The soffit is the panel that closes the gap beneath the overhang, between the wall and the back of the fascia. The guttering catches the water running off the covering, and the downpipe takes it down to the drain. On a gable end, the bargeboard follows the slope of the roof edge and does for the verge what the fascia does for the eaves.

At a glance

Fascia, soffit, gutter and downpipe work as one system
A wet fascia rots the rafter ends behind it
Bargeboards finish the gable in the same way

Note Warwick Gardens' Article 4 direction in Worthing, confirmed in 2001, even brings the painting of street-facing walls and roofs under planning control.

Because each part leans on the others, one failure spreads. A gutter that overflows soaks the fascia behind it. A wet fascia rots first at the end grain of the rafters, where timber drinks water fastest. A damaged soffit lets in birds, wasps and wind-blown rain, and the insulation and timber in the roof space take the damp. What looks like a paint problem on a board is often water damage that has been working for years.

1.1 What we check at the survey

We begin at the gutter, because that is usually where the story starts. We run a hand along the back of the channel, check every bracket and read the stain pattern on the wall below, which shows where water has been spilling. Then the fascia: is it sound at the joints and the ends, does a screwdriver sink into it, is the paint lifting in sheets? Then the soffit: does it sag, is it stained or mouldy, does it have a vent? Last we look at the covering above, since a tile that stops short of the gutter, or a worn felt tray, can push water behind the fascia instead of into the channel. Our roof repairs hub covers that side of the work.

1.2 What a replacement involves

A proper fascia and soffit installation starts with taking off the old gutter and boards, which shows the true state of the rafter ends. Where they are sound, new boards go over them. Where they have gone soft, we cut back to good timber and repair the end before anything is closed up. The soffit goes in first, with its ventilation in place, and the fascia follows, set so the bottom course of the roof covering overhangs the gutter. Brackets go in at an even spacing, the guttering is clipped in and the downpipes are connected to the drain.

Along the way we keep the detail that people notice from the pavement: joints cut square and tight, corners fitted with the correct mitre pieces, end caps and stop ends sealed, and the fixings kept in a neat line. A roofline is one of the first things a visitor sees, and careful workmanship at the edge is what keeps it looking right as the years pass. At the end the gutters are run with water, the joints are checked and the site is swept.

Roofer clearing a gutter from a scaffold tower in autumn

Fig. 1 On the survey Fascia board rotted at the ends and the gutter sagging.

One wet board rarely stays one wet board for long.

Houses with a bargeboard on the gable usually get the same treatment in one visit. Replacing the eaves boards and leaving a tired bargeboard beside them leaves an obvious mismatch and an open edge where wind and rain still get in, so we price and photograph the whole roofline together and let you decide what to include. Where a house has timber cladding or hanging tiles beneath the eaves, we also check how the new boards meet it, since a poor junction there lets water behind the wall finish.

Chapter two

When the boards, gutters and eaves start to fail

Most roofline faults announce themselves from the ground long before a ceiling stain appears indoors, if you know where to look.

Old clay tile roof over a flint wall in a downland village

Rot is the fault homeowners picture first, and it deserves respect. Timber fascias and soffits that are painted regularly last well, but paint cracks at joints and the bare end grain soaks up water. The sign is a board that feels soft, flakes when you press it or has a dark, sunken patch under the paint. Rot spreads along the board and into the rafter feet, so the earlier it is seen to, the smaller the repair. Boards that look fine from the street can still hide a problem at the back where the gutter sits, which is why we look from a tower or ladder and not from the pavement.

At a glance

Green streaks mark where a gutter has been spilling
Soft timber means rot has reached the wood
Mould on a soffit points to damp or poor airflow

Note Rot and slow overflow are the kind of gradual damage that home insurance policies often exclude, the Financial Ombudsman notes.

Sagging guttering is the next most visible sign. A channel dips for one of three reasons: the brackets are too far apart, the fascia behind them has rotted and let the screws pull out, or the gutter has filled with debris and silt and is carrying too much weight. A dip also holds water, which pushes it over the front edge in rain and leaves green streaks on the wall below. If the fascia is sound, new brackets and a reset to the correct fall may be all it needs. If the board is soft, bracketing a gutter back onto it just repeats the failure.

2.1 Damp, mould and condensation at the eaves

Water damage at the eaves does not always come from rain. A soffit with black spotting on its underside, or a roof space that smells musty, may be telling you about condensation rather than a leak. Warm, moist air from kitchens and bathrooms rises into the loft, and where the eaves are blocked and there is no airflow it settles on the coldest surfaces. Our section on ventilation explains what we fit to stop that. A genuine leak behaves differently: it follows rain and shows near a joint, a corner or an outlet. Knowing which you have decides whether you need new boards, a ventilated soffit or work to the roof covering.

2.2 Overflowing gutters and unwelcome tenants

A gutter that spills in light rain is usually blocked, out of fall or too small for the roof slope it serves, and a short clear-out will tell you which. Gaps at the soffit can also give wasps, bees and birds a way into the roof space. An active nest under the eaves stops the work until the chicks have flown, so we look before disturbing anything.

Moss and algae on a soffit or the top of a fascia are another signal. They do not harm uPVC directly, but they show that moisture is lingering, and under them paint on timber may already be failing. Damp ceilings along an outside wall, wallpaper lifting beside a window and a tide mark on the plaster below the eaves all point back to the gutter or the board above, so when a homeowner reports them we trace from the inside of the house outwards.

Checking your roofline from the garden

Watch the rain Stand outside in steady rain and see where water drops from the gutter instead of reaching the downpipe.
Read the wall Green streaks, dark patches and flaking paint below the eaves mark where water has been spilling for some time.
Sight the line Sight along the gutter and fascia for dips, gaps at joints and boards that have bowed away from the wall.
Check the soffit Look up for sagging panels, black spotting, daylight gaps or insects flying in and out.

Older soffits need one extra caution. HSE names external soffits as a spot where asbestos insulating board can be found, and its advice is to presume asbestos is there when a house dates from before 2000. The board looks much like a modern one, so you cannot tell by eye. If your house is of that age, do not drill, scrape or break the board, and read how we handle them in our guide to asbestos soffit boards.

Chapter three

uPVC, timber, aluminium or cast iron

The right material depends on the age of the house, where it stands and how much upkeep the homeowner wants to take on.

For most houses built after the war, uPVC is the sensible answer. The boards are cut from rigid plastic, come in white, black, brown and anthracite grey, and never need painting. They are cheaper to fit than timber, light enough to hang on an old fascia run, and a good quality board holds its colour and shape for years. MyBuilder's guide says fascias and soffits are typically replaced every 10 to 20 years, while a plastic supplier puts the figure higher; the fair reading is that the range is wide and depends on the board quality, the exposure and how well it was fixed. The boards can be fitted as full replacements, or as capping over sound timber where the old fascia is in good shape. Capping hides the timber but does not stop rot underneath, which is why we look at the wood before agreeing to it.

At a glance

uPVC boards need little upkeep beyond washing
Timber suits listed and character houses when kept painted
Cast iron is heavy, long-lived and needs repainting

The fixing, the fall and the joints matter more than the badge on the board.

Timber fascias and soffits are still right for some houses. Old Victorian and Edwardian villas near the seafront, houses in a conservation area and listed buildings often need a board with the profile, depth and moulding the original had, and uPVC cannot copy that. The councils' own listed building guide gives repairs made in non-matching materials as an example of work needing consent, so on a listed house we check with the planning team before changing material.

3.1 Timber that earns its keep

Timber demands good primer, undercoat and gloss, redone when the paint starts to fail, and it rewards that upkeep. Fully primed on every face, including the back and the cut ends before fixing, a painted softwood board gives long service, and a repair to one length is easier to make invisible than on plastic. The cost is the ladder time every few years. For a homeowner who would rather not paint at height, uPVC wins; for a house whose frontage matters to the street, timber is often the better call. We say which we would choose on your house and give the reason.

Painted finishes also vary. Anthracite grey and black uPVC have become popular on newer builds, and woodgrain foils copy the look of oak, though they show scratches more and should be fitted with the same care as the plain white. Our comparison of uPVC and timber fascias sets out the trade-offs in detail.

3.2 Guttering materials

The plastic systems, in half-round, square and deep-flow profiles, are quick to fit and rarely corrode. Aluminium guttering, sometimes run as a single continuous length formed on site, resists rust, takes a factory finish in many colours and suits a long straight run on a bungalow or an extension. Cast iron is the traditional choice on older houses. It is heavy and needs sound fixings and regular painting, but where an original run survives, restoring it can be better than replacing it with a lookalike. Cast aluminium offers the same profile at a lower weight. The type of material matters less than the quality of the fixing, the fall and the joints.

Roofline materials compared

Material	Where it suits	What to watch
uPVC	Most post-war houses and bungalows	Fixings and board quality; wash off salt and dirt
Painted timber	Villas, conservation areas, listed buildings	Repaint on schedule; bare end grain rots first
Aluminium	Long runs, modern extensions, seamless gutters	Dents from ladders; joints at corners
Cast iron	Older houses with original runs	Weight on the brackets; rust at joints

Source: MyBuilder gutter, fascia and soffit replacement cost guide, updated 21/08/2026

Chapter four

Falls, brackets and ventilation behind the boards

A gutter that looks level can still hold water, and a soffit with no airflow can rot the roof space from inside.

Two details decide whether a new roofline works: the fall of the gutter and the airflow at the eaves. Gutters are not laid dead level. Brett Martin advises a fall of 1 mm for every 600 mm of run, and FloPlast's guidance for its MiniFlo system recommends 1:350, so the makers ask for a slight slope towards the outlet, somewhere between those two figures depending on the system. Too little and water sits in the channel, growing algae and slowly staining the front. Too much and the gutter looks crooked against the fascia. We set the line with a string or a level before the brackets go in, then check it against a bucket of water once the run is clipped up. On a long run, such as the front of a bungalow, the outlet usually sits near the middle with the gutter falling both ways, which halves the depth of water at any one point and cuts the chance of a joint being strained.

At a glance

Gutters need a slight fall towards the outlet
Brackets no more than 900 mm apart
Eaves ventilation depends on the roof pitch

4.1 Brackets and downpipes

Bracket spacing is the second detail. Brett Martin advises supports no more than 900 mm apart. Wider than that, the plastic bows under the load of a wet leaf-fall, joints open at the unions and the gutter drops away from the fascia. Extra brackets at corners, outlets and stop ends cost little and prevent the sagging that sends homeowners to find out what went wrong. The downpipe also needs clips at sensible intervals, with the outlet set over the drain or gully so water cannot splash back against the brickwork.

4.2 Eaves ventilation and condensation

Ventilation is the detail that is most often forgotten and most often blamed for damp. Marley's guidance on cold roofs, drawing on BS 5250, sets out the eaves openings that a ventilated roof space needs when a traditional high-resistance underlay is used: a 25 mm opening along the eaves for pitches of 15° or less, and 10 mm where the pitch is more than 15°, with an extra continuous 5 mm opening at high level for steeper roofs. For modern low-resistance underlays with a well-sealed ceiling, Marley says normal eaves construction giving 3 mm can be enough, provided the underlay's certification requirements are met. These are manufacturer readings of the standard, and the right answer for your roof depends on its underlay, pitch and construction.

For a homeowner the point is simple. A solid white soffit board with no vent, fitted over an old ventilated one, can trap moist air in the loft and bring condensation, mould on the timbers and damp insulation. Where the roof calls for it, we fit a vented soffit or a continuous over-fascia vent and keep any insulation clear of the opening. Our guide to soffit ventilation goes into more detail.

Fitting a vent is also a matter of what sits behind it. Loft insulation pushed hard into the eaves blocks the airflow, so a plastic baffle is placed between the insulation and the underside of the roof covering, holding a clear channel open. We check this wherever the loft is accessible and tell you if the insulation needs pulling back.

Roofline details at a glance

Gutter fall: 1 mm per 600 mm (Brett Martin); 1:350 for MiniFlo (FloPlast)
Bracket spacing: No more than 900 mm apart (Brett Martin)
Eaves vent, pitch 15° or less: 25 mm along the eaves (Marley, BS 5250)
Eaves vent, pitch over 15°: 10 mm along the eaves (Marley, BS 5250)

Source: Brett Martin; FloPlast MiniFlo installation guide; Marley, How do I ventilate a cold roof?

Flat-roofed extensions and garages often drain into a gutter fixed to a shallow fascia or a timber upstand. Those edges take heavy flows from a small roof area, so the outlet and downpipe need to be generous, and the edge trim of the flat roof has to overhang the channel so water does not track back behind it. A downpipe that discharges onto a path, a neighbour's wall or a patio is a problem of its own, and we connect it to a drain or soakaway wherever one exists.

Chapter five

Salt air, weather conditions and keeping up with cleaning

Sea weather loads a roofline with salt, spray and debris, and the parts that rain cannot reach are the ones that need washing.

Mossy concrete tile roof in soft winter light

Worthing sits on the Channel, and the roofline lives with that every day: gales, driving rain, salt-laden air and, in autumn, leaves blown from every tree in the road. HomeBuilding's advice on metal finishes near the sea points out that sheltered soffits and fascias gather salt from the air with no rainfall to rinse it away. The practical result is that the underside of a soffit and the top of a fascia, the places a garden hose never touches, gather a crust that holds moisture and dirt against the surface. On uPVC it dulls and stains the board. On timber it keeps the paint film damp and speeds its failure. A wash with clean water and a soft brush, once or twice a year, keeps the surface healthy and shows up cracks or open joints before they turn into leaks. After a winter gale, it is worth walking round the house and looking up for boards that have shifted, because a loose fascia lets the wind lift the gutter and the bottom row of tiles with it. Weather conditions on this coast change quickly, and a roofline that was fine in September can have a loose length by February.

At a glance

Salt settles on soffits that rain never reaches
Autumn leaves and spring moss clog gutters
Safe access matters more than speed

Note West Sussex County Council's highway licence for a tower scaffold costs £95 for one week and £150 for two (July 2026).

5.1 Gutters and the autumn clear-out

Gutters have their own routine. Leaves, seed heads, moss washed off the tiles and silt from the granules in worn concrete tiles settle in the channel and rot into a paste that blocks the outlet. In heavy rain a blocked outlet sends water over the front, down the wall and into the ground at the base of the house. Clearing the channels after the leaves have fallen and again in spring is the habit that prevents the usual overflow. Flush the run with a hose afterwards and watch the outlet: a slow drain means a blockage in the downpipe or a problem at the bend, and it is better found on a dry day than in a storm. Houses beside pine, sycamore or oak, or backing onto the Downs, tend to need the second visit sooner. Our gutter cleaning guide covers timing and the problems that coastal trees bring.

5.2 Doing it safely

Gutters sit at the edge of the roof, which is the least stable place to work from a ladder. A ladder needs a firm base, a stand-off to keep it off the plastic, and a second person or a tie at the top. Cleaning at height from a ladder is a short job that is too often done badly. For two-storey houses, the best answer is a tower or a long-reach system rather than leaning out sideways. We clear the channels by hand, check the brackets as we go and photograph anything we find. Roof moss and slipped tiles above the gutter feed the same problem, and our roof cleaning and moss removal page explains what to do about them.

What people sayA uPVC roofline is maintenance free once it is fitted.

What is trueSalt, dirt and algae collect on boards and soffits that rain never reaches, so a wash with clean water and a check of the joints still pays.

Gutter guards and brushes are sometimes offered to cut cleaning. They can keep out leaves from a single tree, but fine debris, moss and seeds still collect around and under them, and they have to be lifted for inspection. We treat them as an addition for a particular problem, not a substitute for looking at the roofline now and then. Where a house stands under a large tree, a guard plus a twice-yearly look can be a sensible pairing, and we will say so when we see it.

The parts rain cannot reach are the parts that need washing.

Knapped flint wall meeting the eaves of an old clay tile roof

Chapter six

Pricing a roofline job and what moves it

National guides price this work by the metre; access, the boards chosen and what the survey finds under them decide where your house sits.

Roofline work is measured in metres. MyBuilder's cost guide, updated on 21/08/2026, puts the typical UK price of replacing guttering at £30 to £70 per metre, fascia boards at £80 to £150 per metre and soffit boards at £100 to £180 per metre, with fascia and soffit together at around £150 per metre. Those are national figures for a typical house, not our prices, so treat them as a way to budget and not as a price for your roof. A semi-detached house and a four-bedroom detached house with a double-fronted gable have very different totals, mostly because of how many metres of eaves they carry, how many corners and downpipes there are, and how much of the old timber has to be repaired.

At a glance

MyBuilder prices guttering at £30 to £70 per metre
Scaffold on the pavement needs a council licence
Check any quote states whether VAT is included

6.1 Scaffold, access and licences

Access moves the figure more than any other factor. A bungalow can usually be done from a tower or ladders. A two-storey house with a steep drop below needs scaffold, and MyBuilder gives £850 to £1,200 for scaffolding a typical two-storey house. When that scaffold has to stand on the footway, the scaffolders apply for a licence from the highway authority. In West Sussex the county wants 10 working days' notice at minimum, and Brighton and Hove issues its own licences inside the city, so the timetable has to allow for the wait. The licence is the scaffold firm's job, and we build the lead time into the date we give you.

Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs

The covering above also matters. If the bottom row of tiles is loose, the felt tray is torn or the eaves are choked with moss, the roofline job grows to include a repair there, because new boards fixed to a failing edge do not stay dry. A bungalow with a flat porch roof, a chimney that overhangs the gutter line or a rear dormer adds returns and corners, and each one is more labour than a straight run.

6.2 Quality, workmanship and value for money

The lowest figure is rarely the best value for money. A thicker, better-fixed board with sound brackets and tidy joints, washed once or twice a year, outlasts a thin one that is left alone. We tell you which parts of the roofline need replacing, which are sound and why, and the written quote is one total price after the survey. A guarantee, wherever it comes from, speaks to how the work is fitted and not to the lifespan of the boards. When you compare quotes, ask each roofer the same questions: are the old boards and gutters removed and the waste taken away, is scaffold included, is VAT included at the standard 20 per cent rate, and has anyone looked at the rafter ends?

Typical UK cost per metre, roofline work

Guttering replacement£30 to £70 per metre
Fascia boards£80 to £150 per metre
Soffit boards£100 to £180 per metre

Guide figures for a typical house; your total is set in writing once the rafter ends and the runs have been seen. Source: MyBuilder gutter, fascia and soffit replacement cost guide, updated 21/08/2026.

Two more questions come up on most visits. First, planning: replacing like with like on an ordinary house does not usually need permission, but on a listed building or in a conservation area, check with the Adur & Worthing planning team first. Second, insurance. The Financial Ombudsman Service explains how insurers weigh up whether a storm was behind a loss, and notes that wear built up over time is a common exclusion, so a rotten board is usually treated as wear. Our answer on guttering and house insurance goes through it, and the page on roofline replacement cost deals with the numbers in more detail.

Guttering, fascia and soffit questions from Worthing homeowners

How long do uPVC fascias and soffits last close to the sea?

MyBuilder's guide says fascias and soffits are typically replaced every 10 to 20 years, while one plastics retailer suggests 20 to 40; the two figures disagree. Board quality, fixing, exposure and washing all play a part. Close to the Worthing seafront, salt settles on surfaces rain does not reach, so washing the boards each year helps them keep their colour, and any lifespan is a typical range, never a promise.

Should the guttering be replaced when the fascias are?

Usually yes. The gutter hangs from the fascia, so it has to come off for the board to be replaced, and refitting old brackets to new boards invites leaks at tired joints. If the guttering is sound and level, it can be cleaned, refitted and kept. We look at the condition, tell you plainly which option makes sense and show you the photographs.

Do you need scaffolding to replace a fascia board?

Not always. A bungalow, or a low rear extension, can often be reached with ladders or a tower, which keeps the job simpler. A two-storey house, or one with a steep drop at the front, usually calls for scaffold, and where it stands on the footway the scaffolders apply for the highway licence and need notice. Ask every roofer to confirm in writing whether scaffold is included in the figure.

Is guttering covered by house insurance?

Sometimes. The Financial Ombudsman Service looks at whether a storm took place, whether the damage fits storm damage and whether wind and rain were the real reason it happened. Wear over time is commonly excluded, so a gutter that has rusted or a board that has slowly rotted is generally treated as wear and tear. Check the wording of your policy, and contact your insurer before any repair begins.

How much will it cost to replace everything on a four-bedroom detached house?

National guides price this work by the metre, so the total depends on how much roofline you have. Measure the eaves and the number of downpipes, and use MyBuilder's £30 to £70 per metre for guttering and around £150 per metre for fascia and soffit together as a rough guide. A written quote after the survey replaces that estimate with a figure for your house.

Could the soffits on an older house contain asbestos?

They could. HSE records external soffits as a place where asbestos insulating board turns up, notes that the board is hard to distinguish from a safe equivalent, and advises presuming asbestos in any house built or refurbished before 2000. Do not drill, sand or break the boards. Tell us the age of the house and we plan the work with that in mind.

Guides to gutters, fascias and soffits

Short, practical answers on materials, falls, eaves airflow, cleaning and cost for houses in Worthing, Lancing, Shoreham, Hove and the villages around them.

Guttering, fascias and soffits in Worthing

What we fit and repair along the roofline

Fascia boards

Soffit boards

Guttering replacement

Downpipes and hoppers

Bargeboards and verge trims

Gutter cleaning and repair

Signs the roofline needs attention

Typical UK costs for roofline work

How a guttering, fascia and soffit job runs

Getting water off the house and away from the timbers