Newmarket Roofers installs, repairs, and replaces uPVC fascias, soffits, and guttering for homeowners in Cambridge, carrying out all work safely from scaffold or tower.
Fascias are the boards fixed across the rafter feet at the edge of the roof. Soffits are the horizontal panels underneath them, spanning the gap between the fascia and the wall. Together they seal the eaves and carry the guttering. When these components are working properly, water runs off the roof tiles, into the gutter, and away through the downpipes without touching the timber or masonry. When they are not, the damage can spread quickly and expensively.
We replace deteriorated timber fascias and soffits with uPVC, which does not rot, requires no painting, and will not be affected by frost or prolonged damp. Where existing timber is in good condition, a capping board can sometimes be fitted over the top. Where rot has taken hold - particularly in the rafter feet or wall plate - the right course is full removal and replacement, with any damaged timber addressed before the new boards go up.
All guttering work is carried out at the correct fall so water drains freely. We fit half-round, ogee, and square-profile systems, with properly sealed joints and expansion unions on longer runs. Downpipes are sized to handle the roof area they serve.
For a standard semi-detached house in Cambridge, a full uPVC fascia, soffit, and guttering replacement typically costs between £1,500 and £3,000. Larger detached properties, homes with dormers, or those with complex rooflines will be at the upper end of that range or beyond it. Rot repairs to rafter feet or the wall plate add to the total but are nearly always worth addressing at the same time as the roofline work.
There is no government grant for fascia, soffit, or gutter replacement. The 0% VAT relief currently available on roof and loft insulation (until 31 March 2027) does not apply to roofline work of this type. Building regulations do not generally apply to like-for-like fascia and gutter replacement, but if you are making structural changes to the eaves as part of a wider project, it is worth checking with your local authority.
This section covers the most important thing a Cambridge homeowner can do: recognise what you are looking at from the ground before you call anyone. Many of these signs appear gradually, which is why they get ignored - until the point where something gives way completely and the repair is far more involved than it needed to be.
If your fascias are still timber and the paint is peeling, cracking, or blistering, moisture has already got into the wood. Paint does not peel from the outside in - it peels because water has worked its way behind it from a crack, a failed joint, or from behind the board itself. Once moisture is inside the timber, paint cannot keep it out. The board will continue to absorb water through every wet period and dry out again through every dry one, and the cycle of expansion and contraction will split it further. Painting over peeling fascias seals moisture in and accelerates the rot rather than slowing it.
The cause is almost always one of three things: a failed paint seal at a joint or end grain, water tracking back from an overflowing or overhanging gutter, or general age and exposure. Timber fascias on most homes have a working life of roughly 20 to 30 years before replacement becomes the practical choice.
A soffit panel that has dropped at one end or is visibly bowing downward has absorbed moisture and begun to delaminate. Timber soffits are typically made from plywood, which holds up well when dry but begins to swell and delaminate when damp gets in from above. This happens when the fascia board has cracked or its top seal has failed, allowing water to run behind the board and soak the back of the soffit.
A sagging soffit is not just a cosmetic problem. The gap that opens at the edge is an entry point for birds, bats, and small mammals into the roof void. Once animals are nesting in the eaves, you have a separate problem to deal with before the roofline work can proceed. Bats in particular are a protected species in the UK, and work affecting an active bat roost cannot lawfully proceed without the relevant licence. Catching a sagging soffit early - before it opens a gap - avoids that complication entirely.
A gutter that fills and overflows in ordinary rain, not just in exceptional downpours, has either a blockage or a fall problem. Leaves, moss stripped from the roof, and wind-blown debris settle in the gutter and gradually accumulate at the lowest points. A fully blocked gutter in winter can hold enough weight to pull the brackets out of the fascia board. When brackets pull out of rotten timber, the whole run comes down.
A fall problem is different. If the gutter was installed level or has been pushed out of fall by a bracket failing, it pools water rather than draining it. Pooled water in a uPVC gutter will not rot the gutter itself, but it encourages algae growth, adds persistent weight, and in a hard frost can split the channel as the water expands when it freezes. A gutter should drop approximately 1 in 600 along its run - roughly 1.7 mm per metre - toward the downpipe outlet. You cannot measure this accurately from the ground, but a gutter that holds a visible pool of water after rain has stopped is not draining properly.
A damp patch on a bedroom ceiling close to the external wall, or on the wall just below the eaves line, can have several causes - but failed roofline components are among the most common. Water tracking behind a loose or cracked fascia reaches the rafter feet, runs along the timber, and can appear as damp internally well away from where it actually entered. This is why roofline damp is often misdiagnosed as a roof tile problem or a condensation issue. If the damp is worse after prolonged rain and improves in dry weather, water ingress from the roofline is the most likely explanation.
Standing back and looking up at the eaves line, you should not be able to see daylight into the roof void. If there is a visible gap between the fascia and the soffit, or between the soffit and the wall, something has failed or was never fitted correctly. A gap at the eaves lets in driven rain, frost, and pests. In winter, cold air entering the roof void at that point also increases condensation risk inside the loft.
A green or brown stain running down the wall below the gutter line tells you water is escaping at that point. The stain itself is caused by algae or iron compounds in the water, and it shows you where the overflow or leak is happening. On a rendered wall this staining can look minor from a distance but may indicate that water has been running down the same path for months or years. On a brick wall, prolonged moisture at one point can cause the mortar to soften and the face of the brick to spall in frost.
The most common causes of wall staining below guttering are a cracked or split gutter channel, a joint that has opened, a gutter that has pulled away from the fascia at that point, or a downpipe that is partially blocked and causing the water to back up and overflow at the joint above it.
A covering of moss or algae on uPVC fascias is not structural damage in itself, but it is a useful indicator that water is sitting on or near the surface regularly. On a north-facing or heavily shaded elevation, this can happen even on a sound installation. On a south-facing elevation, it suggests the gutter is overflowing or the fascia profile is trapping water. Left long enough, algae growth on any material traps moisture against the surface and can accelerate surface degradation.
If you notice any of the signs above, the right response is to have the roofline inspected from scaffold or a tower, not from a ladder leaned against the gutter. Leaning a ladder against a failing gutter to get a closer look frequently causes more damage to the bracket fixings, and a cracked or deteriorated gutter channel will not take the weight of a ladder safely.
Note what you have seen and when. If the problem is intermittent - only happening in rain, or only appearing in certain weather - that information is useful to a roofer and will help them understand what is failing and why.
If you have spotted any of the warning signs described above at your Cambridge property, call Newmarket Roofers to arrange a survey. We will assess the roofline from the correct height, tell you what is failing and why, and give you a clear price before any work starts.
No obligation · We usually respond within 2 hours
Storm damage, active leak, damaged ridge - we aim to be on-site within 24 hours.
