Rainwater goods are the classic example of a cheap material that is impossible to get home. Guttering, downpipe, fascia and soffit all come in standard lengths that were designed around trade delivery rather than around anybody’s car, and a length that arrives bent is a length you have paid for and cannot use. Guttering van hire solves it in one trip, and once van hire in Warrington is booked the job becomes a morning rather than a negotiation with a delivery schedule.
Standard Lengths and Why They Matter
Gutter and downpipe are supplied in fixed lengths, and fascia and soffit boards longer still. Board lengths in particular commonly run beyond three metres and sometimes to four, because they are designed to span a run without a joint. That single fact rules out most vehicles. Everything else in the order, the brackets, unions, stop ends, running outlets and screws, is small and easy. The board and gutter lengths are what you are hiring a van for, and the only number that matters is the longest one in the order. Ask the merchant for that figure rather than working it out from the size of your roof.
Matching the Length to the Load Space
Our extra long wheelbase body offers a four point three metre internal load length, which takes standard fascia and soffit boards lying flat with the doors closed behind them. The extra long wheelbase van is the sensible choice for a full rainwater goods order, and it is worth asking for it by name rather than leaving the vehicle open, because there is no way to make a four metre board fit a shorter body. Angling a board across the load space puts a bend in it that a plastic profile will remember.
Supporting Long Plastic Sections Properly
Plastic rainwater goods are light and flexible, which sounds convenient and is not. A gutter length supported only at its ends will sag in the middle, and a fascia board resting across a wheel arch will take a permanent set at that point. Lay everything flat on the floor along the full length, push the whole bundle hard against the bulkhead so it cannot travel forward, and strap across it so it cannot fan out sideways. Keep the boards flat rather than on edge. In warm weather a plastic profile left leaning against something hard will deform faster than you would think.
Colours, Profiles and Getting the Order Right
Rainwater goods come in different profiles and finishes, and they are not interchangeable between manufacturers even when they look similar. If you are replacing part of a run rather than all of it, take a photograph and if possible an offcut to the merchant, because a half round gutter that is a few millimetres out will not seal against your existing fittings. Count the brackets properly as well. Running short of brackets halfway along a run on a Saturday afternoon when the merchant has shut is the most common way this job stretches into a second weekend.
Working Safely at Height Afterwards
The transport is the easy part of a guttering job and the work itself is the part that deserves care. Fascia and gutter work happens at the eaves, which means a ladder or a tower, and a long plastic board is awkward to handle one handed at height. Have someone at the bottom passing lengths up rather than trying to carry a three metre board up a ladder. Customers working on properties out towards Hollins Green van hire bookings and the villages often have the ground space for a tower, whereas a terraced frontage in town may not.
Booking the Van Around Merchant Hours
Builders merchants keep trade hours and frequently close early on Saturday, and our depot on Tilley Street at the main entrance to Cockhedge Shopping Centre beside Asda is open Monday to Saturday from 8am until 4pm and closed on Sunday. Line the two up before fixing a date. Bring your photocard licence and a DVLA check code, note that no deposit is needed on most vehicles, and leave your car in the free secure parking on site. If your dates are a fortnight out, the ten per cent advance booking discount on selected vehicles may apply, and the detail is on our van hire special offers page.
Taking the Old Guttering Down First
The removal is a separate job from the installation and it produces its own load. Old plastic guttering is brittle after years of sun and cold and tends to snap rather than unclip, and old timber fascia often comes away with nails, felt and a good deal of rotten wood attached. Get it all down and bagged or bundled before the new material arrives rather than working around it. Old plastic rainwater goods are recyclable at most household waste sites but timber with nails in it may need to go separately, so check what your site accepts before you load. Doing the strip out on one trip and the new material on another keeps the clean product away from the debris, which matters more than it sounds when a white fascia board picks up a black mark from an old gutter and shows it permanently.
Give us the longest board length in your order and we will confirm the body that takes it flat. Call the depot on 01925 396 222 and get the van booked alongside the merchant collection.
