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FASCIA AND FASCIA COVERING
What is Fascia on a House?
Facia boards are located around the lower non-gable edges of your home’s roof. They are used to cover the ends of house eaves and the rafters that would be otherwise exposed between the roof and the soffits. An integral part of your home’s roof system, they provide an extra layer of protection against water draining off the roof. The goal here is to give your home a nice, clean look and provide better support for gutters, as well as prolonging the life of your roof and soffits.
Prior to covering old fascia and soffit directly with aluminum or vinyl, it is recommended that a full inspection be carried out so as to uncover rot and other damages. The commonest defects found during this kind of an inspection are normally associated with neglect or poor maintenance. Once the inspection is carried out and problems not found, the old fascia and soffit then can directly be covered with new aluminum or vinyl. But before doing this, there are a number of things that have to be taken into consideration. These include:
Determining if there is an existing rot in the wood
The best way to determine the presence of rot in wooden fascia and soffits is to use a sharp probe, screwdriver or awl. If your preferred tool penetrates the wood with little or no resistance, then this means that the wood is already rotten. Covering rotten wood with aluminum or vinyl is not a good idea as the rot will simply continue to spread. The new material unfortunately might end up expediting the process by limiting air circulation. As a result, this kind of a rot may eventually spread to the roof framing beneath, something that will end up causing a more costly revamp. If any decay is found, the affected boards must immediately be removed and the framing underneath examined to see if it is still sound.
How does the rot come about?
Soffit and fascia damage is basically caused by intrusive water. This causes the wood to slowly by slowly rot. Here is how it happens.
Ideally when rain comes, your roof acts as a perfect system to direct rain water from the top of the roof to the ground, and all this without water into the house. How does this happen? The rains hits the roof, or shingles, then goes down the slope and into the gutters, and then through the downspout to the ground safely away from the house.
Unfortunately, some residue is left on the edge of the shingles which eventually drips down and get behind the gutter and the rest on the soffit. With passage of time, this causes the soffit and fascia to develop wood rot. Newer homes use a drip edge to protect this from happening. The drip edge acts as an excellent barrier that redirects the stray drips of water into the gutter. So, drip edges are one of the best ways to maintaining your home. However, these edges are often damaged or missing on older homes.
Holes in the box gutters. Different from regular gutters in that the flashing leads directly into the gutter, they easily develop holes that eventually lead to wood damage.
Examining the ventilation
If the existing wood is in good shape, then it is safe to cover it with aluminum or vinyl material. The original soffits might have vents cut into the surface to provide fresh air to the attic. These form an integral part of ventilation of the attic. Most vinyl and aluminum soffit material has integral venting built into the design, and hence making sure that the material underneath has sufficient circulation is something of a paramount importance. This not only improves the conditions in the attic, but it also reduces the likelihood of rot in old soffits. In simple terms, it is not necessary to remove the old soffits as long as they are in good shape and proper allowance is made for air circulation and ventilation.
You Can’t Cap Over Treated Lumber
Treated lumber can have chemicals in it that will emit gas when exposed to humidity. New treated lumber has a lot of moisture in it when it is installed. When humidity is introduced to treated lumber, it creates a gas. This gas can destroy the aluminum fascia capping from the backside. The capping will start to bubble and and look like the paint is missing. It is only once this is noticed that people usually check the capping and realize that the aluminum has been essentially turned to powder and the capping is no longer functional. If you have treated fascia boards, you do not want to cap them with aluminum.
You Can’t See Rotted Wood Behind Fascia Capping
Capping is ideal for preventing water from penetrating through the wood. It doesn’t have to be painted and it can be put right on top of the fascia boards. However, here are a few ways water can get behind the capping:
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Gutters are installed wrong
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Fascia capping installed wrong
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Roofing and shingles too short
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Damaged roof
If any of these things happen the wood behind your fascia capping will eventually start to deteriorate. You can not see this happening. Once you put the fascia capping up, the wood behind it is no longer visible.
Fascia Capping Can Look Cheap
Fascia capping uses a thin aluminum sheathing that doesn’t always look structurally sound. If the fascia boards are really wide the capping can have a wavy look to it. The aluminum does not appear to be solid or have the integrity of a regular fascia board. Since the capping is only a thin aluminum sheathing, it can diminish the grade of the home. Capping is done in 1 foot sections resulting in seams being visible. The 1/8 in stainless nails that are often used for capping are easily visible and are usually not visually appealing. A tough rigid fascia board painted with a premium finish looks much sharper than fascia capping.
Vinyl Peeling and Finish Degrading
Aluminum painted surfaces usually last around 10-15 years from looking superior. After about 10 years the aluminum will begin to oxidize. When this happens the fascia capping doesn’t look as appealing. Sometimes you can repaint the surface and make it look better but it won’t return to how it looked when it was put up. There have been problems with vinyl coatings de-laminating from the aluminum cappings. These are cases where the coatings have just all of a sudden came off of the aluminum leaving the home with a chrome look. Make sure you are aware of this issue when you choose manufacturers for vinyl fascia capping materials.
Fascia Capping Protects Wood Forever if Installed Correctly
Other than expanding and contracting, aluminum is quite resilient against the elements. If the aluminum is nailed correctly to a solid fascia board, it can last virtually forever. If the seams are not exposed to water getting behind them and the roof is in good health, fascia capping can be great. If someone gets on your roof or something else damages the integrity of the roof, you could have a problem. If you don’t have any of these problems, aluminum fascia capping can be very strong for protecting your home.