Fascia & Soffit Installation: What You Need To Know

Fascia and soffit are installed after the roof installation is finished. It is ideal that soffit and fascia materials be installed before you place tiles or any other type of roofing material on the roof. There are different types of finished and variations that can be used for the soffit. However, plain flat plywood is the one used most commonly.

The first thing that you need to understand when installing these materials is what they actually are. The fascia board is the long straight one that you will find running along the roof’s lower edge. It is going to be directly fixed to the trusses of the roof. Typically, the fascia board is responsible for supporting the bottom row of tiles. The fascia board is also the one that carries the gutter system. You may think that this is simple, but the truth is the job of the fascia board is not only complicated but tough. For this reason, it is essential that the fascia board is installed correctly and can withstand even the heaviest downpours because it has to be able to support the gutters.

The soffit board is fund tucked beneath the fascia board. This is going to be the board that you can see if you are standing on the road looking at the roof. You can choose to ventilate the soffit in order to allow air to flow into the roof. However, ventilation can be placed on the top of the fascia board as well. The ventilation is normally going to be on top of the fascia board. The point is, however, that if you do not provide your roof with proper ventilation, then the risk of timber decay is increased by the condensation that forms in the roof.

So now, how to install fascia board and soffit? The first thing that you are going to want to do is to install any trim pieces. Sometimes, there is wood framing already where you need it for the soffit. You can use a piece of J-channel in order to hold the ends of the soffits to the house and along the shorter sides of the soffit. If your house does not contain framing, you can use a trim piece along the house. This piece is called an F-channel.

The pieces of soffit are going to slip into the trim. Once they are in place, you will nail them to the sub-fascia using trim nails that are short and have small heads. The end of the soffit along the house is going to sit loosely in the J or the F-channel. In the event that the soffit you are using is wider than 12 inches, you may find installing additional support pieces necessary. These should be installed down the middle. Once this is done, you want to ensure that you nail the soffit into those as well to keep them from sagging.

Once you have installed the soffit, you can finish the job by installing the fascia. The fascia will cover the outer edge of the soffit and protect the sub fascia. You can hold the top edge of the fascia in place using an under sill trim. You can also hide it behind drip-edge or another type of flashing. More times than not, you are going to need to trim the fascia in order to allow it to fit between the soffit and the edge of your roof.

So for your home’s fascia and soffit installation, call us here at Sacramento Handyman on 916-472-0507. To set up an appointment, just fill out our form here.