Fascias and soffits in Bury St Edmunds, Ely and Thetford

How fascias and soffits works

Capping is the thing to watch for. It is quick and cheap to screw a uPVC board over the old timber and leave the rot behind it, and it looks perfect for about three years. We take the old boards off. It costs more on the quote and it is the only version of this job that is actually worth having done.

The roofline is doing more work than it looks. It carries the gutter, closes off the roof space, supports the bottom edge of the underlay and lets the roof breathe. When it fails you do not just get shabby boards, you get wet rafter feet, blocked ventilation and eventually condensation in the loft.

Anthracite grey has quietly become the default around here, usually to match newer windows, and white is still the safe choice on a period property. Both are the same job underneath. What decides how long it lasts is whether the timber behind was sound when it went on.

Ventilation goes in at the same time. A modern soffit with a continuous vent strip lets air into the roof space at the eaves, which is what stops warm damp air condensing on the underside of the roof in winter. Boxing the eaves in solid, which is what a lot of older roofline did, is a common cause of a loft that smells damp.

The bit that is easy to miss from the ground is the felt at the eaves. On most older roofs the underlay has torn back or rotted where it laps into the gutter, so water runs behind the fascia instead of into it. Fitting a felt support tray while the boards are off is a small job at that moment and a scaffolding job later.

What the job includes

• Old boards removed so the rafter feet can actually be seen
• Rotten rafter ends and wall plate repaired or spliced before anything is fitted
• New uPVC or timber fascia, soffit and bargeboard in your choice of finish
• Continuous eaves ventilation built into the soffit
• Felt support tray at the eaves where the underlay has torn back
• Guttering replaced or refitted on new brackets
• All old material taken away

Signs you need it looking at

• Paint flaking or timber going soft and dark at the eaves
• Boards sagging or pulling away from the wall
• Birds or wasps getting into the roof space at the eaves
• Water running down the wall rather than into the gutter
• Capping board fitted over old timber that is now bulging