Fascia and soffit

Fascia is the board along the roof edge that carries the gutter, and soffit is the board underneath it closing the eaves. On most older Irish houses they are painted timber, and once the paint goes the timber rots, the gutter brackets pull out, and the gutter starts dropping water down the wall. Replacement is common and it is usually done in PVC now, which needs no painting and lasts for decades. The mistake is capping over rotten timber with a thin PVC cover board. It looks new for a few years while the timber behind it keeps rotting, until the whole edge sags. We take the old boards off, look at the rafter ends behind them, and repair or splice any that have rotted before the new boards go on. Then ventilation. The eaves are where air enters a pitched roof, and blocking them with solid soffit or with insulation pushed into the eaves causes condensation in the roof. We fit vented soffit or vents above the fascia so air keeps moving, and eaves protection so the felt at the edge drains into the gutter instead of rotting behind the fascia, a detail that was left out on thousands of houses. Finally the gutter goes back on new brackets at a steady fall to the downpipe, the joints are resealed, and bird comb or guards go in where birds had been getting in.

Timber or PVC?

PVC is the low maintenance choice and suits most houses. Painted timber still looks better on some older or period houses, and it lasts well if it is primed on every face and painted every few years. We price both and tell you honestly which suits the house.