You may be asking yourself, as I was back in the day, what exactly are Soffit and Fascia?  For some, you may have never even heard the terms before. Although these items aren’t well known, they are still essential to your home as pretty much every house has them. 

What Are Soffit and Fascia?

Soffit: is the exposed siding underneath your roof’s overhang. 

Fascia: goes hand-in-hand with your home’s soffit. Fascia is the area of siding directly above the soffit. It’s the exposed horizontal board you see on the front of your roof’s overhang. 

See the images below for a visual picture. 

Why Are Soffit and Fascia Important? Here are the reasons; 

1. They protect your home from strong weather like rain and wind. Soffit also guards under the eaves of your house and prevents outside things from blowing inside.
2. They prevent water from accumulating, allowing it to sheet off and away from the house. 
3. Soffit ventilation helps keep a steady airflow between your roof and attic. Your attic needs to be well ventilated or else moisture can build up causing mold to form. 
4. They can keep the house more insulated from conditions outside.
5. Soffit and Fascia Board draw heat away from the house.
6. Your gutters are installed on your Fascia. Your Fascia needs to be able to hold up the gutters during sunshine and rain. 
7. Fascia is visible to everyone who sees your house because it sits on the edge of the roof. You can get maximum curb appeal by painting or replacing it.

When Is It Time To Replace Soffit and Fascia?

Now that you know what Soffit and Fascia are, where they sit on the home, and why they are important, it’s time to ask yourself if it’s time to repair or replace your boards. How do you know when it’s time to replace your boards? That requires a ladder and some old fashioned inspection work. It’s easy to spot if your Soffit and Fascia are worn down even from a distance. If you can see clear paint cracking, this is an indication itself you need to replace these items.

Upon closer inspection if you discover warping or water damage, the time is now to replace your Soffit and Fascia. Old wood has this common type of water damage. Other types of Soffit like Aluminum can become rusted, causing holes and damage. It’s easy for this type of damage to allow critters to enter. Old Soffit and Fascia can be rotting and decaying right before your eyes. You don’t want to wait until the water damage is so bad it is structurally damaging the roof line or exterior walls. 

Furthermore, once you’ve inspected the Soffit and Fascia, concluded if you need to replace it or not, then you can move on to deciding if you want to clean the gutters out while you’re up there (I mean you are already on the ladder and got all the stuff out, right)?

In Conclusion, Soffit and Fascia are key items in keeping your house looking new, holding up gutters, insulating and protecting your home from storms. Do a self inspection on the Soffit and Fascia and see yourself if there is cracking paint or warped panels. If these things are apparent upon inspection, it’s time to replace the Soffit and Fascia. Lastly, you can inspect the Siding while you’re up there because people tend to replace that when they do the Soffit and Fascia. 

What can we really say about soffit and fascia other than they are essential to your house. Most people don’t even know what Soffit and Fascia are. In fact, when I first started working for Conservation Construction I didn’t even know what these items were. That’s because in the world of outdoor renovations it’s the one thing that’s not talked about because it’s sort of a smaller project (I say sort of because in a sense it is a big project). A lot of the times Soffit & Fascia gets replaced when the Siding gets replaced. 

You don’t always have to replace all your siding to get new Soffit and Fascia, but it is an exterior item which is hard to replace just by itself. It’s not because of size, but rather placement. See the picture below of where Soffit and Fascia sit on the house. 

Soffit is located just beneath the rafter tails. 

This repair job can be done at home, but with it being so high up with so many ladders you may want help, or hire someone to do it for you like us (wink wink). We don’t want you risking your lives on a ladder for your Soffit and Fascia. 

It’s important to replace Soffit and Fascia for these key reasons;

1. They protect your home from high winds and rain. They guard under the eaves of your and prevent outside things from blowing inside. 
2. Soffit and Fascia prevent water from accumulating, allowing it to sheet off and away from the house. These are an easy target for water damage.
3. They can keep the house more insulated from conditions outside. 
4. They draw heat away from the house.

So you can see fascia installation is important to keep the architectural elements from getting water damage from edge of roof drainage. It’s also critical in keeping bats, birds and squirrels from entering the home. I used to live in a house where we had Soffit issues. The previous homeowner had let the soffit and fascia go. There was nothing protecting the exterior of the home, and we could literally hear squirrels running back and forth in the attic making the area their personal “Party Space.” That was fun listening to every night before we fell asleep. It stayed this way until we resolved the issue. Not to mention the aftermath of that in which we had to scoop up all the shreds of paper and poop from the attic. 

Our recommendation is to not wait until this kind of damage happens, or any kind of water damage happens. If you maintain these things now by replacing or repairing you won’t have to worry about things getting worse down the line.

Soffit and Fascia boards are made of wood, aluminum, or vinyl today. Vinyl can protect better than previous types because it’s more water, wind, and pest resistant. Many manufacturers such as Fiber Cement and Cedar Ridge Siding have their own types of Soffit and Fascia. They provide that match their products and give optimal protection as well. 

Lastly, it’s hard to know just when to replace, if you have peeling paint, cracking wood, or signs of mold all indicate water damage. If you have nesting, scratch marks or anything else you might have pests. These things are easy to spot in the fall when you clean out the gutters. Yes, you need to clean out your gutters regularly to prevent damage to the soffit and fascia. 

In Conclusion, Soffit and Fascia are easy to maintain, but harder to replace from scratch by yourself. These items are critical for your home to function properly. They protect your home from weather and pests. So maintain yours and you’ll have a happy heathy home! To learn more about this product visit our website, and remember to comment below about something you learned today!