Hi all, I'm still somewhat new to home improvement and decided to take on the task of covering my soffit and fascia board with aluminum. I have a few questions and I'll give some explanation below each:

1 - When installing fascia cover and drip edge how much overlap should there be between the two materials? Explanation: My fascia board measures a true 7'' but the aluminum fascia cover that is stocked at my local big box is 6''. I can order 8'' online and pick it up in the store but I'm thinking I'll have to trim the aluminum fascia cover to 7'' so as not to have too much overlap. The 6'' makes sense to me (giving 1'' of overlap) but I wanted to know what the SOP is for something like this.

2 - When installing gutters over aluminum fascia covers what precautions should I take to avoid a wavy appearance? Maybe the gutters will hide any waves, not sure. I'm a little nervous about this part.

3 - My ultimate plan is to wrap the rest of the house in vinyl siding, with that in mind would a typical install use vinyl fascia cover as well or are the two materials used together (vinyl siding and aluminum fascia/soffit)? I don't have much vinyl siding that would need installed since most of the house is brick and I'd just be covering the dutch lap siding at the peaks of the gable end of the house.

Thanks for any help! I want to make sure I'm doing things right and not spinning my wheels.

 

It's hard to give specific advice without a few pictures showing your existing fascia on both the side where the gutter will be installed and along any gable ends (if any). There may be something you're missing that we could advise you on.

1). I assume you are tucking it behind your existing drip edge? If so, it would help to know the measurement from the bottom of the fascia to the drip edge. When you install your soffit material, it will add approximately 1/2" of width to the fascia, so you also need to take that into account. Bottom line is that the fascia just needs to slip behind the drip edge and not catch water. I would be comfortable with a minimum of 1/4" but more is better. Your gutter will also slip behind the drip edge, so that will also provide coverage even if the fascia cover doesn't quite reach. You can also cut some strips of flashing if you feel you need to extend the fascia cover higher (where it will all be hidden from view by the gutter- looks are not as important).

2). Gutters will hide most of the waves, but you need to check that the fascia itself is not bowed up and down. You can snap a chalk line along the bottom of the fascia and then carefully cut along that line with a skilsaw before you start, so that the bottom edge of the fascia is perfectly straight. Most waves are made when you push the fascia up tight on each end when it is bowed down in the middle. On gable ends there are tricks you can do with a finish trim and a tab punching tool so that you don't need to face nail.

3). Aluminum soffit and aluminum fascia cover is far superior to vinyl, and I never recommend anyone use vinyl, especially if the soffit is very wide. You can always use aluminum with vinyl siding.

 

Thanks, this really helps out. I'll have enough room to slip about a half inch of fascia cover under the drip edge and won't need flashing to bridge any gaps.

I do have a separate question that you touched on though. I can try to post a pic tomorrow. Basically how can I avoid nails on the face of the fascia on my gable ends? My roof is different heights and is separated by fascia board but there isn't enough room under the board to tap a nail. The under side of the board sits about an inch or so off the shingles on the lower section of roof. Probably not the best description but I really want to avoid nailing the face since I've had bad luck with waves so far. Any tricks you can reveal.

Thanks for your reply, this really did help. I'm off to bed since its getting late on the east coast. I'll check back with pics if need in the am.

 

I can picture that. They make what's called a utility trim (sill trim or undersill trim) and a snap lock punch.

You install the utility trim where the top of your fascia cover will be - parallel with the bottom edge of the fascia, and face nail it. Then you make a tab on your fascia every 16" or so with the snap lock punch. The fascia will then "click" into the utility trim when you push it up and it can't come out. To reduce the amount of nails needed, you can silicone the back side of the fascia cover and then brace it as needed (tape or shims or ???) for 24 hours until the silicone sets up. I frequently use silicone when I am working in a place where nails would be unsightly or if there's a piece that might be susceptible to blowing off.

I used to do a lot of these kind of repairs for a family friend and I got sick of going back time after time to replace pieces that kept blowing off, so I started putting silicone on the back side. End of problem. Someone will hate me someday when they go to tear it off. LOL

 

Awesome! Thanks for the reply. Its funny when I googled different issues I've had so far I've found my way to these forums and your responses have always stood out as particularly helpful. When I posted I was hoping that you specifically (oddly enough) would reply so... Thanks for delivering! It doesn't go unappreciated and I'm a good example of someone that had never posted before but still benefitted.

 

Glad to help. You might also want a hand seamer to make some bends. When you come to an outside corner you usually want to bend a 1" - 1 1/2" flap around the corner, and the seamer helps you make a nice crisp bend. Same thing with your soffit, you occasionally will want to make a 3/8" bend on the end of a piece that you've cut so that it lays in the j-channel properly.

 

I've got one more thing to pick your brain about. I can't seem to find aluminum utility trim but I can find vinyl. Would the vinyl work well enough? Its all going to be covered by fascia and drip edge so you wouldn't see it, just not sure if there's a reason to avoid it for this application.

Thanks again!

 

well, it's kind of fat... about 3/8", but yeah I suppose it would work if you have the room to tuck it under your flashings. I am picturing that on your gable ends it won't work unless you are changing the flashing, since the gable end flashing usually hugs the fascia tightly.

Like I mentioned, if there are going to be gutters, you probably would not use the utility trim. If the gutter installer wants to raise the gutters up higher, and the back of the gutter hits the utility trim and stops... that will really piss him off. If you're installing the gutters... well at least you know about it.

 

There won't be any gutters on the gable end fascia. I'm thinking I can just use the punch on the fascia cover and tap a nail loosely through so the fascia cover basically hangs on the nail and then cover that with the drip edge. I'm not sure I'd be content with the gap that the vinyl trim would leave.

Your flashing comment has me scratching my head though. I'm leaving the wooden fascia board up but covering it with aluminum fascia. The flashing is behind the board and under the shingles so I can't see how it would get in the way of anything or what you would tuck under it. Am I way off?

 

The flashing is behind the board? You lost me there.

 

I'm guessing I'm just lost in the terminology as a newbie. When you say flashing in this context you mean drip edge right? I was referring to flashing as in the small aluminum pieces bent at 90 degree angles under the shingles and the house. Hopefully we're in the same page now or I'm really lost lol.

 

Oh okay... step flashing... that makes sense. Yeah I was thinking drip edge.