Soffit & Fascia near you

The eaves look simple from the ground, but several pieces work together there, and knowing their names helps when you read a quote.

Most replacements today use prefinished aluminum or vinyl, which never need painting, but wood remains common on older homes and on houses where the trim is part of the style. The right choice depends on the look of the house, how exposed the eaves are and how much upkeep you are willing to take on.

In a typical attic, outside air enters low through the soffits, sweeps under the roof deck and leaves high through ridge, roof or gable vents, carrying moisture away and keeping the roof cold. Natural Resources Canada's Keeping the Heat In says that, ideally, 50 percent of the attic ventilation openings should be continuous soffit vents and the other 50 percent gable, ridge or roof vents, and it recommends baffles between the rafters so the insulation can't block the soffit vents.

That balance is easy to upset during a renovation. New panels installed over old solid wood soffits with no openings cut behind them, insulation blown tight against the eaves or paint clogging the perforations can all choke the intake, and the upper vents then pull air from the house instead. When soffits are replaced, ask the installer to confirm that air can really reach the attic, and have an insulation contractor check the baffles if insulation has been added. Dryers and bathroom fans should exhaust through their own hoods rather than into the soffit, where the moist air can be drawn straight back into the attic.

Most problems at the eaves start with water, whether from an overflowing gutter, an ice dam or a missing drip edge that lets runoff soak the top of the fascia. Look from the ground, with binoculars if needed, rather than from a ladder at the roof edge.

A loose soffit panel, a rotted corner or a gap behind the gutter is an open door to the attic. Squirrels chew to enlarge small openings, raccoons can pull weak panels right off, and birds nest in vents and gaps. Once inside, animals can tear up and soil the insulation and chew wiring, and they are hard to dislodge once they have young.

Deal with the animals first and the carpentry second. Sealing an opening while an animal is inside can trap it there, leading to more damage and odours, so call a pest control or wildlife removal service to confirm the attic is empty or remove the animals humanely, in line with provincial wildlife rules. Then have the damaged soffit and fascia replaced with sturdy materials, and ask for the vents to be protected with screening that keeps animals out without blocking the airflow.

Isolated damage, such as one rotted fascia board or a few loose soffit panels, can usually be repaired by replacing those sections with a matching material. Full replacement makes more sense when rot shows up in several places, when the wood needs paint more often than you can keep up with, or when the soffits are solid and the attic needs more intake air.

Wrapping rotted wood in aluminum hides the problem without solving it; the damaged boards should be cut out and replaced before any cladding goes on. Because the gutters are fastened to the fascia, they have to come down during a fascia replacement anyway. If they are old, leaky or undersized, replacing them at the same time avoids rehanging gutters that will soon need work; see the gutter installation page. A roof replacement is another good moment, since the drip edge and eave protection can be coordinated with the new trim.

Old wood trim often carries many layers of paint. According to Health Canada, lead-based paint is probable in homes built before 1960, and homes built from 1960 to 1990 may have it on the outside. Health Canada advises against sanders, heat guns and torches for removing it, because they create toxic dust and fumes, and suggests having paint chips tested by a lab or hiring a contractor with equipment that detects lead. On trim this old, ask the installer how they will handle the old paint, contain debris and clean up before work begins.