Exterior

How to Install Soffit and Fascia

Installing soffit and fascia can add increased value to your fresh DIY home remodeling project. Soffit and fascia can also add protection from the elements as well. Not to mention it will also keep pests out of your attic such as birds, squirrels and wasp’s etc. The expense of installing soffit and fascia is relatively cheap for the DIY individual.

Before starting your soffit and fascia installation a material list will need to be developed. Measure the length the roof over hangs your wall in a horizontal manner. Next measure your total length of all walls. In convert all measurements to inches and multiply the total length of walls times the amount of roof overhang. This will give you your total amount of soffit needed. Convert your final number to feet by multiplying by 12. The amount of J-Channel needed will be your total wall length and the same length of fascia will be required as well.

When shopping for soffit and fascia I prefer to use a store that is dedicated to supplies of this nature. I used a store such as “ABC Roofing and Siding”. The folks that work at these stores are experienced and will generally provide useful advice when purchasing soffit and fascia supplies. They will also be able to provide a lot more choices of types and colors of soffit and fascia available. I was able to take a complete diagram of the exterior dimensions of my home and have them figure what was needed to complete my soffit and fascia installation. A specialized store of this nature for the DIY home remodeling type persons can be  a huge help compared to the big box stores such as Lowes and Home Depot. I think you will find that you get a lot more value from a specialized store as well.

The Soffit F-channel is installed onto the home wall horizontally from the roof overhang edge. Install the soffit F-channel in a level manner all the way around the home. ONce the F-channel is in place the soffit can be cut to the desired length. Soffit usually comes in sheets of 10 foot in length. The soffit widths can vary from 12 or 16 inches typically. Soffit is cut length wise using the measurement from the wall to the roof eave overhang edge measurement. The cut soffit is made to join at the ends.

Soffit is then inserted into the F-channel that was previously installed onto the wall. Using screws or nails you can then fasten the soffit to the roof edge. Continue this process all the way down each wall.

Once all the soffit is installed, fascia can be hung into place which overlaps the soffit nailed to the roof edge. Fascia will  finish off the project hiding all the soffit edges. Fascia is installed up under the roof drip edge and overlaps the soffit nailed to the roof fascia board.

New Vinyl Siding

To make the old house have more curb appeal, new vinyl siding was installed. Vinyl siding offers a cost effective way to add curb appeal and to protect the structure of the house when you are considering a remodeling project. Installing vinyl siding goes on super fast and is relatively easy once you get the techniques down to install siding.

The entire exterior of the home was covered with Dutch double lap vinyl siding. The color was a very light sage, almost grey in color. All trim pieces were natching in color as well. Some people like to use a contrasting color for the vinyl siding trim pieces such as white. White trim could have been used to match the new vinyl windows. Below are some siding installation pictures.

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Remodeling the Exterior

Some of the best remodeling projects you can do involve remodeling the exterior. Making the exterior of your remodeling project home shine can have huge payoffs in the end if you are trying to sell your property. Curb appeal is what its all about.

The exterior needed a facelift. It had two layers of siding installed. All the original siding was removed and thrown in the trash. See my house siding demolition page for more details.

The house was constructed of 1X10′s and 1X12′s. All of the exterior wall boards were re-nailed to ensure a solid fit. Any boards that were rotten were replaced. I used OSB sheating as a substitute. OSB is a lot cheaper than going with 1X10′s and no one will ever see it any way.

The entire exterior structure was covered with Tyvek wrap. This provided a weather tight barrier and protected the wood structure underneath. New windows and doors were installed after the Tyvek was put in place. Tyvek tape was used to seal the vinyl window frame nail tab to the Tyvek barrier. Below are some exterior remodeling pictures.

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