Due to hail damage I need new gutters. Inspection of the gutters showed I also needed new fascia boards. Is there a synthetic material I can use in place of wood that will not rot? I dont want to ever have to do this again.
Jimmie
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Several brands; Azek is one well-known one...
Hi, How about Aluminum cladding?
Solid PVC based product is available in the usual trim board dimensions. That's what I would use in that type of application where it's exposed to a lot of moisture. More expensive, but then it will last many times the life of wood.
BAD idea. The fascia on this house is rotted out in several spots BECAUSE it was clad, badly. Gutters clog and overflow, water gets through gap between top back edge of gutter and drip edge, and runs down behind cladding. Board stays wet pretty much all the time. Even with a perfect cladding job, everywhere you have a screw or nail through the cladding, you have a path for water. Previous owner had to replace kitchen window, because water eventually started draining across the soffit metal, and into wall around window, and rotted that out as well. After I bought house, I stared at the one young window awhile before the light bulb went off, and followed the water path backwards and found the rotted wood inside the fascia cladding. I bent the edge back, and punched some weep holes, but it is still wet a lot. If I ever get the siding replaced, I'm gonna have to have the fascia replaced as well, with plastic or naked (white-stained) cedar or something.
I'm not a fan of cladded brick mold and jambs on windows either, for similar reasons. (Like siding companies always want to do, because it is faster than prepping and painting.) Caulking always fails eventually, and water does get in.
Cladding fascia with aluminum has nothing to do with rotting. It's all about not having to paint. If the gutters aren't properly hung, unclad facia will rot from the back, no matter how you maintain the paint on the front of the fascia.
--Vic
I added aluminum fascia (and soffit) over healthy wood with no water problems many years agio so I wouldn't have to get up and paint 15' off the gorund. Never a problem and it's at least 15 years ago that I did this.
I suppose that if you used stock wide enough (unlike the idiot that did this place), so the wrap runs all the way up under the drip edge, and caulked well, or used gasketed nails or screws, the odds would be better. Because of the slope they put on the gutters, my problem areas have bare wood showing above the gutter below the drip edge. When gutter overflows (or gets full of ice and melts), it soaks the wood every time. And because the wrap comes around the bottom and 2-3 inches up the backside, it creates a nice little trough of water for the wood to sit in. Water that overflows from this trough runs across the soffit. That is why I added weep holes, and they seem to work, sort of.
All in all, if I ever do feel rich enough to redo this, plastic plank sounds like a much better option, with a lot fewer installation issues.
Hi Jimmie
35 years ago I installed vinyl soffet and fascia 2 floors up, still looks new and I never need to go up anymore. I bet there is much better material now
The guys at the big box stores led me to believe that Trex and the like only made deck material, seems they have 1 X lumber too......I had to go to a lumber yard to find out.
Jimmie
There are a wide range of TREX-like materials. If they are out of the sunshine, I think they should last a real long time. There is also a TREX catalog, our local big boxes don't sell all the various types available so the catalog is very useful.
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