The new guttering and soffits - update

[Harry Bloomfield]

I invited comment on how these are fixed and etc. a couple of weeks ago.

Just to remind - at the moment we have the present guttering bracketed directly onto the bare ends of the roof timbers.

We had a very nice man from a trade supplier call in and draw up a list of what he thought was needed to complete the job, to match next doors which had already been done. The bits were ordered to his list and delivered the very next day £151 to do both front and back of the main house roof.

An L shaped about 7mm thick solid plastic is used for the vertical, this is simply nailed onto the face of the beam using plastic capped stainless steel nails specially made for the job. Our timber ends are perfectly level at faces, so one size of spacer is good for all. Spacers made from two layers of 8mm (to make 16mm) exterior grade ply tacked onto the faces.

Next the guttering brackets are fitted, with a fall down to the down spout.

The horizontal fill-in strip along the bottom (which a lighter double skinned material), sits on the bottom lip of the L shaped vertical as support for its outer edge and the correct way to support the edge nearest the wall is using either a timber batten or a U shaped plastic channel fixed to the wall - however I notice that most/all of the nearby houses which have had this done, seem to have had the wall edge simply stuck with silicon. This strip has to be cut along its length to fit the gap.

I would guess the wall edge has been simply supported with nails temporarily, whilst the silicon is allowed to set, then the nails removed. I'm not sure I would be happy doing this?

Ventilation is supposed to be provided in the horizontal surface, our supplier suggested at least four vents be installed, to prevent rot of the timber, but I noticed many other houses with none at all fitted.

None of this has been done yet, the task (weather permitting) is to start next weekend - just working out the details in my head at the moment.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Harry Bloomfield explained :

I have an idea which would solve this, with no need for a timber batten or U channel along the wall...

The double walls are joined by a thin skin every 1" or so across their width. If I were to drill, plug and fix some screws or nails along the wall and at the centre line of where the horizontal panel should meet the wall, one fixing every foot or so leaving the fixing stuck out a way - and I also cut a hole in the thin skin to match up with the fixings, the panel would hopefully be able to be dropped straight onto these, then the front edge dropped onto the lip vertical.

[Man at B&Q]

Those are capping boards, designed to be fitted over existing wooden fascias.

Stand-alone fascias are thicker (2x at least).

See

Ventilation is supposed to be provided in the horizontal surface, The term is "soffit" and, IMHO, it's a lot easier to buy soffit boards with a continuous vent strip built in, than to faff about fitting separate vents. I'm surprised your man didn't appraise you of this.

MBQ

[Harry Bloomfield]

Harry Bloomfield has brought this to us :

There are times when I feel an absolute fool, and this is one of those occasions.....

I was working on an assumption that the 5m long soffit material was simply trimmed down along its width to fit the gap. I did actually wonder why the embossed plank edge marks ran along the length of the items which were delivered to me, whereas all the other house had there plank edge marks going at right angles from the walls. I was also wondering how I was going to maneuver a 5m long soffit into place on top of a double extension ladder.

Well today I rang the supplier and asked about those plank edge lines going the wrong way and it seems I had completely the wrong idea in mind. You cut short bits off the end of the 5m, just enough to span the gap between wall and onto the lip of the vertical L, the edge of which then clips onto its mates either side - it all sounds much easier and more manageable now.