Soffit boards - like Hardie Boards; but not..? What is it?

[StarMan]

My house, late 80s Florida construction, has a continuous vented soffit made out of screen between two boards which are like Hardie; but not.

Harie Board seems closer to 1/4" but this stuff in my soffit is more like

1/2". It's 7-7/8" wide and seems made of some pressed wood with the faux woodgrain finish.

A small leak caused by the satellite dish caused some deterioration. I can replace the wood easily enough but I can't seem to find a replacement for this soffit board. Neither my local Home Depot nor Lowe's had them.

Anyone know what this might be and what it might be called, so when I call around looking for it I know what to ask? Is this stuff even made anymore?

[Steve]

"StarMan" wrote in news:QAFUj.554$ [e-mail]:

It's probably some kind of fiberboard.

I would replace it with HardieSoffet. Rip some shims and nail them to the bottom of the joists to make up the difference in thickness.

[Steve]

"StarMan" wrote in news:lsJUj.702$ [e-mail]:

The bill is in the e-mail. :)

I've used paint stirrers for shims. They're not the best wood, but they're consistently sized (and free).

Check with lumber yards. You'd be surprised what they can order. They may be able to get an exact replacement for you.

[StarMan]

Thanks for the idea.

I'd need a full-length shim strip since it would need to contact the screen at the edge.

Actually I've found where they made cedar lap siding (I guess a fiber board; I didn't yet look closely at how it's made) which is of the exact size I have (7-7/8" x 7/16") but I have no idea where to get one locally.

[StarMan]

As I have, too. In fact I'm going to use a couple for a window sill where the RO was 1/4" too low.

I'm a tad leary of using paint stirs on the soffit, though. As you said; not the best wood, and this particular shim would be EXPOSED to the outside. I would imagine stirs would be candy for termites... and there's also rot (paint only is so effective)

I am going to call aroud today. With luck I'll find something. I looked online and found there IS such a thing as 7/16" x 7-7/8" lap siding board which looks close enough for my application. So it's made; I just have to find it.

[StarMan]

Funny. "I'm buying 20 gallons of paint". "Only only paint stick, sir".

HAH!