uPVC Fascias & Soffits in Wiltshire

Fascia is the board the gutter fixes to, running along the roof edge at eaves level. Soffit is the board underneath it, closing the gap between the wall and the roof. Bargeboard is the same idea along a gable end, on the sloped edge rather than the eaves. Most people who need this work don't know which is which — you just know the paint's flaking and the guttering doesn't look right.

Flaking or peeling paint is usually the first sign. Behind it, the timber goes soft and crumbly, and can start to sag under the weight of a full gutter after heavy rain. Birds and wasps get into gaps where a soffit's rotted through, and you'll sometimes see staining down the brickwork where water's tracking off a fascia that's dropped out of line.

Plenty of firms will cap over rotten timber with a thin uPVC board rather than take it off. It looks fine from the ground and it's quicker to fit, which is exactly why it's common. It also seals damp against timber that's already rotting, so the rot carries on behind the new board — you can't see it happening until the fixings fail and the whole thing comes down, gutter and all. We take the old timber off. Where it's sound underneath we fix straight to it; where it isn't, we replace what needs replacing before any uPVC goes up. That's the only version of this job that actually solves the problem rather than hiding it.

Soffits usually carry ventilation — strip vents or circular vents that let air move through the roof space. Board over them without replacing that ventilation and moisture builds up in the loft instead, which rots the roof timbers from the inside rather than the outside. We match whatever ventilation the roof space needs, not just whatever happened to be there before.

Because the gutter brackets fix straight to the fascia, it's almost always worth replacing the guttering at the same time — it has to come off anyway, and the access is already paid for.