Fascias & Soffits

The fascia carries the gutter and closes off the roof timbers. The soffit seals the underside of the overhang while still letting the roof space breathe. Bargeboards do the same job at a gable end. Together they are a narrow band of material that keeps water off everything underneath.

When that band fails, water stops going where it was meant to. A blocked or sagging gutter runs down the wall instead of into the downpipe, and a saturated wall shows up inside as damp long before anyone looks up at the roofline.

Timber fascias and soffits can often be repaired: cutting out the decayed section, splicing in sound timber, treating and repainting. On a property where the original timber detail suits the building, that is usually the better answer.

Where the timber has gone beyond repair, or where ventilation was never right and the roof space has suffered for it, replacement is the honest recommendation. We will tell you which situation you are in rather than defaulting to the larger job.

Ventilation is the part most often got wrong. Sealing a soffit up completely stops the roof space breathing and moves the moisture problem into the loft.

Paint flaking or blistering on the fascia, a gutter that sags or overflows in heavy rain, staining running down the wall below a joint, green growth on the wall under the gutter line, and soffit boards that look darker or swollen at the ends.

Inside, damp patches at the top of an upstairs wall or a chimney breast often trace back to the roofline rather than the roof covering itself.

None of this is urgent the week you notice it, but all of it gets more expensive the longer it is left, because the damage moves from the timber you can replace cheaply into the wall behind it.

Exterior repaint in Watford, before and after