Eavestroughs, Soffit and Fascia

The fascia is a 1×6 wooden band that is situated vertically behind the eavestrough, running horizontally under the edge of your roof. Usually the fascia wood is cladded by aluminum (called fascia aluminum). This adds an aesthetically pleasing dimension to the eavestrough system, and at the same time, protects the wood fascia from rotting.

The soffit is the name given to the underside of your eaves.

The eavestroughs, or gutters, are located at the base of your roof and are there to collect water and drain it away from your home.

Eavestroughs play a very important role in the construction of your home. Designed to drain water away from your home, eavestroughs prevent water damage to your shingles, underlayment, bricks and other parts of your roof. It is therefore critical that you have a quality eavestrough system. Soffit fascia eavestroughs not only add a polished appearance to your home, but also improve air circulation in your eaves and attic, prevent animal intrusion and lengthen the lifespan of your roof and your home.

Eavestroughs are available in copper, aluminum and galvanized metal, while soffit and fascia typically come in plywood, vinyl and aluminum. When properly installed, your soffit fascia eavestroughs can add to your curb appeal and also protect your home from unnecessary damage that may result in costly repairs. Although a good eavestrough system works to protect your home in many ways, it is also prone to clogging. When eavestroughs are clogged, they tend to tear away from the fascia and put excess weight on the soffit.

To avoid this, Integrity Roofers highly recommends the installation of a gutter filter. This can reduce and even eliminate clogging, thereby helping you avoid big cleaning and repair bills. To learn more about how a gutter filter works, click here.

1. Planning – Like every home renovation project, installing new rain gutters must come with a plan to be successful. It starts with a comprehensive inspection of the fascia and soffit to look for any wood rot before we begin installing the gutters. If wood rot is a problem, we add a new strip, prime it, and paint it to create a flat plane to affix the gutters to.
2. Pre-Assembling – We take measurements to determine where the cuts and where the turns will be so we can connect the downspouts to the gutters. Once we take measurements, we cut the channels to fit and attach them to the flat wood strip under your roof. Rivet the eaves to the wood, and caulk all cuts made to seal them for leaks. It would be best to have approximately a four-inch overlap between sections of gutters to ensure no problems going forward. When lapping the channels to the inside section, make sure that there is a downhill plane. It will stop water from escaping from any seams.
3. Adding Downspouts and Outlets – Once we have factored in where the downspouts and outlets will go, we attach them to the gutters. We turn the gutter upside down, make the necessary incision on the gutter and cut out a downspout hole. Then we attach the downspout before we attach everything to the house.
4. Hanging Gutter Sections – You need to create a small slope to get gravity to move water from the gutters to the downspout. To achieve this goal, drive a nail in a half-inch below the roof. To create the slope, we subtract a quarter of an inch for every 10-feet that water will travel before it hits the downspout. Using a chalk line and level, we will see that the bead in the level is slightly off, and that tells us that the water will flow.
5. Finishing – The last thing to do is to install the flashing and the gutter hangers. The flashing protects your fascia and soffit from water damage because water isn’t running behind the gutters. Pre-bent flashing is inserted under the shingles and roofing paper to prevent ice dams from forming in winter months and is extremely important that this step if administered correctly. Lastly, gutter hangers are necessary to help carry the weight that can accumulate when heavy rains come or run-off from a flash melt of snow in the winter.