Fascias, soffits and guttering

What the roofline actually does

The fascia is the board running along the bottom edge of the roof. It closes off the ends of the rafters and it carries the guttering. The soffit is the board underneath it, bridging the gap between the fascia and the wall. Together they keep weather and wildlife out of the eaves and give the roof its finished line.

It's the part of the roof people look at every day without noticing — until it starts to sag, stain or come loose, at which point the whole house starts to look tired regardless of what condition the roof covering is in.

When roofline needs replacing

Not every tired-looking fascia needs replacing. Green staining and general grime usually come off with a wash. What doesn't come off is a board that's failing.

• Sagging guttering — often the board behind it has lost its grip on the fixings.
• Soft or crumbling timber on older timber fascias, particularly at the corners and behind the gutter.
• Boards that have dropped at one end, or pulled away from the rafter feet.
• Cracked or split UPVC, usually from thermal movement over many years.
• Staining running down the wall beneath the gutter line, which normally means it's been overflowing for some time.
• Birds or wasps getting into the eaves through gaps where the soffit has failed.

Full replacement board, not capping

This is the single most useful thing to understand before you gather quotations, because it explains most of the price difference between them.

There are two ways to fit a UPVC roofline. The quicker way is to leave the existing board in place and fit a thin capping board over the top of it. The other way is to strip the old board off completely and fit a new full replacement fascia — typically 18mm — to the rafter feet.

Capping is faster and cheaper, and on the day it's finished the two look much the same. The difference is that capping leaves whatever was there before still in place and out of sight. If that board was sound, that may be acceptable. If it was soft or rotting, it carries on rotting behind the new plastic where nobody can see it.

LSE Roofing fits full replacement board as standard. A thicker board is also rigid enough to carry the guttering properly and hold a straight line over time, which is what stops a roofline looking wavy a few years down the road.

Ventilation — the part nobody sees

A roof space needs airflow. Without it, moisture that rises from inside the house has nowhere to go, and you get condensation forming on the underside of the roof, damp timbers, and eventually mould.

Plenty of older properties have that airflow provided by vents built into the soffit. If a solid soffit is fitted in their place and nothing replaces that ventilation, the roof space ends up sealed. The roofline looks smart and the problem develops quietly in the loft.

There are two straightforward ways to deal with it: vented soffit, or over-fascia vents fitted along the eaves. Over-fascia vents keep the airflow without breaking up the clean line of the new soffit, which is often the better-looking option. Which one is right depends on the roof.

Either way, ventilation should be part of the conversation before the job starts. If it hasn't come up in a quotation you've been given, it's worth asking about.

What we fit

Fascia	18mm full replacement board. White, black, anthracite grey, and woodgrain finishes including rosewood and golden oak.
Soffit	Hollow soffit for a matched shadow line, or flat soffit board. Vented options where the roof needs ventilation at the soffit.
Ventilation	Vented soffit or over-fascia vents, specified to suit the roof.
Guttering	Half-round and square-line guttering and downpipes, set to the correct fall so water goes where it should.
Bargeboards	Gable-end bargeboards replaced to match the rest of the roofline.
Cladding	UPVC cladding to gable ends and dormers where required.
Suppliers	Materials supplied through Future Building Plastics and our regular trade merchants.

How the job runs

1. We come and look. Not from the pavement — we get up to it, or get eyes on it properly, and check the state of the boards and the guttering fall.
2. You get a written quotation. Colour, material, board type, ventilation, guttering, scaffolding and waste removal all itemised, so you can see what you're buying and compare it fairly with anything else you've been quoted.
3. Access is arranged. Where scaffolding is needed we book it in, usually with GFL Scaffolding, and it's priced separately on the quotation rather than buried in the total.
4. The old roofline comes off. Fascia, soffit, guttering and downpipes stripped and taken away.
5. New roofline goes on. Boards fitted, ventilation installed, guttering set to fall and downpipes connected.
6. Site cleared. Old material removed, gutters checked for flow, and the ground left as we found it.

What affects the price

We don't publish a per-metre rate, because a figure like that tells you very little until someone has looked at the property. What moves the price is:

• The total run of roofline — front, back, and both gables adds up quickly.
• Property height and whether it's a bungalow, a house or has a dormer.
• Whether scaffolding is required, or whether the job can be done safely off ladders or a tower.
• How many corners, returns, porches and extensions are involved — detail costs more than straight runs.
• Colour and board specification.
• Whether bargeboards, cladding or dry verge are included at the same time.
• What's found once the old boards come off.

Doing the whole property at once is almost always better value than doing one elevation now and another next year, because the access cost is the same either way.