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Good Straight Fascia

| Posted in General Discussion on September 1, 1999 07:23am

*
Ray,
If you want truly straight fascia, the you can do is set each end as you see fit and then string the subfascia to a mason’s line (or an accurate eyeball on the shorter lengths).

As you stated, the rafter tails don’t line up because of crown, etc. Also, unless the foundation is dead flat, you’ll never get the tails in perfect plane at the wall line.

Don’t sweat trying to get the top of the subfascia “exactly” at the roof plane at each and every tail. Get the ends right, (I even try to get the fascia is a bit below the roof plane) and get it straight. Don’t worry about the unsupported eave edge for the sheathing, you’ll never notice it. And don’t worry if there is some variation in the distance between the sheathing and subfascia after it is all set. The gutter apron (or style D if thats your choice) will cover all but the wildest variations.

I don’t want to sound like the proverbial “scurvy woodbutcher”, but you’re not building cabinets here. Make it “look” right, after all thats what the finish fascia is for.

Dick Streff

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  1. Dick_Stref | Sep 01, 1999 07:23am | #1

    *
    Ray,
    If you want truly straight fascia, the you can do is set each end as you see fit and then string the subfascia to a mason's line (or an accurate eyeball on the shorter lengths).

    As you stated, the rafter tails don't line up because of crown, etc. Also, unless the foundation is dead flat, you'll never get the tails in perfect plane at the wall line.

    Don't sweat trying to get the top of the subfascia "exactly" at the roof plane at each and every tail. Get the ends right, (I even try to get the fascia is a bit below the roof plane) and get it straight. Don't worry about the unsupported eave edge for the sheathing, you'll never notice it. And don't worry if there is some variation in the distance between the sheathing and subfascia after it is all set. The gutter apron (or style D if thats your choice) will cover all but the wildest variations.

    I don't want to sound like the proverbial "scurvy woodbutcher", but you're not building cabinets here. Make it "look" right, after all thats what the finish fascia is for.

    Dick Streff

  2. Guest_ | Sep 01, 1999 07:50am | #2

    *
    Ray,

    Took delivery of 370 linear feet of 8" Hardi-board today. We will be using it as facia. This will be our first experience with this product. If the facia goes well we will use it for the soffits and gable ends. We put the decking down even with the subfacia. We will use metal drip edge which should hide any irregularities along the top. We start hanging tomorrow. I'll put up a post when the job is done.

    Steve

    1. Guest_ | Sep 01, 1999 08:22am | #3

      *Ray , once you mark the rafters on both ends instead of snapping a chalk line , try stringing a dry line from one end to the other very tight from a couple of nails driven into the bottom of the rafters on each end on the marks you established as your overhang. Make sure the nails are fairly plumb and the string is a little below the rafter so it doesnt touch any of the rafters down the length of the wall . Then make a plumb cut pattern with something wider than your rafter stock ie. 2x8 for 2x6 rafters , nail a 1x4 on top of the template to index off the top of the rafters .Now slide the template down each rafter until it just touches the string and mark your plumb cut . This should get you dead straight in and out . For up and down ignore any obviously high tails and pick a happy medium for the height of your subfascia and nail it up [ we drive the nails into the tails level so if you have to tweak it a little in and out it doesnt affect the height ] then go back and taper any high tails from the subfascia to nothing a couple of feet up the rafter , we use a sharp hatchet . Once the roof is on you wont notice the taper and the fascia will be straight in and out and up and down . Hope this helps , sorry I didnt mean to write a book , Chuck

      1. Guest_ | Sep 02, 1999 07:46am | #4

        *Steve, We used some Hardi-board for fascia once. Worked OK, but the 12' lengths mean more butt joints. Also it's heavy. And we soon discovered that the boards were NOT straight. They had a crown in them and if you didn't work it out carefully you wound up with "scalloped" fascia.Thanks for your reply. Please let us know how it turns out.RayT

        1. Guest_ | Sep 02, 1999 08:16am | #5

          *chuck,Good book. Dont apologize, I'm printing it out.Thanks, JonC

          1. Guest_ | Sep 03, 1999 03:55am | #6

            *good topic

  3. G.LaLonde | Sep 03, 1999 04:35am | #7

    *
    Another slant on this is that you often want your soffit line to intersect the house at a certain level ( such as exactly even with the top of a window etc.) You can snap a line on the house at the correct level and then use a square to set your subfascia level or determine where to cut your rafter tails. Just support your board on the leg of your square that is sitting on the chalkline and it will be straight as can be. I find that truss tails are so bad that I almost always touch up the top with a planer after the subfascia is set.

  4. Guest_ | Sep 03, 1999 04:35am | #8

    *
    Could someone give me a few tips on getting a nice, perfectly straight fascia? We have such an awful time. We fight it and usually come out with a decent fascia, but I'm not satisfied with decent....I want it STRAIGHT !! We usually measure out from the sheathing the distance we want to go and mark a rafter tail on both ends of the wall. We then draw a plumb line to the top of the rafter tails that we marked, snap a chalk line on all the rafter tails between the marked ones, draw plumb lines on each rafter tail, and then cut the tails with a Skilsaw. We then install the subfascia (2x4 or 2x6) by laying a straightedge (usually our speed squares) on top of the rafter tail and bringing the subfascia up to it so that it planes out and the roof sheathing will lay on the top outside corner of the subfascia. We then install the fascia using the same method so it will plane out. The roof sheathing then covers the top of both the subfascia and the fascia. But because some of the rafters have more crown than others (or are crowned the wrong way, etc.) the fascia wants to bend up and down or in and out, and we wind up having to shim between the rafter tail and the subfascia to try and straighten things out. It seems to take forever to get it looking decent, and even then I can see the irregularities.
    We usually use 1x6 cedar or 5/4 x 6 PrimeTrim for fascia.
    Help anyone??
    RayT

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