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I would like to know what the best way is to nail aluminum to rake boards and fascia. I have often seen houses that are wrapped with aluminum and it is very wavy and just looks awful; Almost like a bad vinyl siding job.
Also, what is a good bending brake (brand)????,
Thank you CS
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go to your siding dealer and get some alum. rake and trim..it comes in various widths (1x6 1x8...1x10)
it has a j- fold on the bottom and a few stiffening ribs lightly embossed to keep it straight.. you hook the j-bend under teh bottom edge and nail the top where it won't show.. (it gets hidden by the drip edge)
*Charles, First make sure that the boards you are nailing the aluminum to are perfectly straight or you are already behind the curve! I always shudder when I see some guy wrestling a piece of aluminum to fit a terribly crooked board. The end result is always a wavy mess! I used to use a system similar to what Mike described, but the most common system in our area uses L-shaped fascia which is nailed every 3 or 4 feet through the bottom of the piece. This became common when the sub structure became 2X instead of 1X. The top of the piece is unattached and fits tightly under the drip edge. This allows for a lot of flex when expanding and contracting. Commercial applications of the same material usually use 1/4" hex head screws instead of nails. Be sure to use 1 5/8" colored nails and not the more common 1 1/4" which will soon fall out and leave your fascia hanging in the wind!
*Its not the size of your nail but where you put them.My old boss didn't want the nails to be seen but unless you secure it well it will fall off. I always put at least one nail top and bottom of step facia every two feet or so. But just tack the ends till you can sight the bottom of the trim to make sure it is straight. Always overlap in the same direction as the siding.
*I've not been at this near as long as some of the above gentlemen but this is what I do:I put hem bends on each end of the fascia cap. Then I bend a j, slide it into the short leg hem and nail through it.I try to make more complicated trims in more than 1 piece using the hem as a joint seam to simplify the overlap and make it easier to bend. Brake is a Tapco Pro III with cutoff tool and coil holder. I attached a few small framing squares to it and use stair gauge buttons and a few binding posts as stops to speed up repetitive bending. A few little bugs it it but it looks promising.
*Regardless of which method you use, MAKE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THAT YOU ONLY USE NAILS/FASTENERS THAT ARE COMPATABLE WITH ALUMINIUM AND THAT NO OTHER METAL COMES INTO CONTACT WITH OR IT WILL RUST OUT.Gabe
*Mike, I'm little confused with your post,"hook the j-bend under [the] bottom edge and nail the top where it won't show". Are you saying you only nail aluminum fascia under the drip edge and not into the bottom edge of your sub-fascia? I was taught to nail the j-bend only to the sub-fascia and let the drip cap hold the top edge of the aluminum fascia. The drip edge holds the fascia but allows for expansion and contraction of the metal where a nail into the face of the sub-fascia or rake board will not allow movement and thus causes wringles.
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I would like to thank everyone for responding. I have heard some great ideas
CS
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I would like to know what the best way is to nail aluminum to rake boards and fascia. I have often seen houses that are wrapped with aluminum and it is very wavy and just looks awful; Almost like a bad vinyl siding job.
Also, what is a good bending brake (brand)????,
Thank you CS