Siding, roofing, windows – many homeowners are familiar with the basic parts that comprise the exterior of their homes, and many are also familiar with the obvious signs that these parts might need the attention of a professional. A shattered window, after all, can’t protect your home from the elements!
However, a home is made up of more than obvious fixtures. Though they may not get as much attention, small aspects of your exterior can also play a crucial role in your home’s longevity and overall appearance. For example, have you ever heard of fascia and soffit? Not a lot of homeowners go around bragging about their brand new soffit installation or how well their soffit facia compliments their home’s exterior. But soffit and fascia play a critical role in keeping your home healthy and clean-looking, both indoors and out, so it’s important you know a bit about them.
Tony’s Lifetime Exteriors is here to answer all of your questions. Below, we’ll define soffit and fascia, talk a bit about their respective functionalities, and further clarify why investing in quality products and service in this respect is important.
Soffit and Fascia: Your Home’s Unsung Heroes
Step outside under the overhang of your roof and look up – the material you see is soffit. Fascia is the trim or border that surrounds your roof and which is visible once you step further out into the yard. Some houses might have one or both of these features, while others might have neither.
Investing in quality soffit and fascia is important for many reasons:
- Soffit allows for ventilation to the attic. Your attic needs ventilation. Otherwise, the area’s darkness combined with moisture buildup can set the stage for mold growth. Poor-quality soffit that’s bent or broken also opens the door for animals to begin to nest in your attic.
- Fascia helps to hold up your gutter system. As statement-making as its appearance can be, healthy fascia is crucial to a well-supported gutter system. Without quality fascia, your gutters cannot do their job efficiently, thus resulting in possible water damage to your home.
- Both soffit and fascia contribute to your home’s aesthetic appeal. Appearances do matter, and high-quality soffit and fascia can make a statement to all who visit your home. Low-quality products that break easily can cause visitors to infer all sorts of negative things about your home.
What Happens When Soffit and Fascia are Damaged
Soffit and fascia probably aren’t the first things that come to mind when you go outside in the spring to give your home its seasonal once-over. You’re more likely to hunt for missing siding boards or curling roof shingles. But it’s important to pay attention to your soffit and fascia, because problems with these attributes of your home’s exterior can often go undetected until they snowball into other areas of your home, leaving destruction in their wake.
- Poorly maintained soffit can open the door for roof rot. Strip your soffit down and you’d get a clear view of your home’s rafters. These are generally made of wood, and wood, as we all know, is subject to rot when left unprotected. You soffit acts as a barrier between your roof’s frame and the elements; failing to maintain it can cause your roof’s wooden planks to warp and bend. Nobody wants to deal with a collapsing roof, so make sure your soffit is always up to par!
- Damaged soffit and fascia encourages pests to take up residence in your home. Rafters are appealing nesting places for birds and bugs alike. Defend from these pests with aluminum vented soffit and quality fascia.
- Maintaining fascia helps your gutters keep working as they should. Due to proximity, your fascia and gutters can be closely intertwined. As briefly touched on earlier, fascia in poor condition is unable to support your gutter system, which can result in water damage – specifically, in water leaking through your soffits or leaching through the soil down to your foundation. The best gutter system in the world is of no use if the fascia can’t support it (and vice versa). When your fascia is compromised, your gutters – and your home as a whole – are in danger.
Looking for Quality Soffit and Fascia? Tony’s Lifetime Exteriors Has You Covered
We’re a Sauk Rapids team of siding contractors, roofing contractors, deck builders, and window installation experts. We’d be happy to lend our vast experience to you. Give us a call now at 320-252-9086.