I have eaves around a building that extend 18 inches. I was considering covering the bottom with decking and covering the sides with a fascia board. What other ideas are there to show or hide the rafter tail space? Just concerned showing them would be a bit of maintenance with spider webs and such.
It sounds like you are asking for advice on soffit material? You can either put them in level, and box the ends or follow the rafters. The material choice all depends on the look you are going for. decking material is good, painted or clear coated for a rustic look, plywood is used as well as steel or aluminum soffit material, or cement board. They all work with varying degrees of maintenanence required. There are two ways to handle rafter tails, build soffits or put in frieze boards and leave them exposed. Soffits have a lot of advantages, They are faster than frieze boards, require less cuts, they help protect the rafter tails from the weather, and they are easily vented. For a more maintenance free system cover the fascia and soffits with either steel or alluminum. If you don't mind painting every few years plywood is fine. In my opinion decking material is a nice look but must be clear coated or painted every few years as well. And of course the durability of the paint job all depends on the quality of the paint. I don't worry too much about spider webs between the rafters, I worry more about water damage. I like the look of exposed rafters but it is tough to replace them if they rot in place, it is much easier to replace rotted facia and soffits.
Here in the Deep South we have this really nasty bug called the carpenter bee. They bore into any kind of wood, PT or not- they don't eat it, just hollow it out to lay eggs in so their offspring can come back the next spring and lay even more. My daughters house has painted wood soffits and facia that are so full of bee holes that pieces are starting to fall off and we'll have to replace the whole mess in the next year or two; same with the cheap siding.
Just finished my second son's house and used cement board for the soffit. Should have used it for the facia as well... bees don't bore in this stuff.
As I approach a time in my life when time and energy are more important in what I do, using pre-painted or permanently colored metal means I won't have to spend either on repainting, ever... and I'd much rather build something new and different than keep fixing something older (like my aging body).
Lj
The bee thing is a serious concern and the hardi-plank/cement board thing is a good option.
If you live in an area where insects are not a problem though, I say leave them exposed. You can easily make a concave cove with your circular saw and I find it to be a nice touch.
I would recomend NOT making a plum cut though as they can wick in moisture. Work off a square cut.
Dave
Good info, I will leave them exposed and see how that works out. Any words of wisdom on fascia boards? For instance, what thickness to go with, type of wood and is sapwood ok?
Shinnlinger,
Do you have a drawing, or a pic of the concave cove Rafter tail?
Thanks
here is the house I am currently building, and you can see exposed bits of frame here and there. I will try to get some shots of the concave ends on my barn for you tomorrow.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16762/2364/IMG_7508.JPG)
As for fascia board and sap wood, I painted my fascia, so I would think that would help with rot issues and it is tucked under the drip edge so I doubt it will ever get very wet. I milled 1/2 thick boards for mine after I priced some commercial products. I went only 1/2 because I only had about 2 inches of steel overhang and I wanted the fascia to be tucked in.
Here is a detail of what I did on my barn.....
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16762/2363/IMG_7520.JPG)
Quote from: shinnlinger on May 31, 2010, 10:11:03 AM
Here is a detail of what I did on my barn.....
That's Awesome! You've got you own observatory. :D
Do you have DC to run the accessories in that VW? I can't remember. Or maybe you just fire it up to charge the batteries. :D Don't want the rain on the windshield to obscure the view. :)
put trim flashing over the soffits...stoopid carpenter bees can't chew metal..
I don't think I have a carpenter bee problem here in NH and I just don't go up there very much these days so the wiring has yet to be completed. Some guy flew over from England to sleep in it though and he didn't seem to mind......
We've got a "soffit bee" here in CT (it looks like a big bumble bee) but it's doesn't seem to be a major problem. They seem to go for unpainted fascia boards on the underside of soffits.