Plastic facia and soffit

finneyb · 23 Mar 2018

Looking at replacing wood with plastic - then came across capping the wood with plastic rather than replacing it with plastic, which appeals to me as the wood is sound.

Anyone got any experience ?

Brian

MikeG. · 23 Mar 2018

If the wood is sound, why would you want to cover it with plastic? Plastic fascias and soffits will always look like plastic, and will be yellow and brittle in just a few years.

porker · 23 Mar 2018

I did a place 20 years ago by capping with plastic. Still going strong. Wood was fine but needed repainting. By a good quality plastic and it won't yellow. I know it doesn't suit everybody but I can't stand painting and if you have uPVC windows already I don't see the issue. You will also need to redo all the guttering with the correct fall and make sure the felt or barrier go over the top of the plastic to avoid moisture getting in behind. I now live in an Arts & Crafts house in an AONB so I wouldn't use plastic because it would be wrong, but for low maintenance on the right house I'd do it again.

topchippyles · 23 Mar 2018

Just cap over it and it will be fine,A nice feature for the sofit is to use 300 wide T&G hollow clad and cut and fit it from the facia to the wall so it give a nice timber looking finish.

Lons · 23 Mar 2018

Absolutely nothing wrong with it Brian if it fits with the character of your property and if decent quality and fitted correctly it will last many years. Modern plastics are well protected against UV, clean easily and even stubborn stains can be removed with the right products. Where it deteriorates is when people use scourers and abrasive cleaners.

Over the years I've fitted hundreds of metres of 9mm thick coverboard and both solid and hollow profiled soffit with not a single call back in 20 years. I also fitted my own property 15 years ago and it's still clean, certainly not "yellow and brittle".
Saved me a hell of a lot of painting and prep work over the years.

Just make certain all woodwork you're covering up is sound and dry and if not then sort that and the cause before cladding over. You might need to fit push in vents as well depending on your situation.

Bob