Soffits, fascias guttering- remove the old wood???

keithdc

Hi folks,
Am hoping someone can offer some advice.

We are looking at getting soffits, fascias and guttering replaced... we have had a variety of companies round who ranged from: ‘it is fine to soffit over the old wood as long as you get rid of the rotton bits’ to ‘only the devil’s satanic son would be so dodgey as to over-soffit the old wood.’ Needless to say, the latter group were considerably more expensive.

We have settled on a medium-sized reputable local building company who specialise in roofing. They have quoted ~£1050 for the total removal of all the old wood and new soffits/fascias/ guttering, but have said they can remove the rotton bits of wood and over-soffit the rest for about £250 less.

I have some photos if they help, but can't work out how to attach!

Do we soffit over the old wood or do it properly and get the lot removed and replaced?

Thanks
Keith

bigdave77

Remove the old fascias etc and replace with UPVC or new material of choice. I can only assume that if you remove rotten bits and fix your new fascias to the old then over time these will become rotten too and so you'll have to go through all the hassle again in the future

That's my opinion anyway.

andrew-b

keithdc wrote: »

‘only the devil’s satanic son would be so dodgey as to over-soffit the old wood.’

...pretty much sums it up i think! Get it done properly...we paid roughly £50 per metre of roofline which seems to be about the going rate for a quality job.

hethmar

Do it properly. We had a firm in who told us they would replace all the rotten stuff and felt under the first few tiles or whatever. 3 years down the line we had rain through the ceiling over the bay window. Got roofers out and they said the last lot had done a duff job. (on top of that we had no phone after they went, they had put the connection on the wall upside down and it filled with rain water - and they werent the cheapest quote either!)

Mikeyorks

keithdc wrote: »

Do we soffit over the old wood or do it properly and get the lot removed and replaced?

You've answered your own question! For the sake of £250 it's not worth a temporary saving at the risk of much greater expense a few years down the track.

But do make sure the quote also includes putting a liner underneath the last bit of roof felt where it descends into the gutter. If the wood is going - then that will be also, where it's exposed to direct weather

keystone

I rather agree with others. Get the whole lot down.

keithdc wrote: »

We are looking at getting soffits, fascias and guttering replaced... we have had a variety of companies round who ranged from: ‘it is fine to soffit over the old wood as long as you get rid of the rotton bits’

and how do they deal with the inconsistency in depth to the rafter feet excpt by packing it back out again? BTW if they are replacing the old gutters they won't fit - added iro 1" to each run corner to corner. Then the gutters leak. T'aint worth it!

............to ‘only the devil’s satanic son would be so dodgey as to over-soffit the old wood.’ Needless to say, the latter group were considerably more expensive.

Bit strong but its IS best to completely replace in oredr to properly check the condition of the sarking felt. The latter shouldn't have been considerably more expensive for that reason alone. Its more likley that you hace a material cost differentiator as the cheaper one would have used a cheaper and possibly inferior product.

We have settled on a medium-sized reputable local building company who specialise in roofing. They have quoted ~£1050 for the total removal of all the old wood and new soffits/fascias/ guttering, but have said they can remove the rotton bits of wood and over-soffit the rest for about £250 less.

Size of property? I'd take the £ 1000 - are they scaffolding?

Do we soffit over the old wood or do it properly and get the lot removed and replaced?

No and yes.

Cheers

keithdc

Thanks everyone for all your help- everyone has come up with the same answer- will definitely folow your advice!

VKay

We are having this done in the new year- total replacement of gutttering, soffits with vents,fascias plus 2 downpipes inc scaffolding on 3 bed semi- 3 quotes all came in almost exactly the same- approx £1200. We are in the SW.

hethmar

I think we paid £2k those years ago, but I guess our house is probably a bit larger than average (30s 4 bed detached). Some joker quoted for twice that amount!