Plywood Fascias on Garage??

gutovicky

Hello MSE forum members,
My garage desperately needs re-roofing - the old felt is leaking and I fear the timber beneath will become damaged soon.
My question concerns the wooden fascia board trim around my garage: I'll need to replace this fascia when I get the garage roof fixed since it is a bit rotten in places. I do not want to use plastic products.
Because I need to get the re-roofing job done quickly, and because pressure-treated (softwood) timber would take a while to dry - before it can be primed with stain or paint - and then fitted, could I use an exterior grade sheet material (cut into 7" planks)??
Maybe I could use exterior grade OSB sheets or plywood WPB (?) or marine ply?

I would aim to build up layers of paint or stain to protect this 'planked' sheet material, even before it's fixed into place.
Would a stain finish be better than paint - because it would be simpler to re-coat at intervals in the future?

Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks all.

Furts

Good quality pressure treated softwood for me, with two flood coats on all cut ends. Then base coat stain, followed by three coats of colour tinted stain - Johnstones woodcare range is on offer til the end of the month.

Do not rely on DIY sheds for decent timber - go to a local timber merchant, or builders merchant.

Order til treatment til delivery perhaps takes 5 days. Nobody can say a garage is so urgent that you cannot wait that time. But if you have OSB, chipboard, or poor quality ply it may already be ruined - you will have to check this out.

gutovicky

Thank you Furts,
Yes, in my heart I agree that pressure treated softwood boards would be a much, much better choice....

And, yes, I agree that it would only take around 5 days to order and receive the pressure treated timber I need for the job.
BUT, my worry is that (recently) pressure treated wood may take a long time to dry out sufficiently to take a either a stain or a paint finish - weeks, even months!.... ... or have I got this wrong??

Thanks all.

firefox1956

Why not use UPVC ??

Grenage

uPVC is not to everyone's tastes; I can't stand it.

datostar

What about aluminium fascia boards? Our house had them around a flat- roofed extension and front door open porch affair when we moved in 22 years ago. They're painted white, easy to clean and grooved rather than the ubiquitous flat white uPVC type. Look quite attractive and if you don't like the colour it's easy to change with a coat of paint. Still there, have needed no maintenance at all and no signs of deterioration. They're nailed on and I suspect you'd be able to overlay the old wooden ones assuming there's actually something still there to nail to. They are actually sealed top and bottom as well so no water gets behind them. Provided what's under a leaking garage roof isn't actually rotten and falling apart it will gradually dry out when the roof is properly sorted out. We've got a pair of adjoining garages which had badly leaking felted roofs with water pooling. We splashed out and went for the newer single sheet rubber membrane extending over both garages with a 20 year guarantee. The contractors laid new plywood decking over the old stuff so we didn't even have to empty the garages and had no mess, made a fall and installed, yes, uPVC guttering and drainpipes which we think looks quite neat and tidy. After a couple of years including winters and a lot of rain everything's fully dried out including all the timbers and brickwork. Cost £1100 per garage. Well worth it in my view. I regard felted roofs as OP regards uPVC! They'd been redone twice in 20 years, each time because of leaking beyond patching up.

gutovicky

Thanks for your thoughts on this.
No, I'm not keen on plastics at all.
Aluminium is a whole new thing [thanks Datostar] - I haven't considered it yet.... I'm thinking it's probably expensive (?)
Perhaps I'll do some more research...

In the meantime, can anyone tell me for sure - how long does pressure treated softwood take to dry completely so that I can stain or paint it??.

Thank you.

Grenage

It depends on the weather, and the wood; probably weeks. I'd install it and paint later.

firefox1956

You can get UPVC in many different styles, colours & textures.
Some of it you would need to inspect very closely to see
if it was wood or not.

Furts

gutovicky wrote: »

Thanks for your thoughts on this.
how long does pressure treated softwood take to dry completely so that I can stain or paint it??.

Thank you.

Don't know. When a timber merchant delivers the treated timber it has dried sufficiently to be suitable for decoration. It is not delivered wet. The attitude on a building site would be it has been delivered so get on and use it.

Thinking it through, if a coat of base stain is applied and the timber is still damp, this damp would dry out through the stain. Only if a varnish, or similar, was applied would the dampness be sealed into the timber.

snowcat75

gutovicky wrote: »

Thanks for your thoughts on this.
No, I'm not keen on plastics at all.
Aluminium is a whole new thing [thanks Datostar] - I haven't considered it yet.... I'm thinking it's probably expensive (?)
Perhaps I'll do some more research...

In the meantime, can anyone tell me for sure - how long does pressure treated softwood take to dry completely so that I can stain or paint it??.

Thank you.

Its worth doing the research, The problem with wood is that the treatments are just not what they used to be(based around various rules and banning of certain actives) and actually fast grown and forced kiln dried timber isn't either..

I wouldn't rule upvc completely out as there is far more options and finishes than the bog standard white, As been mentioned aluminium or even PC steel are both available. and will outlast modern woods by decades.