Expert: Dave Johnson - 7/22/2007

Question
We are having a custom home built in Colorado. The roof is metal and we asked the roofer to go ahead and do a metal facia to match the roof. When they installed it they placed nails randomly along the surface of the facia. This make the metal bow in and out giving it an an uneven "tinny" look. The corners are in some cases snipped off as with tin snips leaving a rough unpainted edge. In other places they wrapped the metal aound the corner leaving a bulge at the corner and the rough edge a few inches up on the gable side of the facia. All-in-all it looks terrible. Can you tell me what the best practices are for installing the facia. Also it is extra wide, something like 9-3/4" as this is predominately a SIPs roof.

Answer
Hi Tom,
Bending and attaching metal fascia is among the fussiest jobs on an exterior.
Ideally, it would be applied using a locking strip both under the roofing drip edge AND under the fascia at the soffit, with no nails.
BUT; this will sometimes prove to be a problem when in an area of high winds. (as is probably the case in Colorado)
When nails are used, a lot of care should be taken to avoid as much buckling as possible, but it is nearly impossible to eliminate all of it due to hot and cold (growing and shrinking)
We have found that when a fascia is that wide, its good to create an extra bend with a "second fascia" narrower than the first, this helps to hide wrinkling...
Best of luck, and if I haven't been thorough, mail me.
Dave