Are your fascias and soffits properly installed?

The Great British public seem to have a bit of a fixation on horror stories about the trade industry. While thousands of electrical, plumbing and window and door installations are completed successfully every day, we tend to focus only on what goes wrong rather than what is right – just look at the amount of popular TV shows that have been dedicated to the subject over the years.

It would be easy to think that these rogue cowboy tradesmen are the norm rather than the exception, but this simply isn’t the case. There are thousands of excellent tradesmen out there, all making sure that your home functions in the way it should, as well as the way you want it to.

However, there are a few bad tradesmen out there offering poor quality services for quite high prices. For this reason, it’s worth checking out any work you have done on your home. In this post, we’re going to talk you through how to check a particularly speciality of ours here at Plastic Fantastic – uPVC fascias and soffits.

The chances are that if you’ve ever had timber or wood fascias and soffits, you’ve had to have them replaced in the past few years with uPVC alternatives. This is because wood is susceptible to the elements and rots and warps over time, whereas uPVC is far more resilient and is built to last.

If you find yourself in this situation, ensure that the new uPVC fascias and soffits aren’t being installed over the old rotting timber (a process commonly referred to as overcladding). Doing this can lead to serious problems in the future as it is merely a cosmetic fix, and doesn’t address the issue of the rotting timber. Moisture can become trapped between the new uPVC fascia boards and the old timber, meaning the timber will rot even quicker than if the new fascia hadn’t been installed. Always look for tradesmen who will fully remove your old fascias before installing new ones – generally they will make this clear on their website.

After the fascias have been installed, make sure that they are in line with the roof perimeter and aren’t wavy. You need to make sure that your fascias are also properly fixed in – obviously this will involve using a ladder, so ask someone else to do this for you if you aren’t particularly confident with heights. If the fascia feels at all loose or wobbly, then it isn’t properly installed. Don’t be tempted to affix the fascia yourself unless you are well-versed in DIY as this can lead to even more issues and even more costs! Instead, call and ask the tradesman responsible to return and fix the boards properly.

You also want to make sure that your fascias and soffits haven’t been installed anywhere that will affect the function of your home – over a ventilation system, for example. It seems obvious to avoid covering a vent with a fascia, but there have been instances of this happening and unfortunately, resolving the issue usually involves removing the fascia board entirely and starting over again.

Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to diagnose issues straight away. One of the great barometers of shoddy craftsmanship is when something goes wrong months down the line, such as water leaking into your home. Obviously you need to get issues like this fixed as quickly as possible, but you should be able to either get the tradesman to come out and fix it for you for free, or try and claim back the money you spent on the work.

The easiest way to solve a dispute is to get in contact with the company that carried out your work directly, as often these kinds of issues are entirely unintentional and will dismay the tradesman as much as it dismays you! If the tradesman isn’t co-operative, try and find out which organisation he belongs to and make a complaint through them. You should generally find that your dispute will be settled quite easily.

Court proceedings and involving Trading Standards should be considered a last resort, as proceedings are costly and lengthy. Should you have to take this route, you need to make sure you keep a log of any work carried out and a copy of any contracts you may have signed as you may need to settle a dispute in court.

Despite all of this, issues with fascias and soffits are thankfully rare and if you choose a reputable company to carry out the work, you shouldn’t run into any issues. We don’t to blow our own trumpet, but we consider ourselves highly skilled and reputable – and our customers agree. So if you need fascias and soffits installed with quality guaranteed, give us a call on 0800 849 4567.

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