View Single Post
  #8   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
[email protected] despen@verizon.net is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 141
Default Fascia and soffit: aluminum vs. vinyl

RicodJour writes:

On Sep 14, 10:47Â*am, Tony Hwang wrote:
ls02 wrote:

I need to wrap soffit and fascia on my new addition. What material,
aluminum or vinyl looks best, easier to install for an average
homeowner?


There really is very little difference in installation with the fascia
cover. Aluminum soffit can span a bit more than vinyl as it's more
rigid. There will be a bigger difference in appearance from surface
texture (faux wood grain versus smooth, for example) than between
vinyl and aluminum. Similar textures look pretty much the same from
the ground.

Hi,
Al will last longer, fire resistant as well. When this house was built
in '94 Al. was installed, it still looks good. Vinyl is weak against
hail storm too.


Aluminum will last longer than vinyl? Vinyl fascia doesn't hold up to
hail? Huh?

Aluminum will last a long time, sure, but the paint on the aluminum
will start chalking long before the aluminum gives up the ghost.
Fascia covers are mainly an aesthetic thing - if you lose the paint,
you lose a lot of the benefit. That won't happen with vinyl.

A fascia cover is fully supported. Fully supported vinyl is just as
strong as fully supported aluminum. However hail can dent aluminum
even if it's fully supported, but it won't dent vinyl. Soffits never
get hit by hail.


Depends.

Vinyl gets brittle as it ages.

I lost some in a golf ball hail storm.
Aluminum probably would have dented.

A whole bunch of the vinyl will be under the eaves and not exposed but
there are usually some parts that are exposed.


--
Dan Espen