Replacing facia boards behind gutters
 

The facia boards have rotted out in several spots on my 1921 house.

I replaced them all a number of years ago, but was unable to prime and
paint them properly at the time. Most of the boards are in fine shape,
but in some spots -- because of problems in the drip line -- they have
rotted. They are easy to remove (just grab 'em and pull them out by
the handful!).

However, these rotted boards are behind the seamless aluminum gutters.
Nothing at all wrong with the gutters and I'd sure rather not pay
someone to replace them.

The gutters are the larger commercial size (the roof is very tall and
made of tile, so they collect a lot of water during rainstorms). And
there are a number of riveted-and-siliconed corners to accommodate the
perimeter of the house -- it's not a straight shot, especially in the
front of the house. Removing the rivets and taking the gutter down is
possible, I suppose, but would be dirty, fussy work and is likely to
damage the gutter channel. And I'm working alone.

I'm thinking I can pull the long nails from the gutters (they go
through the facia board into the ends of the rafters) so the gutters
are loose, then prop up the whole line above the roof edge with poles
or braces, then sneak in behind them and install new primed and
painted facia boards.

Does this sound feasible? Can I get away with it? Or is there some
other technique I should consider? Or is saving the gutters a pipe
dream?

"Tom Miller" wrote in message
...
The facia boards have rotted out in several spots on my 1921 house.


I'm thinking I can pull the long nails from the gutters (they go
through the facia board into the ends of the rafters) so the gutters
are loose, then prop up the whole line above the roof edge with poles
or braces, then sneak in behind them and install new primed and
painted facia boards.

Does this sound feasible? Can I get away with it? Or is there some
other technique I should consider? Or is saving the gutters a pipe
dream?

I think it would be better to remove the gutters, altho with seamless, you
have a real awkward and fragile/bendable bundle to remove, if you have long
runs. Probably a multi-person job. I kinda like your idea, tho, of
sequentially removing then propping up the gutters onto the roof edge,
perhaps with bricks on the downhill side of the gutters. Also, think about
the fascia material. Trex or some synthetic may be a better choice than
wood. Whatever you choose, you don't want to mess with removing the gutters
again. The fact that the wood is rotting off suggests the lips/troughs of
the roof tiles do not clear the drip-edge,causing water to curve around -
search google for the "coanda effect" , which turns the water directly onto
the fascia and rafter-ends.. That may have to be addressed to keep even the
eave rafters from rotting; let alone the attached fascia.

"Roger" wrote in message
news:bZY5d.126203$D%.124720@attbi_s51...

"Tom Miller" wrote in message
...
The facia boards have rotted out in several spots on my 1921 house.


I'm thinking I can pull the long nails from the gutters (they go
through the facia board into the ends of the rafters) so the gutters
are loose, then prop up the whole line above the roof edge with poles
or braces, then sneak in behind them and install new primed and
painted facia boards.

Does this sound feasible? Can I get away with it? Or is there some
other technique I should consider? Or is saving the gutters a pipe
dream?

I think it would be better to remove the gutters, altho with seamless, you
have a real awkward and fragile/bendable bundle to remove, if you have
long
runs. Probably a multi-person job. I kinda like your idea, tho, of
sequentially removing then propping up the gutters onto the roof edge,
perhaps with bricks on the downhill side of the gutters. Also, think
about
the fascia material. Trex or some synthetic may be a better choice than
wood. Whatever you choose, you don't want to mess with removing the
gutters
again. The fact that the wood is rotting off suggests the lips/troughs of
the roof tiles do not clear the drip-edge,causing water to curve around -
search google for the "coanda effect" , which turns the water directly
onto
the fascia and rafter-ends.. That may have to be addressed to keep even
the
eave rafters from rotting; let alone the attached fascia.



Before the roofers installed the new commercial gutters on my old house,
they sided the fascia and installed soffit vents. We had the whole house
sided and roofed.

How expensive could hiring a pro be?

propping, which might get in your way.

instead see if you can hang a board from roof peak just above the gutter,
then hang gutter from teh board? something like that.

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 16:57:24 GMT, (Tom Miller)
wrote:

| The facia boards have rotted out in several spots on my 1921 house.
|
| I replaced them all a number of years ago, but was unable to prime and
| paint them properly at the time. Most of the boards are in fine shape,
| but in some spots -- because of problems in the drip line -- they have
| rotted. They are easy to remove (just grab 'em and pull them out by
| the handful!).
|
| However, these rotted boards are behind the seamless aluminum gutters.
| Nothing at all wrong with the gutters and I'd sure rather not pay
| someone to replace them.
|
| The gutters are the larger commercial size (the roof is very tall and
| made of tile, so they collect a lot of water during rainstorms). And
| there are a number of riveted-and-siliconed corners to accommodate the
| perimeter of the house -- it's not a straight shot, especially in the
| front of the house. Removing the rivets and taking the gutter down is
| possible, I suppose, but would be dirty, fussy work and is likely to
| damage the gutter channel. And I'm working alone.
|
| I'm thinking I can pull the long nails from the gutters (they go
| through the facia board into the ends of the rafters) so the gutters
| are loose, then prop up the whole line above the roof edge with poles
| or braces, then sneak in behind them and install new primed and
| painted facia boards.
|
| Does this sound feasible? Can I get away with it? Or is there some
| other technique I should consider? Or is saving the gutters a pipe
| dream?


Thanks to those who replied for the comments and suggestions. I
probably should have mentioned in the original post that these gutters
run around an apron roof between the first and second floors.

I'll probably try pulling the long nails that hold the gutters and
using a combination of ropes to the second floor windows and prop
poles to the ground to try to lift the gutters off the facia boards
enough to replace the boards without completely removing the gutters.

Hey, no harm in trying. If it doesn't work, I have lost only a little
time. It's even possible that by pulling the fasteners in sections I
can even pry out the old boards and slip in the new ones from
underneath without removing the gutters at all. Again, worth a try.

I originally posted in hopes that there might be some clever trick to
this that I had not thought of. Apparently not.

I will probably use some kind of pre-primed and painted boards or
something like Trex, as suggested by one responder. I haven't got that
far yet.

I'll let you know next summer when this job probably will become a
reality.

Thanks again to the posters who replied.

Tom Miller

On Sun, 3 Oct 2004 01:02:37 +0000 (UTC), "
wrote:

| (Tom Miller) in news:415dad91.3721851
| @news.optonline.net:
|
| Trex
|
| is warpey and heavy
|
| to hang from above, maybe could hang from rope tied around sticks which
| are trapped across the indoor framing of 2nd floor window openings. (such
| as a fabled daughter would tie sheets to, when she wants to climb to the
| ground and elope)


I was thinking of raising the gutters and hanging them above the
rafter ends so I can get to the facia boards, not installing the facia
boards from above. I would work from a ladder when installing the new
boards.