How Do You Guys Attach Your Aluminum Fascia?

dkillianjr

Hey guys I was wondering how do attach your aluminim fascia? I usually predrill the bottom, use stainless colored trim nalis and nail up throughthe bottom through the soffit. I always try to avoid any face nails to avoid wrinkles. How do you guys do your soffit, fascia, and other usual coverages?


Dave

Patrick

Facia, if being covered with gutter just gets nailed cause you wont see the ripples, but im usually pretty careful about it.

If there is no gutter, and on rakes I face nail I just don't set the nail. I found that pushing the piece up, nailing the middle, then nailing the left, and then putting up your next over lapping piece, nailing that middle then that left and then so on and so forth if that makes sense. We always run our rakes down, fold em and then put our facia over the ends of the rake.

I leave the nail sticking proud just slightly. I used to try not to face nail, but you would be surprised how easily trim will blow off a house. Plus if you have a gutter your not going to see the nails, I don't like looking up and seeing all the nails under the soffit, plus since they are vertical they can work loose over time. I also over bend my fascia so that it hugs the soffit. We also make our own 5/8" H channel on the brake for soffit corner miters so that it matches the facia coil.

oldfrt

That's the only way to really fasten it.You can tell the rookies when you see the face nails.
Sometimes it doesn't seem to matter,because the gutter installer nail right through it.
If I get a flat facia .without a drip at the eaves ,I'll bend a small return at the top to give it more rigidity.
Something else I do,that I don't see other installers do,is bend the bottom lip of the coil back over on itself about 1/2 "so there isn't a raw edge visible.

Patrick

ACTUALLY you can tell the rookies when you drive through the development two years later and theres trim hanging off houses. on any new house the gutter is going to get screwed right through it anyways and all your going to see is 1" of facia at most, so you keep your nails above that. If face nailed properly you will not see ripples.

I used to put a hem on the bottom lip of the facia, but I could never find a suitable way to deal with that lip when you overlap your facia sections. My solution was just to pay attention at the brake and make sure that I always make my cut on the backside of the facia so you don't see the scab. Lately I have been doing a lot of fancy work around nooks and large window walls and I have been "gluing" on my trim with silicone. In the right situation it works great, no nails, and one year later, temperature change has not caused any issues. It really gives that seamless one piece look to some surrounds

Paul B

I've tryed the glue but had trouble with it staying on. I used construction adhesive though.

Patrick

I only use silicone, VERY liberally applied and then I put my trim on and rub the trim with a rag to set it into the silicone. Again I only use this in special cases, like a nook or a window wall

oldfrt

Sorry Patrick,I was typing my response as you posted yours.
I wasn't referring to you as a rookie for nailing through the facia behind the gutters,
. On my hems,I'll cut a angle back about an inch so it slides into the next piece until the straight edge matches.
I've never had a call back on facia falling off.In some of those sub divsions they use the cheapest installers so they get what they pay for,

Patrick

The REAL reason, as I have seen it is that they let Framers use the brake in these sub divisions. I see the Framers frame, roof, and put up soffit. We did one new const like this and we had to rip out all the facia and soffit and redo as it was so horribly done.

Ive also been using a lot more color matched 1/8" pop rivits a lot to put some things together like hanging returns and window trims

oldfrt

Had to run off and watch Survivor China with the Family.We're addicts.About the only show we all watch together.

Anyways,I have done some window trim around aluminum clad windows that calls for a little extra thought.I tried it out about 25 years ago ,and it still looks good.I had my doubts when I first did it ,but it seemed to make sense at the time.
It's was a lot of work then,but it looked great.I would rip down 1/2" plywood in 2 1/2 " strips( Double it up so it was 1" deep) .Then nail these around the perimeter of the window,leaving it 1/8" from the window frame.When I bent the coil I would put a hem on the side toward the window(usually a 1" bend with a !/2" hem),being careful not to fully close it.The J would be formed into the other side.Then take a long straight edge,like another ply-rip ,on edge, and tap it into the gap between the window and the 2 1/2" strips.Make sure it's cut before you install it cause you won't pull it out.
Of course that was before I started using the 3 1/2" lineal.which is a lot faster,though expensive.
To match new windows to old ,I would build a sill out of 2x4's, ripped with a bevel for pitch ,for the window bottoms.
Using the same method as the sides,I would hem the back of the sill piece and simply bend it up flat against the wall where it passed the window sides to shed water from the J-section of the window trim over the top of the sill.
It's probably hard to picture exactly what I 'm trying to explain,but in certain locations it may come in handy.

dkillianjr

Thanks guys for your input, I thought maybe I was missing something and there was some new high tech way to attach aluminum or something I have also started using more rivets and silicone for my coverage. Oldfrt, I like that idea about the coverage in deffinatly gonna try that, its like a friction fit and them silicone holds it too I would amagine.


Dave

dkillianjr

Ok how do you guys miter your j mold around windows and stuff? I was tought 2 different ways. First way is say around a window bottom first, the same width as the window than the sides extend to the bottom of the bottom j mold get notched and the tabs folded into the bottom j, then the top goes the full width of the sides and also gets notched and the tabs get folded into the sides. And the second way is to basicly run your j an inch long and miter the second peice and put it over the first peice essentially creating a fake miter.

Dave

Patrick

On the occations where we have an exposed J channel, It is mitered. I have seen it done tons of ways and I think they all look horrible except for the miter

A W Smith

Bottom first. rough cut two J wider than the window notch both ends. I don't cut off the nailing fin I leave it long. Take a full length of J, notch the top with a flap to layover the head for measuring and placement purposes because I cant see the top of the window yet to visually align it., hook it on top and hold it against the window, make your face miter cut at the corner and cut the rest of the J five inches longer but not all the way through, fold it over in half at this cut to make two at a time. then finish snipping it in half, Now to finish cut the sides, cut up lengthwise from the bottom up the channel of the j along its face to a point where it intersects the 45 degree angle (or straight of you prefer) cut. then cut the nailing flange to overlap the bottom j at a 45 degree angle to this point because you are going to bend it around the corner here. Now take the J and nail alongside the window and then fold the remaining nailing fin and channel section tail around the bottom of the window and nail it over the bottom window J, this will suck the corner tight to the window . cut the little tabs off the top of your side Js when you pump your scaffold up to that level and then cut the head the same way to wrap around the side J channels,

I can see this is going to take some sort of drawing or picture, But it makes some really weather tight corners.

__________________
Al Smith
http://www.awsmith.com

dkillianjr

That sounds an awful lot like the way I usually do it. Its so hard to explain over the web though. I'd love to maybe see a picture or drawing of it.

Dave

A W Smith

my miters are the overlay or 'fake' type as you describe them. where you describe only the tabs bending around the corner four posts above i bend the whole j around the corner minus the face.

__________________
Al Smith
http://www.awsmith.com

dkillianjr

O ok now I get it, thanks AW. Boy that does seem like it would be one tight J joint. I'm deffinetly gonna try that.


Dave

A W Smith

leave enough to put a nail through the nailing fin like 3 - 5 inches when you bend it around the corner. Not just a tab length

__________________
Al Smith
http://www.awsmith.com

thesidingpro

The least amount of face nails the better. If you run you trim nice and clean and can slide under the shingles you should only have one face nail at each seam.

Here's some trim on the job I'm currently working on. I bend my channel into my freeze board to receive the fiber cement.

http://thecontractorsclub.com/new-fo...p383-full.html
http://thecontractorsclub.com/new-fo...001-sp370.html

Here's some brake work I did a few months ago.

http://thecontractorsclub.com/new-folder-006-sp239.html

Patrick

Siding pro, How do you seam that under soffit rake trim?

A W Smith

don't forget the longer the panel the more expansion and contraction due to temperature will pull them tiny stainless nails out. I cant imagine a panel 10 feet 6 inches long only nailed at the ends. unless its bent to hook under behind the pine facia and underneath the roof where it will be nailed. if its a simple ell cee or Zee bend only nailed at the ends i guarantee it will be a call back years later.

__________________
Al Smith
http://www.awsmith.com