Discover Essential Information About Fascia, Soffits And Gutters On Your House Before The The Rot Sets In.
Unplasticised polyvinyl chloride, or PVCu (or uPVC) as it's more commonly known, has almost comprehensively swept the board in the new guttering and fascia market. Their are many reasons why homeowners now decide on PVC-U when thinking of a guttering replacement and new fascias on their house.
It is nowadays widely recognised that the maintenance trouble and the technical performance of wood, especially for roofline, is no longer adequate when compared with PVC-U.
A PVC-U roofline is better than wood because, as we all understand, timber is a porous substance. Once water has breached the outside layer, it is a matter of when and not if it will need replacing. This then paves the way for woodworm and many other vermin to set up home ultimately causing structural damage. UPVC rooflines will not rot, will never require painting, do not discolour and will continue being maintenance free for up to 40 years. All they will require is the occasional clean with warm soapy water.
Soffits
Fascias, also known as soffits, are boards attached to the top of the outside walls of a building, just under the rooftop, which then projects over the fascia. This used to be generally made from timber, but nowadays PVCu replacements are more popular as they are light, straightforward to fix, last longer and more affordable. Timber boards need frequent painting and replacement and PVCu in contrast is very resilient, only fading and cracking after quite a few decades.
Guttering
The guttering is fitted to the fascia and collects the rain from the roof, diverting it into drain pipes which take the water down into the public sewerage system, or away from the home to a soakaway, where it can scatter without contamination. Larger diameter downpipes take effluent from the toilets down into the sewers. If the guttering or downpipe is clogged up or cracked, then water can escape over the brickwork and enter into the property, causing damp problems.
Gutters have been manufactured from all sorts of materials, including concrete, timber, aluminium, galvanised steel and other metals, but before UPVC became popular, they were mainly painted steel. This requires regular washing and re-painting and if it's not done, rust can set in and create leaks. This usually means replacing sections, which is expensive and hard because of the weight of the steel. PVC-U scores highly over steel on both those counts and when considering guttering replacement on your property we strongly recommend you opt for UPVC .