Mildenhall Roofers carries out fascia, soffit, and guttering replacements for homeowners in Bury St Edmunds - here is exactly how a typical job runs from the first look to the final tidy-up.
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Most homeowners book a roofline job without knowing what to expect on the day. Knowing how the work unfolds helps you plan around the job, understand what is included, and ask the right questions before you commit. A properly run fascia, soffit, and guttering replacement is not a quick in-and-out visit - it involves stripping, inspection, fitting, and making good, and each stage matters.
Fascias, soffits, and guttering protect the junction between your roof and your walls. Rotten boards or leaking gutters allow moisture into the roof void and the wall beneath the eaves. The replacement process, done correctly, deals with what is already there before anything new goes on.
Before any work is quoted or scheduled, a proper look at the existing roofline is needed. This means getting eyes on the fascias, soffits, and gutters from close range - not just from the pavement. From the ground, it is easy to miss soft spots on the top face of a fascia board, failed fixings behind a gutter, or a soffit that is holding together only because the paint film is keeping it in one piece.
A ladder or scaffold tower allows inspection of the boards' condition, the state of the rafter feet behind the fascia, the existing gutter falls and joint condition, and whether the current soffit provides adequate roof void ventilation. The survey findings determine what materials are needed, what the rafter feet look like, and whether any work is needed on the roof edge before the new boards go on.
During the survey, be specific about what you want to know: ask whether the rafter feet are sound, whether the existing soffits are ventilated, and what profile and colour of gutter was previously fitted - particularly if you want to match sections rather than replace everything.
On the day of work, the first task is removing what is already there. Guttering is unclipped and taken down first. On older properties with cast-iron gutters, this takes more care and time than removing uPVC - cast iron is heavy, sections are often rusted at the joints, and downpipes may be cemented into the drain at the foot.
With the gutters off, the fascia boards are removed. On uPVC systems this involves unclipping the soffit panels first, then prising off the fascia. On timber systems, the boards are levered away from the rafter feet. Any nails or screws are removed cleanly so the rafter feet are left undamaged and accessible for inspection.
Old soffits come out last. If they are timber, they are often nailed to a continuous batten fixed to the wall; if uPVC, they clip into a carrier channel on the fascia and a trim on the wall. Either way, the soffit comes down before the new fascia can go up, because the new fascia and soffit system are fitted as a sequence from the back of the eaves forward.
This is the stage that separates a thorough job from a cover-up. With the old boards off, the rafter feet are exposed. These are the ends of the roof rafters, and they sit in exactly the position where a leaking gutter would have directed water for years. Any that are soft, split, or have visible rot need attention before the new fascia is fitted.
Minor rot can be treated with a hardener and filler compound, and lightly affected rafter feet can be stabilised this way if the structural timber behind is still sound. More advanced rot means the affected section of rafter needs to be cut back and a new length sistered alongside the existing timber. This is additional work and additional cost - but covering over rotten rafter feet with a new fascia board is not a repair, it is a delay.
It is also worth checking at this stage whether there is adequate ventilation in the roof void. Building regulations require ventilation at eaves level, and if the original soffits were solid with no vents, the replacement is an opportunity to introduce ventilation correctly.
New fascia boards - whether uPVC, timber, or aluminium - are fixed directly to the rafter feet. For uPVC systems, a continuous back channel is fitted first, which the fascia board then clips into. For timber, boards are face-fixed with stainless or galvanised screws. The fascia must be level and true, because the guttering clips to it - if the fascia is not set at the correct fall toward the outlet, the gutter will pool rather than drain.
On uPVC systems, expansion joints are needed at regular intervals - typically every 3 metres - to allow for the thermal movement that uPVC undergoes with changes in temperature. If expansion joints are omitted, the fascia will buckle in summer heat or pull apart at joints in cold weather. This is a detail that distinguishes correct installation from a rushed job.
Soffit panels are fitted into the channel on the underside of the fascia and into a trim or batten fixed to the wall. On uPVC systems, panels slot in and are clipped or pinned at the wall end. If ventilation is needed, ventilated soffit panels are used throughout, or solid panels are fitted with discrete vent units at intervals - typically one per rafter bay for roofs with a small pitch.
Soffits must sit flat and be properly supported. Gaps at joints or between panels and the wall trim allow insects and birds into the roof void, which is a problem that gets worse quickly. The junction between the soffit and the wall is usually covered with a trim or quad strip to give a clean finish and prevent the gap opening as materials settle.
Guttering goes on last. Brackets are fixed to the new fascia at intervals according to the manufacturer's requirements - typically every 600mm to 1 metre for standard half-round uPVC, closer for heavier cast-iron or aluminium systems. The fall toward the outlet must be correct: the standard recommendation is a fall of around 1 in 600 (approximately 1.5mm per metre run).
Gutter sections are clipped together at joints and sealed where required. Stop ends, angles, and outlets are fitted, and each downpipe run is checked to ensure it connects correctly to the drain or soakaway below. Joints are tested by running water down from the top - any drip points are found and made good before the scaffold or ladders are moved.
A roofline job produces a reasonable amount of waste - old guttering, fascia boards, screws, and packaging. All of this should be removed from site, not left in the garden or on the driveway. Before leaving, a check from ground level confirms that gutters are sitting level, soffits are flush, and there are no obvious gaps or loose sections.
If access was via a scaffold tower, the footings should have been protected from the lawn or path. Boards should be removed and any marks made good before the team leaves.
Mildenhall Roofers carries out fascia, soffit, and guttering work across Bury St Edmunds and the surrounding area including Mildenhall and Lakenheath. If you want someone to take a proper look at your roofline before you decide what to do, call us to arrange a survey and we will walk you through what we find and what the options are.
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