Soffits fascias bargeboards and guttering installation in Harpenden, Hertfordshire

Summit Cladding faced a double challenge to enhance the look of this 1960s detached house in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. Not only did we have to reach the highest point of the house, but we also had to remove and safely dispose of some asbestos.

Summit were recommended to our client, David, after he’d seen the work we carried out for his brother-in-law in St Albans.

Part of our task at David’s house was to replace the wooden barge boards. These are the large lengths of timber that follow the outline of the roof, shaped like an inverted letter “v.”  As they are at the highest point of the house they are normally out of reach and difficult to maintain.

When they need to be painted, decorators often fail to rub down properly to prepare the surface, leading to constant maintenance and, eventually, rotten timber underneath the paintwork.

Asbestos hazard

The house also had soffits made of asbestos. Soffits are designed to block in the eaves of the roof to stops birds, squirrels and anything else getting inside.

Asbestos was widely used in the 1960s for house building and was still being used up to 20 years ago. Apart from now being recognised as a hazardous material, paint always tended to blister away from its surface.

Summit removed all the existing wooden fascias, plus the asbestos soffits which were disposed of under strict health and safety guidelines. We also removed all the white wooden cladding to the front of the house and replaced it with a pvc black foiled cladding that is completely maintenance free to match the black stained feather edge cladding on the rest of the property.

Special guttering

When all the existing wooden fascias were removed we fitted a white pvc fascia and soffit with black round deep flow guttering. The house is surrounded by mature trees, leading to a large amount of leaf fall, so the high capacity gutters, which take twice as much water as standard ones, will keep blockages to a minimum.

As an extra touch, Summit hid the wiring for surveillance cameras behind the new fascias, to give the house a clean and tidy appearance.

The installation took five days to complete and has transformed the look of the property.

Categorised in: Bargeboards, Cladding, Guttering, PVC Cladding, Soffits & Fascias

This post was written by Summit Cladding