Soffit and fascia replacement in London

Here at Summit Cladding our philosophy is that no job is too big or too small and sometimes it’s the smaller tasks that require the greatest attention to detail.

Take this delightful house in Buckhurst Hill, London, for example, a former corner shop but now a comfortable family home.

The owner approached Summit when he decided it was time to replace the soffits and fascias with something more durable and maintenance-free. But he was also very clear that the replacement had to resemble the original as closely as possible.

All in the detail

This is something that is often a condition of work that we undertake, especially when dealing with Victorian and Edwardian properties. In those days everything was about the detail, when original timber work featured mouldings, cornicing and other elaborate designs.

House building today shows no desire for this level of detail, so the challenge for homeowners who are updating their properties is to strike a balance – to ensure that renovation work is sympathetic to the original design while using modern materials.

In this case we faced an extra challenge with the house bordering a busy side junction. It meant that Summit had to apply for a council pavement licence to erect scaffolding, including a financial deposit to be held against any damage to the footpath.

Old timbers removed

Once the scaffolding was in place, we removed all the 100-year-old timbers around the roofline and although some of it was rotten, a surprising amount was in reasonable condition for its age.

But there’s no point in doing half a job so all of it came off, to be replaced with black pvc profile fascias, manufactured by Swish uPVC. The original design was matched precisely, with three mouldings fitted in a step detail. The cement verge was deconstructed and re-bedded down for solidity.

The former corner shop, now a beautifully restored home, looks as good today as when it was built in 1925, and with new maintenance-free features from Summit Cladding, let’s hope it’s good for another hundred years or so.

Categorised in: Soffits & Fascias

This post was written by Summit Cladding