Understand Crucial Facts About Fascia, Soffits And Guttering On Your Home Before The Woodworm Sets In.


Unplasticised polyvinyl chloride, or PVCu (or uPVC) as it's more commonly known, has in effect completely swept the board in the new guttering and fascia market. Their are numerous answers why homeowners now decide on PVC-U when thinking about a guttering replacement and new fascias on their home.

It is nowadays widely recognised that the maintenance trouble and the technical performance of wood, particularly for roofline, is no longer adequate when compared with PVC-U.

A PVC-U roofline is better than wood because, as we all appreciate, wood is a porous material. Once water has breached the outside layer, it is a matter of when and not if it will call for replacing. This then paves the way for woodworm and many other vermin to set up home after a while causing structural damage. PVC-U rooflines will not rot, will never require painting, do not discolour and will continue being maintenance free for up to fourty years. All they will have to have is the once in a while wash down with lukewarm soapy water.

Soffits
Fascias, also known as soffits, are boards fixed to the top of the outer 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 regular painting and replacement and PVC-U in contrast is very resilient, only fading and cracking after several decades.

Guttering
The guttering is fitted to the fascia and collects the rain from the roof, diverting it into down pipes which take the water down into the public waste water system, or away from the house to a soakaway, where it can disperse without damage. Larger diameter downpipes take effluent from the toilets down into the sewers. If the guttering or downpipe is blocked or cracked, then water can leak over the brickwork and go through into the home, causing damp problems.

Guttering has been manufactured from many different types of materials, including concrete, wood, aluminium, galvanised steel and other metals, but before plastic became popular, they were generally painted steel. This needs frequent washing down and re-painting and if it's not carried out, rust can set in and cause leaks. This means replacing sections, which is costly 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 home we strongly propose you opt for UPVC .

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