How To Install Vinyl Soffits And Trim

• How to select Soffit Panels.

• How to select a Trim color.

• How to install Soffits.

• How to install Eaves.

• How to install Trim.

1. How to select a Soffit panels.

   • Soffit panels come in a variety of styles and colors.

   • The basic question to ask yourself when choosing a Soffit type is, how much ventilation do you want to create in your attic area?

   • Basic Soffit panels come in vented and unvented styles. The vented panels as in the image below have tiny holes throughout allowing air to circulate up through the Eaves and into your roof area.

   

   • Solid Soffit panels do not allow much air up into the roof area. Use this product if you already have ample air circulation in your attic.

   

   • Some Soffit panels are perforated in the center and solid along the edges.

   • You can also interlock some perforated panels with solid panels.

   • You can select any one of the above options as long as you have enough air circulation in the roof enclosure. Failure to do so will result in wet conditions in your roof, and eventually structural deterioration.

2. How to select the color of Soffits, Eaves, and Trim.

   • Selecting color is based solely on personal taste. However that being said, Trim color needs to complement not only the color of your exterior walls, but also the style of your house.

   • Trim color serves to accentuate the design of the house. It brings out the detail of the lines in the shape of the house. It is similar to using a frame around a painting. The frame is not used to dominate the painting, but to accentuate it.

   • If you have built a traditional house then use traditional colors.

   • If you have a more contemporary style house, then try to select colors that accentuate the various shapes of the house.

   • There are many exotic colors of Vinyl Siding out there. Have fun browsing through them.

3. How to install Soffits.

   • Soffits are composed of F-Trim and Soffit panels.

   • Attach the F-Trim to the exterior of the Fascia board with the open channel on the underside facing the house.

   

   • You must now figure out where to nail the F-Trim onto the wall.

     • To do so you will need your level.

     • Place your level up against the underside of the F-Trim you have just installed. Extend the level to the wall. Once it is in contact with the wall and level, make a mark on the wall.

     • Repeat on at the other end of the wall. Snap a line from one mark to the other. This will give you the exact location of the F-Trim on the wall.

     • Attach the F-Trim to the house. Be sure to leave a 1/4" gap between strips.

     

     • Measure the distance between both opposing F-Trim strips. Using your Chop Saw or circular saw, cut pieces of Soffit panels to those dimensions.

     • Insert the Soffit panels you have just cut into both sides of F-Trim.

     • Interlock one panel into the other as you work your way down the house.

     • Repeat this process on the other side of the house.

4. How to install vinyl panels along the Eaves of the house.

   • Installing siding on the Eaves is basically a repetition of the procedure you followed for the Soffits.

   • Attach the F-Trim along the bottom of the Fascia board, as you did with the Soffits.

   • Measure the distance between the F-Trim and the wall, then subtract 1/4". That measurement will give you the dimension of the eave panels.

   • Cut Soffit panels to that measurement and install one end of each panel into the F-strip. Place the other end of each panel over the top of the J-channel holding the wall panels in. Interlock each panel into the next one and continue along the entire surface of the Eaves.

   • Repeat on the other side of the house.

     

5. How to install Fascia Trim.

   • First you must install a strip of Under Silll Trim along the very top of the Fascia boards. This applies to the Trim on the Eaves as well.

   • Be sure that the Under Silll Trim faces down towards the bottom of the Fascia Board.

   • Measure the width of the Fascia board from the bottom edge to the inside of the Under Silll. This will give you the width of the Fascia Trim.

   • Cut the Fascia panels to those dimensions.

   • Notch out the straight edge of the fascia panels 16" on center, with the Snap-lock Punch .

   • Start at the same end of the house that you started the Vinyl Panels at. This will make the joints less visible from the high traffic areas.

   • Insert a Fascia panel into the Under Silll Trim until the notches catch.

   • Wrap the bottom channel of the panel around the bottom of the F-Trim and snap it into place. Continue this process along the rest of the Soffits.

   • You must repeat the same procedure for the Eaves. the only difference being, the peak and the bottom of the Eaves are angled. Therefore, you must cut the Fascia panel at the same angle as the roof line on both ends.

   • You must install Fascia panels from the bottom up so as to overlap panels from the top down. This will allow water to flow over the overlap joints, instead of into them and onto your house.

   

   
   
   
   

   {Next Step: Strapping Your Home}