Fascia & Soffit Repair

The first thing to rot on a Houston house, and the easiest thing to catch early.

Two boards nobody thinks about until they fail.

The fascia is the vertical board running along the edge of the roof, the one your gutters are screwed to. The soffit is the horizontal panel underneath the overhang, between the fascia and the wall. Together they close off the edge of the roof structure and, crucially, the soffit is where your attic breathes in.

Why they go first in Houston

The gutter is bolted to the fascia. When a gutter blocks, overflows or sags, the water runs down the back of it, straight into the board it is hanging from. Every blocked gutter in this city is slowly destroying its own fastening.
Humidity. Wood at persistent high moisture content does not need a leak to rot, it just needs to stay damp, and here it does.
The drip edge is missing or short. Without it, water coming off the shingles wicks back under the edge onto the fascia instead of dropping clear.
Paint failure. Once the coating goes on a south or west elevation, the wood is exposed to sun and rain directly.
Squirrels and rats. A soft soffit corner is an entry point, and once the hole exists it lets weather in as well.

How to tell from the ground

Peeling or blistering paint along the roof edge, usually the first sign
Staining or dark streaking down the fascia, particularly under a gutter joint
A gutter that has begun to sag or pull away, which means the fascia is no longer holding a screw
Soffit panels that are cupped, stained, sagging, or have a visible gap
Birds or squirrels going in and out at the eave
Wasp nests in the soffit, which means a gap

If you can safely reach it, press the fascia with a screwdriver. Sound wood resists. If it goes in, the board is gone and paint will not save it.

Why this is roofing work, not handyman work

The fascia and soffit are part of the roof edge assembly. Doing them properly means dealing with the drip edge, the gutter, the first course of shingles and the soffit ventilation at the same time. Replace a fascia board without addressing why it rotted and you will replace it again.

It is also the moment to check what the soffit ventilation is actually doing, because a rotted soffit is frequently a soffit whose vents were blocked with insulation and never moved any air. That matters more than people realise.

What we do

Probe the full run rather than the obvious spot, because rot travels along the grain and the visible damage is usually the end of it, not the extent.
Find and fix the water source: the gutter, the drip edge, a roof detail above.
Replace the rotted sections, matching profile and reveal to the existing.
Check the rafter tails behind the fascia, which are structural and sometimes gone too.
Restore or improve the soffit ventilation while it is open, because it will never be this easy again.
Prime all faces including the back and the cut ends, which is where the next rot starts if you skip it, then paint.
Rehang the gutter properly, or replace it if the hangers have been chewing up the board.

Do it with the roof

If you are replacing the roof, this is the time. The drip edge is off, the gutters are down, there is already a dumpster on the drive and the crew is already at the eave. Done as a separate visit six months later it costs considerably more for exactly the same work.

What it costs, and how you can check

Every job on this page is priced Cost Plus. You see the supplier invoice for the materials, the crew hours at our published rate, the permit and disposal at what they actually cost, and one service fee of 20 to 30 percent set by job complexity and locked before anything starts. There is no second number and no change order conversation after the fact. The full breakdown is here.

Common Questions

Can you just paint over rotted fascia?

No. Paint on soft wood hides it for a season and traps moisture behind the film. The rotted section has to come out.

Should I use wood, Hardie or PVC?

Primed wood matches most Houston houses and is fine if it is properly sealed on every face and kept painted. Fiber cement resists rot far better for a modest cost increase. PVC will never rot at all and is the most expensive. On a house with a history of repeat rot, the upgrade is usually worth it.

My gutter is pulling away. Is that the gutter or the fascia?

Almost always the fascia. The screws have nothing solid left to hold. Rehanging the gutter on rotten wood buys a few months.

Is soffit damage letting animals into my attic?

Frequently, yes. A soft or gapped soffit is the most common entry point into a Houston attic. We close it properly, though we are not a wildlife removal company, so anything living in there needs dealing with first.

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Or call (281) 305-8669