Saggy soffits

I'd try and find out what's going on behind before deciding. If the ends of the roof trusses are damp then they'll need sorting out (or at least establishing if the leaky gutters is the cause) and just nailing a load of plastic soffit over the top may not be the best course of action?

Traditionally, fascia and soffit boards were a job for the carpenters. Unless you’re in a bungalow, access is the biggest problem.

You're clearly fine on a ladder so DIY 😄

It's a PITA if the first row of tiles rest on the fascia board. It could be DIY-able, depends on construction

General builder might be easier to find if it's beyond where you feel comfortable

I'd recommend someone but, er, well...

Just had our rotten soffits and fascias replaced with UPVC. Roofer job.

what's the age of the house and is it a bay?  quite common for older houses for the bays to drop, often due to double glazing fitting.  easiest solution is to raise the end of the guttering as high as you can to get it to run back.  can be a pain if tiled don't give you clearance

I've got a bungalow with a hipped roof.  One side has fairly large soffit approaching a metre wide and one corner of the roof has dropped quite a bit.  The ridge tiles down that hip drop noticeably after the top plate.

Can't see any rot or damage and apparently it's common with this style of roof.  Keeping an eye on it and have considered whether it can be bodged by trimming the rafters but I fear that it wouldn't work and then cause more problems trying to get it done properly.  I suspect really that corner of the roof needs rebuilding, and I also suspect roofers would only be interested if it's a whole roof replacement.

I've run another downpipe from the lowest corner as there is no way the gutters can be tweaked to counter the sagged area!

So watching with interest...

As said have a look behind, maybe from inside loft if you can access.  My bungalow soffits just drop a cm or so, so I popped some silicon in, propped them up, they seem to be staying in situ.  It was the gutter level that indicated the drop.

Our roofer was going to do the soffits too when he did the roof, but he was flat out on roofing so not overly keen.  The bungalows 50 years old so I m not bothered at all, no internal damp.

What is it, plastic fascia cladding over wood, or full thickness plastic fascias attached to the roof timbers?

I've just stuck plastic over mine and redone all the guttering, thankfully the wood was still sound so it was an ok job - still required scaffolding for one corner though.

Only did it myself because of some frankly insane quotes from roofers...I hate ladders with a vengeance.

We have a bungalow which had ancient rotten facias and soffits. Using trestles and boards I removed the bottom 3 rows of tiles, a couple of the roof joists needed repair with removal of sections / rot treatment / an additional length battened alongside and then I installed eves protectors and UPVC facias and soffits. I wouldn't want to do it on a house without a tower or scaffolding and finding a dead friendly UPVC outlet who offered great advice also helped.

House is 1959. Not sure on the construction, but suspect a thin layer of plastic fascia over timbers. It's also above a bay that I know is brick at ground level then tile-clad timber between the two sets of upvc double glazed windows.

If I could upload a video, I'd share it - you can see the plastic of the fascia moving as I press up, which suggests to me that the issue is not the whole structure sagging, more that the plastic is no-longer securely attached to the underlying timber because it's rotten. Indeed, on the second pic above you can see that the fascia seems to leanout at the top Checking that ot from outside will mean dismantling the whole gutter / fascia boarding, I'll see if I can get at it from inside the loft later. Oh joy, lying on all that insulation wool :/

First of all empty all that crap out of the gutter.  the weight of it probably really isn't helping.  Looks like a lot of debris in there.

So the bay is the problem? You're going to have to refit the gutter anyway, so bite the bullet and take a bit of it off to have a prod. It'll take you five minutes to get the gutter unclipped and the clips unscrewed.

If there is extensive rot underneath, it will probably be a roofer job even if it is confined to the board, because they'll have to take off the first few layers of tiles to refit properly. Even so, it's best to be forewarned how far the rot extends into to the rafters so you can get an accurate quote.

Yeah I moved most of the crap out after taking that photo. THere's a random piece of lead flashing in there, not sure where the heck that came from but itdoesn;t bode well...

Oh  yes, time for an update. I got up and took the gutter off and cleaned it, then had a look behind the plastic fascia. The fascia just pulled away by hand for a large part of it's length, about half was firmly attached

Hmm, that's definitely rotten

Yep, rotten wood

More rotten wood

Yet more rotten wood. You can see here the rafters are splitting at the bottom, but they felt fairly dry and solid

This is an odd angle, it's actually reversed - it's looking at the INSIDE of the fascia. It looks like the plastic fascia is attached to the (original?) wooden fascia board, which has become detached from the rafters

This shows the rafters where the fascia SHOULD have been attached. This rafter and the one just behind me at this point (the one at the end of this bit of roof) are the only ones to show damage

Continuedin next post...

Final one, a wider view back to where the original fascia is firmly attached to the rafters

Right then, the quesiton is what do I need to do now? I've reattached the fascia a little more firmly, so it's not sagging quite as much, but when it runs the water stil does drip (rather than pouring as it used to).

Do I need to get a roofer in? Or a soffits and fascia specialist? Or just a general joiner / carpenter?

As I finished putting the fascia back, I did notice a very slight dip in the ridgeline

The rafters in the attic all feel dry - but might this be related?

Having worked for a window fitter I will try give you a plan of action. Assuming that you are going to DIY the job. Get a stand off adapter for the top of the ladder. Push the second row of tiles up (usually odd ones nailed) use a hammer shaft to do this. Lift the first row off and place higher up out of the way. This gives you access to the roof timbers. It's looking like yours are just overclad so you need to start again I'm afraid. Rip it all off including soffits. Sort out timbers if needed. Lay soffits on top of the bricks and nail the outer edge inline with the outer edge of the timbers. Fit the new thicker facias. Fit new felt guard up to the first tile lat and under any felt that's not rotted away. This channels the rain water into the gutter and is important. Fit the gutter back. Go for a couple of pints 👍

Easy job 😀

Hey up,

You need Dave the Roofer.

But I know he's busy for the next 6 weeks.