EAVESTROUGH,SOFFIT & FASCIA.
The roof edge: where water leaves the house, and where the attic breathes in.
- GUIDES
- 3
- GLOSSARY TERMS
- 10
The edge of your roof does three jobs. The eavestrough collects the water and the downspouts carry it away from the foundation. The fascia gives the eavestrough and the roof edge something solid to fasten to. The soffit closes the underside of the overhang and, when it's vented, is where your attic draws its air.
When any of those fail, the damage usually shows up somewhere else: a wet basement, an ice dam, rot at the roof edge. This shelf connects the symptoms to the cause.
- How do eavestroughs protect my foundation?
- What are soffit and fascia, and why do they rot?
- What does eavestrough work cost?
READ THEM IN THIS ORDER.
- 01How eavestroughs workEavestroughs catch the water running off your roof, and downspouts carry it away so it doesn't soak the ground against your basement walls. In Calgary, the City's Stormwater Bylaw also requires downspouts to end at least 2 metres from sidewalks, roads and lanes, so where yours point matters as much as how big they are.
- 02Soffit and fascia explainedFascia is the board along the edge of your roof that the eavestrough is fastened to; soffit is the panel under the overhang, and its vents are usually where your attic draws in fresh air. When either fails it's almost always water or blocked airflow, which in a Calgary winter shows up as rotted fascia, attic frost and ice dams.
- 03Eavestrough cost in CalgaryEavestrough in Calgary is priced by the linear foot of trough plus each downspout, then moved by the trough size, how high the runs are, and whether the fascia board behind it is sound enough to hold it. That makes quotes easy to compare once you know what to check, and a real price comes from your house's runs and downspouts, measured.
THE BASICS
Plain-language primers. Assume nothing.
How eavestroughs work
Eavestroughs catch the water running off your roof, and downspouts carry it away so it doesn't soak the ground against your basement walls. In Calgary, the City's Stormwater Bylaw also requires downspouts to end at least 2 metres from sidewalks, roads and lanes, so where yours point matters as much as how big they are.
Soffit and fascia explained
Fascia is the board along the edge of your roof that the eavestrough is fastened to; soffit is the panel under the overhang, and its vents are usually where your attic draws in fresh air. When either fails it's almost always water or blocked airflow, which in a Calgary winter shows up as rotted fascia, attic frost and ice dams.
Eavestrough cost in Calgary
Eavestrough in Calgary is priced by the linear foot of trough plus each downspout, then moved by the trough size, how high the runs are, and whether the fascia board behind it is sound enough to hold it. That makes quotes easy to compare once you know what to check, and a real price comes from your house's runs and downspouts, measured.
THE EAVESTROUGH, SOFFIT & FASCIA GLOSSARY.
- Aluminum fascia cover
- Pre-finished aluminum bent over a wood fascia board to protect it. It's a cover, not structure, so the wood behind it still needs to be sound.
- Downspout
- The vertical pipe that carries water from the eavestrough down to the ground and away from the foundation.
- Eavestrough
- The channel along the eave that collects water off the roof and carries it to the downspouts. Also called a gutter.
- Fascia
- The vertical board along the roof edge, below the drip edge. It closes off the ends of the roof framing and is what the eavestrough hangs from.
- Gutter guard
- A screen or cover over an eavestrough meant to keep debris out while letting water in.
- K-style eavestrough
- A common eavestrough profile named for its shape, which looks a bit like crown moulding from the side.
- Lot grading
- The slope of the ground around a house, which should fall away from the foundation so runoff drains toward the street, lane or a swale. Without it, downspout extensions only move the puddle.
- Seamless eavestrough
- Eavestrough formed on site from a continuous coil of metal, so the only joints are at corners and outlets.
- Soffit
- The underside of a roof overhang, between the fascia and the house wall. Vented soffit panels are usually where the attic draws in outside air.
- Soffit vent
- A vented section of soffit that lets outside air into the attic. It's the intake half of most attic ventilation systems and shouldn't be blocked.
