How to Install Maintenance-Free Aluminum Soffits (page 4 of 6)

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How to Install Maintenance-Free Aluminum Soffits: J-Channel Tips

J-Channel Tips
Nail J-channel in place tight against the existing soffit with 1-1/4 in. shingle nails driven into the soffit framing. Spend time on corners. You’ll be looking at them for a long time.

You gotta build this quick, cheap and easy cutting table!

Click image to enlarge.

Cutting dozens of soffit panels with a pair of snips is tiring and crushes the grooves together. A circular saw makes clean, precise cuts easy—when it’s coupled with a cutting table. You can make a plywood-cutting table (Fig. A) in about an hour. The 45- degree side of the table is for cutting miters on hip roof soffits (see “How to Handle Soffit Corners on Hip Roofs,”).

Use a plywood crosscutting blade mounted backward—the saw teeth point down in a clockwise direction. Before reversing the blade, make a pass halfway through the top of the plywood saw table to create a saw blade groove. This allows the blade to cut completely and cleanly through the aluminum. For multiple cuts of the same length, clamp a stop block to the table fence. Cut panels 1/4 in. short of the measured width. Caution: Wear hearing and eye protection.

If the house has frieze boards (trim boards directly below the soffits), pull them off unless their removal leaves an unfinished gap between the siding and the new soffit. If that’s the case, leave it and butt the J-channel against it. Removing the frieze board is optional. Do it if you ever expect to replace your siding. That way, you’ll be able to strip off the old siding without wrecking the new soffits.

If you don’t already have these tools, add ’em to your collection
Aside from the jigsaw, none of these tools costs more than $15, so it’s usually cheaper to buy rather than rent them. Home centers carry the same quality tools the pros use.

Pair of tin snips for cutting straight lines.
Pair of right or left cut snips for cutting curves, if you have circles to cut (for example, round lights and electrical boxes).
Trim nail punch for holding and setting nails into soffit grooves and tight places.
Combination square for making clean fascia bends to go around corners.
12-in. folding tool for making small bends in fascia.
Jigsaw for cutting vents and removing projecting corners.
Carpenter’s square for squaring up the first soffit panel to the house.
Hammer, utility knife, tape measure, chalk line.

Job

Soffit Panel Tips
Use a carpenter’s square to install the first soffit panel perpendicular to the house with the groove side toward the direction you’re installing. Oftentimes you’ll need to notch and fit the first and last panel around corners and trim. The ones in between the ends practically install themselves.

The J-channel anchors the houseside soffit edge. Nail the opposite soffit edge to the bottom edge of the wooden fascia. Place one nail in each of the outer V-grooves and in the lip of the groove flange. For soffits that are wider than 2 ft., put a nailer across the center of the soffit for more support. Nail the lath to the bottom of the wooden soffit by driving 2-in. nails into the soffit framing members.

Tricks of the trade for a quality job

Nailing Tips
Fasten all aluminum trim with 1-1/2 in. aluminum or stainless steel nails, color-coated to match the trim. Select stainless if there’s a choice. They hold better and don’t bend as readily as aluminum nails. A trim nail punch has a recessed sliding driver that not only holds nails while you pound (saving smashed fingers) but also allows you to set nails in deep crevices where the hammer can’t reach. Buy one!

Buy top-notch materials—they’re easier to install and will last for decades
Aluminum soffits come in a lot of different colors, but you’ll probably find only brown and white at most home centers and lumberyards. If you’d like a greater selection and usually higher-quality materials, look under “Siding Materials” in the Yellow Pages to find out where the pros shop. Most suppliers will sell to the public. Rollex, Alcoa and Reynolds are three manufacturers that offer top-notch products. Manufacturers of premium-grade aluminum use thicker-gauge metal with sturdier edges, so the soffits are more resistant to kinking and denting. Their color finishes are less likely to scratch or wear off and they hold color tones better over time. They also supply complementary colors in siding if you decide to go the next step and make your whole house maintenance free.