A Long Wooden Fascia - Best Option?

[Russet Grange]

Hello all.

I've pretty much finished my summer house, it looks great in black Hardie Plank but I would like to make a contrasting fascia from wood. It will be stained a medium oak and then have a few coats of quality varnish applied. If it lasts for three years I'll be happy as it will be exposed to direct sunlight pretty much all day long and all year round.

Needs to be 5m long and then two sides of 4m each. 160mm height.

The obvious answer is some marine ply I guess, 18mm, but it will need two joints to get the width. I'm therefore thinking of maybe a variety of shorter strips, 55mm high and offsetting to give a lot of strength and a relatively nice look. I've got a big enough workshop to make it, plus the tools needed.

Just looking for alternatives from wood, with one possibility being just a planed softwood, cut and glued in the same way as above.

Regarding the three years, wood outside doesn't last forever, and I don't mind redoing once as we'll probably move in five or six years anyway.

Cheers

[Den Den]

I bought a 5 metre length of 5 x 1 planed softwood from my local Travis Perkins last week, there were a couple of other planks in the rack that were longer than that as well. The chap who sorted it out said they get bundles of the stuff from the supplier that are various lengths, some up to 6 metres.

[Ben-57xmk]

Definitely not ply, it doesn't take much for a bit of water to get into exposed edges no matter how well you paint/seal it, and it will start delaminating.

Ideally for longevity you want some type of hardwood that is inherently water and rot resistant, but the cheapest option probably is a planed softwood found at any timber merchants.

[wolfracesonic]

You should be able to get 5m, you may have to order it specially, 4.8m is usually a standard max length, depending on where you go. It will probably be 5.1m, it works in .3m increments. I’d take the trouble to track it down rather than ply, as said above, the joints will look crap and be a weak point re. water getting in. I can recommend Epifanes varnish btw.

[Russet Grange]

OK thanks all. I just had it in my head from building the thing that 4.8m was a limit on single bits of wood.

[v8notbrave]

Had a nightmare with wooden fascia, tried all sorts of fancy primer and paint

Got it covered in uPVC, maybe not what u want but just my tuppence

[Russet Grange]

v8notbrave said:

Had a nightmare with wooden fascia, tried all sorts of fancy primer and paint

Got it covered in uPVC, maybe not what u want but just my tuppence

Don't fancy uPVC if I'm honest. I think it would be almost impossible to fix flat over that length, and I would have to fix through the EPDM sheet, which is another problem. With the wood I'm going to try something where it hangs from the roof. (I have a plan, and at worst I will fix through the rubber).

[Little Lofty]

My local timber merchant stocks 5.4m lengths of most PSE from 2x1 to 9x1, kept well painted it should last a decent amount of time.

[OutInTheShed]

Little Lofty said:

My local timber merchant stocks 5.4m lengths of most PSE from 2x1 to 9x1, kept well painted it should last a decent amount of time.

Kept well painted, it would look OK if not one piece of wood.

[Little Lofty]

OutInTheShed said:

Kept well painted, it would look OK if not one piece of wood.

Joints are the weak spot though, far better in one piece if possible.

[NumBMW]

The pricey option but you can use Accoya, can get over 5m lengths, then paint it and forget about painting it again. It will outlast the shed

[reggie747]

Have you considered a UPVC fascia ?
5m lengths and oak foil veneered too, as you're likely aware.

[reggie747]

Have you considered a UPVC fascia ?
5m lengths and oak foil veneered too, as you're likely aware.

[Snow and Rocks]

Planed softwood will last perfectly well.

The stuff on our extension was fitted in 1992 and is still sound. Make sure it's well coated on all sides before putting it up then just give it an occasional rub down and repaint if it starts to look weathered.

Ply will look crap.

[Russet Grange]

Thanks again all.