# New siding up to existing soffit



## jtchavez (Feb 29, 2012)

I'm getting ready to install new vinyl siding on my home. It currently has wood siding on it and I'd really like to remove it and start with a clean slate. The house was built in the 50's and stripping the outside will give me an opportunity to do blow-in insulation into the wall cavities which have little to no insulation currently. However, I'm running into an issue with the soffit. The previous homeowner had some nice aluminum soffit installed. When they did so, the installer attached the F-channel directly to the wood siding versus some sort of frame board. The issue that I'm concerned about it is when I pull the existing siding down I'm going to have a problem with the soffit. I'll either have to find a way to accurately cut a straight line in the upper-most siding board (the one that the f-channel is attached to) in order to leave it there and side up to the soffit, OR I'm going to have to take the soffit down and remove the siding and then reinstall the soffit and siding. If I do option #2, the soffit panels will be too short, right? One idea that I had to overcome that was to take out the soffit panels, remove all of the old siding, put up a new 1x4 board to attach the f-channel to, and then reinstall the soffit and siding. However, I'm not familiar enough with how to finish the top row of siding up against the soffit to know if that will work properly.

Any help here?

Thanks!

Josh


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Post a picture to make it a lot easer to suggest an easy way to do this.
It's not going to be as complicated as you think.


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## jtchavez (Feb 29, 2012)

You can see the issue that I'm asking about where the soffit f-channel is mounted directly over the original wood siding.


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## Tom Struble (Dec 29, 2008)

first thing i would check is to make sure there is adequate venting under the soffit,many times vented soffit is installed without cutting holes or removing the original wood soffit

you could carefully remove/replace the aluminum soffit but you may have to detail it differently as it may be too short after removing the underlying siding


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## jtchavez (Feb 29, 2012)

That's why I was curious if I could carefully remove the soffit and then put up a 1x4 nailer board attached directly to the house in order to space it back out properly? That way I would hopefully not have an issue with the soffit panels being too short.

Thanks for the heads up on the venting. I'll make sure to check that out.


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## Tom Struble (Dec 29, 2008)

yes you can do this,are you planing to add foam underlayment?


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## jtchavez (Feb 29, 2012)

Tom Struble said:


> yes you can do this,are you planing to add foam underlayment?


Possibly. I was actually planning on doing blow-in into the wall cavities from the outside. Then I'd do a Tyvek wrap. Wasn't sure if I'd need anymore than that or not?


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## Tom Struble (Dec 29, 2008)

i wasn't suggesting you needed it only if you were that could give the thickness you need to make up for the removed siding


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## jtchavez (Feb 29, 2012)

Tom Struble said:


> i wasn't suggesting you needed it only if you were that could give the thickness you need to make up for the removed siding


 
I gotcha. 

So as far as adequate venting in the soffit goes, how much would you consider "adequate"?


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## Tom Struble (Dec 29, 2008)

i like to see all the old wood soffit removed


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

You should be able to just go up the the attic and see if you have full venting in the soffit area.
One way to cut out that old frese board and not leave a space would be with a Toe Kick saw.
If you replaced it with 5/4 vinyl lumber it will cover the old F mold and be more then enough off set for the 1/2" J molding.
I install the J then insert a piece of utility trim (also called under sill) up side down in the J molding. When the siding is installed I punch it with a special rectanguler punch that leaves a tab. As the siding is inserted it snaps in place and is impossible to remove without a zipper tool and it can float free so it does not buckle. No face nailing, no silicone in the locking strip in the siding needed and will never come undone.
http://www.house-energy.com/Cooling/Soffit.html

http://www.dynamitetoolco.com/Malco-SL5-Snap-Lock-Punch-p/mal-sl5.htm


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## jtchavez (Feb 29, 2012)

joecaption said:


> You should be able to just go up the the attic and see if you have full venting in the soffit area.
> One way to cut out that old frese board and not leave a space would be with a Toe Kick saw.
> If you replaced it with 5/4 vinyl lumber it will cover the old F mold and be more then enough off set for the 1/2" J molding.
> I install the J then insert a piece of utility trim (also called under sill) up side down in the J molding. When the siding is installed I punch it with a special rectanguler punch that leaves a tab. As the siding is inserted it snaps in place and is impossible to remove without a zipper tool and it can float free so it does not buckle. No face nailing, no silicone in the locking strip in the siding needed and will never come undone.
> ...


 
It's kinda difficult to follow that explanation without some kind of picture or illustration or something.


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## Tom Struble (Dec 29, 2008)

jtchavez said:


> View attachment 46719
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> 
> 
> ...



what siding is on there now?


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## jtchavez (Feb 29, 2012)

Tom Struble said:


> what siding is on there now?


 
Just a wood plank siding with who knows how many coats of paint on it.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

It would look exactly like what you have now except the new siding would butt up to the bottom of the piece you remove, not go under it like what you have.
http://www.lowes.com/cd_How+to+Install+Vinyl+Siding_1273084836_

If you scroll down toward the bottom of this site it shows how to use just the under sill. Since you need to cover up the old F molding you need to add a piece of J first then the undersill to cover the gap.


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## Tom Struble (Dec 29, 2008)

you sure you want to replace it?


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## jtchavez (Feb 29, 2012)

Very sure.


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## jtchavez (Feb 29, 2012)

Tom Struble said:


> you sure you want to replace it?


Did some more thinking and research and after contemplating quite a bit, we went with no, I don't believe that we'll be replacing it. We'll probably be house shopping within a year or so and decided that with some decent prep and a fresh coat of paint, we'd be better off saving the money that we would have spent on installing new siding. 

Now, another question on prepping for the new coat of paint. There are NUMEROUS coats of paint on the house. Some of it on the back (south) side of the home is chipping all the way down to the wood. It will obviously leave voids that, if painted over, will still be visible and look like crap. Is there some type of filler (think spackle or bondo) that you can purchase to put a little skim coat in those areas to help provide a flat surface to paint over? If so, details please.


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## Tom Struble (Dec 29, 2008)

i'll leave that to the painting pro's but it's nice to see you leaving the wood:thumbsup:


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