Enclosing
the overhangs and wrapping the facia boards in a vinyl clad aluminum
provides an excellent and elegant accent. This soffit panel (the
underside of the overhang) is made by Alside and is their top of
the line product. This is the strongest soffit panel I have personally
ever seen. It is very thick with a heavy interlock and the vented
area is hidden in the slots. This invisibly-vented soffit is much
stronger than the all too common vented soffit that looks like someone
attacked it with a hole punch punching hundreds of holes through
it. When you remove all that material, the soffit panels become
quite weak and sag over time, some times very badly. This soffit
has similar span ratings to that of a metal soffit panel! A nice
compromise between price and quality is a "lanced" panel
where the vented area looks like half loops hanging down. From below
you cannot see through the vented area as it breathes through the
sides of the loops and since you haven't removed material, this
soffit retains strength. Lanced pattern soffits are the most popular
(price being a big contributing factor). On special order we can
also bring in beaded pattern soffits that were very popular on older
Colonial and Victorian homes to retain that special period architectural
detailing.
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Alside Charter Oak Soffit
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Gable
accents such as scallops, sun bursts, shake accents, even running
the siding vertically or diagonally can give a home a lot of additional
character. Royal makes a nice board and batten style that looks
great as a gable accent. Sunbursts can either cover an entire gable
area like the home on the right or they can be run as a smaller
accent by installing them only 4 feet down or so as was quite common
on older Victorian homes. Often you will find that small areas of
well planned accents look better than covering large expanses and
it is much less costly for you the customer. These scallops are
available in a range of colors. |
Gable accents
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Board
and batten makes a nice accent or it can be used for the entire
home. Soffit material is often used for vertical gable accents as
it is readily available in a wide range of colors. The advantage
to running siding vertically on the gables is that it fools the
eye into thinking the gables are taller than they are. That can
be very effective for homes with lower pitched roofs. Also it is
less expensive to add a vertical accent than to add a sun burst
or other labor intensive accents. |
Vertical accents
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| On
this home on the right starting from the top you can see that the
facia boards are wrapped in color white and the undersides (soffits)
are enclosed giving the home a nice finished look. White vinyl shakes
have been installed in the gables and then run part of the way down
the wall in a "Craftsman" style. The gable vent is a white
circular gable vent. Gable vents are available as either circular,
square, hexagonal, or semi-circular and provide a nice accent by themselves.
A belly band trim has been added between the shakes and the vinyl
lap siding. This can either be a trim lineal or more commonly a wood
band custom wrapped in a wide range of colors. On the right wall a
"T" band was used to eliminate seams of any kind as was
done on some older cedar jobs, but the band itself is quite visible,
so one can argue whether that is the best solution and it is ultimately
a customer decision. |
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| Shutters
are probably the most popular accessory item. They offer the homeowner
a wonderful way to add a third color accent which can really increase
the visual appeal of a home's color scheme. Our shutters are custom
made by a nice "retired" lady named Margaret who puts a
lot of care into every shutter. She makes them in a wide range of
colors exactly to size. One of my pet peeves is seeing peoples homes
with shutters that are not cut to match the windows. Quality is in
bringing all the little details together properly. |
Shutter
Accents
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