ROOF: soffit

The final stage of the tile roof was the soffit. Most of the work for this was done at the structure stage. The ends of the rafters are the main fixing points for the tongue and groove. I just needed to fix a baton along the wall. I had trouble finding tongue, groove and bevel timber to match the existing soffit. Eventually I got my local timber supplier to trim some 6x1 to size and rout a bevel down the side. A router is a tool that I have coveted for decades but I have never quite been able to justfy buying one.

July 2009: The ends of the rafters are the main fixing points for the soffit.

The existing soffit on the house is truncated by the dormer window over the front door. We copied this for the back of the new soffit but followed the line of our bedded tiles at the top. I could then fit the guttering and a drainpipe. Guttering is straightforward. You just need to give it a slight fall to allow for the flow. The overall cost for the tiled section of the roof was £920. The actual tiles were £290 plus there was £288 for timber, £150 for hardware, £44 for lead and £148 for the membrane, vents, trays, Flashpoint and guttering.

The original truncated soffit by the dormer window over the front door.

April 2010: The new soffit end. This was taken afer the glass roof had been fitted.

April 2010: The guttering needed to be fitted before painting was complete for the final inspection by Building Control in April 2010.

April 2010: The finished roof complete with soffit.