Fascia and eaves paint problems on inland homes

Eight feet of fascia on a west facing eave can sit in direct sun for most of a summer afternoon while the wall under it stays in shade. Every teardown that exterior painting riverside cowboy santas has logged shows the same thing: the fascia and eaves fail first, long before the walls, and the repaint of a house in Riverside, CA has to start up high. Heat, light and almost no rain keep wood trim under constant strain.

Why wood trim fails first

Fascia boards sit at the top of the house, take reflected heat from the roof and get hit by sun from the first hour. A dark color can push the surface well past the temperature of the air. The wood dries out, shrinks and cups, and paint on a moving surface splits along the grain. Open end grain at the board ends and joints then drinks the little water that does arrive from sprinklers or morning dew.

South and west faces take the worst of it

The same house shows different damage on different sides. South and west fascia is usually peeled to bare wood, while north and east boards are merely dull. Eaves above a patio wall or beside a driveway can see extra reflected heat. Houses on streets that look toward Mount Rubidoux often show this pattern clearly, because the afternoon sun comes in low across open ground.

Repairs before paint

Scrape every loose flake, then sand the edges of what remains so the old coat does not show as a ridge. Soft or crumbling wood should be probed with a screwdriver and cut out, and the gap filled with an exterior wood filler or replaced with a new board section. Open joints and nail holes take caulk, since gaps are where water gets behind the paint. Sanding off loose surface and a scuff sand on any sound glossy paint gives the next coat something to grip.

Priming bare wood

Bare fascia takes an oil based primer or a good acrylic stain blocking primer, brushed on, with the end grain given two passes. The primer seals the wood so the topcoat dries evenly instead of soaking in patches. Leaving bare spots for the topcoat to cover is the most common reason fascia peels again within two summers.

Topcoat and color for heat

Two coats of acrylic enamel in a satin or semi gloss sheen shed water and clean easily. Lighter colors run cooler and move the boards less. Fascia is best done by brush and cut in carefully at the roof edge, or with a sprayer and masking when the whole house is being repainted at once.