| A friend of mine, who is a home builder by | | | | And that is exactly what I set out to do! |
| trade, approached me one day and commented | | | | |
| how he wished there was a better way to apply | | | | For those of you who may not have read any of |
| a backer, fascia board and shingle band to | | | | my previous articles, I am the founder and |
| roof rafters. He complained how tedious this | | | | president of Cedar Knoll Log Homes. While the |
| job was because it required buying three | | | | main focus of Cedar Knoll Log Homes is the |
| pieces of lumber, making three sets of cuts | | | | design and development of log homes, I am |
| and having to climb up a ladder to affix the | | | | fortunate to have some very talented |
| backer, come down, put up the fascia board, | | | | engineers on staff who are always up to a |
| come back down, and then go back up the | | | | good specialty design challenge. So off they |
| ladder to nail up the shingle band. "There | | | | went to the machine shop to create a set of |
| has got to be a simpler, better way to do | | | | custom knives that would produce a one-piece |
| this job," he said. | | | | fascia board / shingle band. I got back in |
| | | | touch with my friend and asked him to give |
| For those of you who may not be familiar with | | | | the prototype one-piece fascia board / |
| these terms, a fascia board is a band of | | | | shingle band a try on his next job. He |
| material that covers the rafter ends and | | | | happily agreed. After he finished the job, he |
| sides when it goes up the rake. A shingle | | | | called me up and said, "While I doubt this |
| band (also commonly called a rake board) is a | | | | new one-piece fascia board / shingle band |
| trim board that is attached at the top front | | | | will cause snow in July, it did make this job |
| of the fascia board to support the overhang | | | | much easier and saved me several hours back |
| of the roof shingles and to step out and | | | | up on a ladder. |
| protect the fascia from water drips. | | | | |
| Traditional wood-framed construction | | | | At $1.49 per linear foot (made from white |
| methodology requires two separate pieces of | | | | pine or $2.49 per linear foot in white |
| lumber and a two-step application process to | | | | cedar), this new time-saving product also |
| apply the fascia board and shingle band over | | | | allows home builders to save up to 30% off |
| the backer board. | | | | materials cost to purchase separate fascia |
| | | | boards and shingle bands. This means that |
| Having done this up-and-down the ladder | | | | home builders who use this one-piece fascia |
| fascia board, shingle band routine a few | | | | board / shingle band can either pass the |
| times myself, I understood what my friend was | | | | savings on to their clients or keep the |
| talking about. This got me to thinking; a | | | | saving to enhance their profits. Either way, |
| one-piece fascia board / shingle band seems | | | | the time savings means that builders are |
| to work nicely for metal or vinyl siding | | | | working smarter instead of harder and the |
| applications, so why not make one from wood? | | | | time saved can be used to get a jump on other |
| | | | tasks. |