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