My home is in Santa Cruz, CA and it is what might be described as a cottage bungalow. I need to reroof my home. Many rafter tails need to be replaced due to termite damage. One roofer recommended installing fascia board over the rafter tails. Is this procedure in keeping with bungalow design? Our home does have "K" or "OG" style gutters.

Fire your roofer. I’m serious… <br> <br>I'm trying to figure out how to get my rafter tails back on after the previous owner listened to their roofer and cut them all off and installed a fascia board with a home depot gutter system. <br> <br>There are other options but may not be as easy and as cheap as cutting of your rafter tails and homogenizing your house. <br> <br>As my third grade art teacher thought me, "you can always cut more off, but you can never glue it back on..." <br>

Ditto what Diane said. Verbatim. I'm also spending way too much time plotting to remove the oh-so-ugly fascia board now covering my rafters. Ugg.

I agree with what Diane and Suzanne said DON'T DO IT! I'm trying to figure out how to expose my rafters now that the po covered some of them up. People spend an awful lot of money trying to replace those things. I would find a roofer who do historical restorations or has a love for older homes not one of those new home roofers.

Make this another vote NO! <br> <br>The rafter tails are an intrinic part of a bungalow. Destroying that details will really change the look and character of your house. So many have had that done to them here... I can tell you horror stories. <br> <br>But how many Victorian style houses had the trim covered or destroyed by vinyl siding contractors? It is the same thing... <br> <br>

I think it depends on the "style" of your bungalow...my Colonial Revival never had exposed rafter tails, and if you have a cottage style ? tudoresque, you may not have had them either. If you do...don't let the roofers touch them! <br> <br>Barbara

Ditto what everyone else said, if can save them, save them. Someone over the years put a fascia board over the raftertails on the front of my house (back is still exposed)and then the roofers put the bottom roof flashing over them (not pretty). So now I'm trying to figure out how to remove it without having to tear out the first 3 courses of shingles.

I want to thank everyone for their comments. I just discovered American Bungalow magaizine and their Web site's online forums; this is a great resource. I just put together a Web page (see http://homepages.borland.com/tgardner/sunnyside/) with some pictures of our home as the pictures help describe my earlier question regarding covering the rafter tails with a fascia. I'm not even sure if our home is a bungalow. I'll post a question in the "What Style is my Bungalow" forum. Thanks again for your comments.

In this picture: <br> <br> <br> <br>Are you talking about the exposed beams on the gable end or the rafter tails behind the gutters? If the latter, it appears that the rafter tails have already been clipped from a former state of exposed rafter tails. Probably done in an earlier roofing job. <br> <br>As far as the knee braces that he recommended, that will give your house more a of a bungalow look. That's a common original detail. <br> <br>Diane

Hi Diane, <br>Thanks for your reply. The roofer recommended placing the fascia on the rafter tails behind the gutters. He also recommended replacing the 4" gutters with 5" gutters. I asked him why he recommended placing a fascia over the rafter tail ends and he said that it can offer some protection from termites, etc. but mainly because it offers a clean roof and paint line. He said we don't have to do it, it all depends on what the look my wife and I like. We have drove around looking at bungalows with fascia boards, some look real nice, others look terrible. <br>This one roofer we are considering seems very knowledgeable and sincere. He gave us addresses of homes he has worked at along with his own home so that we can look at his work, get ideas, etc. <br>Thanks for commenting on the "knee braces". Do you know where to find different designs? My wife likes ones that have a bit of curve to them. The second story addition did not have the cantilever eave braces installed when built like the single story has. If we add knee braces to the cantilever eave braces on the single story I'm thinking of having the same installed on the second story so everything matches. Any opinions?

I think that adding knee braces to the second story addition is a good idea. It would help unify the two parts.

Since the rafter tails are already "clipped", your two options are to rebuild the original birds beak rafter tails (not real easy) or improve what you have. Look at the houses that the roofer mentioned and if you like it, then what the heck. One option that you may consider that may give you a more "bungalow-y" look is 1/2 round gutters instead of the usual K gutters. You could mount brackets to hold the 1/2 round and dress up the look. <br> <br>There was an article in this months Old House Journal that talked about exterior deatails and mentions knee braces. If you have bungalows in your neighborhood, drive around and copy the ones you like. Also the various bungalow books give good examples. The important thing is to make sure you get the right scale for your house. I've seen "new" knee braces that were either too small or too big. <br> <br>Diane

Not sure I'd assume they are clipped Original rafter tails look like that in my parts (including on my house).....fancy ends are much less common here.