uPVC gutters, fascias, soffits, etc

[JohnLIreland]

Next door neighbour is having his black uPVC gutters replaced and having his soffits, fascias, barge boards, etc (the bits under the roof tiles that hold the gutters) clad in white uPVC as well. Evidently, my wife wants us to do ours the same but I'm concerned as to what problems might crop up in years to come, e.g. if water gets behind the PVC cladding, it'll rot the wood and it won't be visible for years and could do more damage.

Has anyone any advice? Is uPVC cladding over wooden structures a good idea?

[NORMANTHEDOG]

its a lot better then the wood,and if you leave it you will have all the wood going rotten wont you

[JohnLIreland]

That may be so, but at least I'll be able to see that the wood has a problem where, if clad in PVC, I won't know there's anything wrong until the whole lot gives way.

[sddsddean]

If they are cladding over the wood, they are doing it wrong! The whole point of uPVC boards etc is to be maintenence free. The wood should all be removed then replaced by uPVC.

[Jules001]

I'd agree with sddsddean here, we had ours done last year and they removed the old wood underneath before putting on the UPVC which is the way it should be done.