Hardware cloth on soffit

[FullHouseMama]

I planned to leave my roof soffit open for ventilation and secure it with hardware cloth. Now that we are all that point I don’t know the best way to do it. Any suggestions?

 

[blackdog043]

If you put a face plate board across the front of your roof joist, you can attach your HWC to the bottom of that. Then run it up to your coop and bend the wire down and attach the HWC to your wall, using screws long enough to screw into the 2 x 4. You can put a piece of trim up to cover where the HWC attaches to the front for a finished look, if you want.

Hope I explained it ok. Here's mine done the same way, except I also put a piece of trim on front of the face plate, just to finish it off.

 

[Finnie]

Oh my gosh you guys are geniuses!

Here I have been thinking I needed to cut a bazillion small rectangles and tediously nail-staple them to each opening in my soffits between every rafter. Was NOT looking forward to that ordeal. I feel like such a dummy.

Thank you SO much for illustrating the correct way to do this!

 

[Chad Oftedal]

In my case, my plans called for a 2x4 sub fascia. I attached the hardware cloth to the 2x4 with stainless steel washers and screws and 1 1/2" stainless steel staples. I then pre-bent the hc with another 2x4, and attached it all to the rafter ends. Like @blackdog043 I covered mine where it attached to the coop with a 1x4 trim piece to hide the edge.

 

[FullHouseMama]

Perfect explanation! Thank you!!

 

[blackdog043]

@blackdog043 did you pre-bend the HC before installing?

No I did not pre-bend the HC. I worked from the rafter end to the wall, then I used a piece of 1 x to jam the HC in to the corner. It wasn't a perfect bend, but it's hidden by the trim.

 

[blackdog043]

Your welcome!

 

[aart]

I did much the same, with out the fancy trim,
tho I did already have fascia on the rafter ends.
See here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-coop-page.65912/

@blackdog043 did you pre-bend the HC before installing?

 

[Chad Oftedal]

So glad you found the pictures and thread helpful! Don’t be worried at all about not “getting it” without the pictures. I was thinking along similar lines as you until I found posts and examples here on BYC. @aart had advice in one post to make a “sample” or “model” first, and so I did that with some scrap wire mesh and an 18” piece of 2x4. This was hugely beneficial for me, because once I was in the shop, it was easy to to get confused what went which direction. My model helped me keep it all straight. It’s a great community here, glad you found the post here and we were able to save you some time!

 

[aart]

@aart had advice in one post to make a “sample” or “model” first,

Prototype!!
I love prototypes!!
Or in this case, really more of a 'pattern piece' to check measurements and bends.
Mine was a foot long to test the specs for 16' long soffit mesh.