What material to use?

[hbmcc]

Is there a horizontal soffit behind that? It might look pretty nasty too.

They're a cute style do-dad on homes with no eave or barge, but please, give me lots of overhang instead.

[fixtureman]

Looks like there is at least 18 inches of overhang on the side and about 24 down the length of the house

[packerguy®]

           That's a somewhat regional thing. It is extremely rare here since houses are brick there are few siding/aluminum contractors. I haven't seen aluminum put on a house in 20 years or more... Here you would have to find a commercial trim guy and they don't want to mess with residential.

Thats too bad. Not real hard to do. All you need is a roll of coil, shears, a brake and some nails.

[chrisntam]

I'd try cedar...

I'd try cedar...

I'd try cedar...

3 times because the stupid 17 character rule.

[Stwood_]

I'd try cedar...

I'd try cedar...

I'd try cedar...

3 times because the stupid 17 character rule.

Uhuh

[APZ]

PVC is a really good way to go but only if you can get it locally. If you have Menards you should have a decent selection of widths. Here we just have Despot and Blowes so it's hard to get.  It works like wood for the most part. ...

Around here Lowes and Home Depot have a good selection of PVC trim.

[Randy C]

We used to call those rake returns "Pork chops"; that's what the shape resembled. The vertical cut changed to a radius that flowed into the bottom of the rake trim. (Originally these ends were one piece and a scarf joint mated to the rake further up.) The purpose was to direct the flow of water coming down the rake away from where it would cause damage. On your house that water is slamming right into the joint and getting behind the paint. You can keep the joint sealed with a good caulk but the joint has to be kept wide so the caulk has enough thickness to stretch and shrink while still sticking to both parts. In other words, a small bead of caulking covering a small gap is purely cosmetic and it won't last very long.

I would make the replacement out of P.V.C.. There's a good chance that there's a 1/2" gap between the rake and the rafter tail; if so, you can back up the joint with plywood and construction adhesive to try to keep the joint tight.

So you are saying that if I get a good tight joint between these two pieces of wood that this is bad and that I need a crappy fit so that I can fill it with caulk and that will solve the problem? 

I guess I have been doing it wrong because I thought that a good tight joint was desirable?

[joe1086]

PVC.

Keep in mind PVC trim is stable across its width but will expand/shrink across its length with temperature.

[MstrCarpenter]

So you are saying that if I get a good tight joint between these two pieces of wood that this is bad and that I need a crappy fit so that I can fill it with caulk and that will solve the problem? 

I guess I have been doing it wrong because I thought that a good tight joint was desirable?

Well, yes and no. A good tight joint that doesn't need caulk is better but it has to stay tight. If water gets into the joint and behind the paint the wood will be soaking in water and the paint, even with good primer, will lose its bond. I suggested the cleat behind the joint to help keep the joint tight.

However there are certainly times that purposely leaving space for caulk is the right thing to do. I was taught by an "old timer" to leave a "nickel space" at each end of every piece of cedar drop siding. We ran 3' wide felt paper up every corner before the fully primed corner boards were installed, and every butt joint in the fields had a small strip of felt paper behind it. (He made me leave them low so he could see every one was done, then had me go back up to trim them.) The Painter did his thing and totally filled each joint. All the nails were set and filled with glazing compound tinted to match the paint. Two decades later the paint was falling off the factory painted shutters but the house still looked great. (The paint was oil based Benny Moore with extra linseed oil)

There are also times where a 1/4" space is specified to be filled with 3/8" backer rod and flexible adhesive caulk. And there are some problem areas where leaving space for a quality caulk to do it's job is necessary but a small bead on the surface is all that's ever been done. I direct your attention to the joint between an aluminum threshold and the door jamb. The best the manufacturers came up with to stop this failure point is to finger joint a short piece of P.T. to the bottom of the pine. They sell more door units, and now I get to charge to replace the floor and framing down to the sill.

I think the best suggestion I can give is to stay on top of these problem areas before they become a big problem. If we inspect our own homes a few times a year, come up with a plan of action broken down into 1 or 2 hour segments, a lot of the repairs can be addressed before they are big problems. Your rake return is one of those problem areas that can be fixed in an hour or so. If you only want to do it once, I suggest P.V.C with the return splined to the rake and solvent welded together.

[Splinter Puller]

Wrap it in aluminum.

I just repaired this same condition on my detached storage garage.  I bout aluminum fascia covers and colored aluminum flashing and covered all the wood facias and undersides.  You can't buy aluminum fascia cover at your home center?