Soffit moulds for gable ends

Today we started on the soffit moulds for the gable ends of the house.  First we started off by temporarily tacking the length of timber being used for the mould to the gable end.  From here we marked off mitre cut at the ridge line, so that it will sit at the correct angle for when the other side of the gable soffit mould is attached. 

The other marks which are done, is at every point where the soffit mould crosses a weatherboard join.  This was done by using the set square to mark out this point (as pictured in the photo's to the right).  At the end of the soffit mould, a temporary piece of timber that is the same as the mould is used to run along the side of the house that this gable end mould will sit against, where it's position is marked out on the soffit lining.  This mark is then transfered down to the gable end soffit mould so a mitre cut can be made at this point.  In doing this, it will sit flush against each other when all the moulds around the house are attached.

Once all the markings have been done along the timber being used for the soffit mould, it is removed from the gable end & further markings are done, to show where to check out so that it will sit flat against the soffit lining & weatherboards.

A straight edge is used to run from the previously scribed marks (when it was temporarily tacked) to the next mark along the mould that is set at the thickness of the weatherboard. 

Once done, along the whole length of the mould, a hand saw was used to cut out along these lines.  It was important to stay within the lines as it will be the finished edge showing once attached, so it needs to be neat and tidy.  

A skill saw can also be used to do the same cuts, which although is finicky to set up, creates straighter lines that don't require as much fixing up with a planer. 

Cutting out was carried out along the whole length of the mould & then held up against the gable end to make sure that it was fitting ok.  At the points where it wasn't sitting well, markings were made, so we knew where to go back and plane down so it sat right.