Elastomeric Fascia Board Paint Issues: Building Tips

I couldn’t believe it, about 10 or 15 years ago they released another fabulous product that created problems for my home. Elastomeric paint is so good that it can create problems because it seals everything you paint with a rubber-like coating. I was not the only one who had problems with this product.

I built a two-story bonus room in our house and used this type of paint without any problem. I painted the fascia board before installing with an oil-based alkaloid primer and then painted it with elastomeric paint. By painting the entire piece of wood, before installing it, I had sealed it properly. This worked to my advantage and this is the only way I installed a new fascia plate today.

It wasn’t until I painted the rest of the house with elastomeric paint that I started to have a problem. When I built the room addition, I installed the roofing materials and metal flashing correctly, that was not the case on our home’s existing roof, at the single story level.

I didn’t realize it yet, but while I was painting the fascia board, the roof edge metal was not installed properly in a couple of spots around the underside of the roof. Which is where most of the water drains from the roof, because the roof edge metal wasn’t installed properly and the top of the fascia board wasn’t painted at all. The top of the fascia board began to absorb water as it dripped from the ceiling.

The elastomeric paint did an excellent job of keeping moisture inside the wood, where some latex paints would have allowed moisture to escape through. Eventually the fascia board rotted and needed to be replaced.

I never had a problem with the second floor fascia dash being installed and painted correctly. If you are really looking for a great paint for your fascia board, you can use elastomeric paint if you want. I doubt if I will ever use this type of paint again, due to the problems I had with it in the past.

I know of some paint professionals who use nothing but elastomeric paint, but this material is really too good a paint product and I have seen other problems with it as well. Most of the problems associated with this paint are due to improper paint application or poor construction methods from other contractors.

Elastomeric paint is really a wonderful product, but it is almost too good to use unless the house is built properly in the paint is applied over the entire surface of the product without leaving any small holes or cracks exposed.