Way too many contradicting answers on google and youtube.

I have my roof on my shed, I have felt on, I'm working on the gable end fascia boards.  I had previously misunderstood how soffit is applied.

Can someone explain this sequence to me?  If I have drip edge on, but no fascia or soffit, can I have it shingled?  I really want it shingled because this place is like a G.D. rainforest since I started this project.

Is this the right sequence:
felt
(gable end fascia in my case because I got my sheathing on without doing this before)
drip edge
shingles
f-channel on wall
soffit nailed/screwed to fascia board and inserted into f-channel
aluminum fascia gets slid up under drip edge and nailed from underneath?  this is the part I'm a bit fuzzy on.  Do I have to predrill the aluminum fascia before nailing from underneath?

I'm ready for this damn thing to be done!

Drip edge, felt, shingles.    F channel, soffit, fascia face nailed with what ever nails look good to you.  hows the pitch of your roof?  If its shallow you should use snow and ice instead of felt.  Got your vent gap cut at the ridge?  Going to use cobra coil, and caps?

The aluminum wrap usually gets slid under the drip or rake edge and then nailed into the face.  Otherwise the nails would have to travel through 5/8" - 3/4" of dead space before grabbing in to something.  You don't need to use a lot of nails and you don't want to use a lot of nails to prevent the aluminum from wrinkling.  The hardest part is the returns, if you have returns.

What's a return in this context?
I did felt, then drip edge (under felt on the eaves, over felt on the rakes), now I'm working on F-channel, next will be soffit nailed or screwed to fascia board (planning on one fastener per piece of soffit, fascia should provide the real holding ability), then fascia, then off to do siding.

CTbuilder, you're recommending face nailing the fascia, I've seen that and I've seen people recommend bottom nailing it while calling face nailing crazy.  I was planning on predrilling and using 1 1/4" aluminum nails with large flat heads and nailing from the bottom.  Will nails that long hold?  If I face nail, should I slap a little silicone on them?  I am a bit concerned about splitting the fascia board with nails running into the edge very far, or running them out the side or something.  Roofing nails and I don't get along right now.

If I face nail, please tell me how many nails per 12 foot length.  Please don't say "not too many", that's what gave me so much trouble with the stupid felt: "just use enough staples to hold the felt down" -my shed book.  FML!!!  Enough staples to hold felt down on a calm day is not nearly enough to hold it down in a 10-15 mph wind.

The fewer holes in the felt the better.

It is going to be held down by the shingles when the job is done.

For a small shed I would use battens if the wind came up to avoid perforating the felt for no good reason.

This is what I am talking about when I say returns - the boot at the bottom.  In this case we did not do a shingled section there.



I nail into the side of the fasia with small head, white trim nails.  As for spacing - you just develop a feel for it.  I know you don't want to hear "not too many," but that's what I would tell you.  I have a 10' siding brake.  So in my 10' section of facia, I would probably use 4 nails.  I don't know how windy your area is, so that may change it and also determine if you were going to use dabs of adhesive on the back side of the facia.  

The facia in my picture is a simple L bend.  You could also do a safety edge L or a doble safety edge L.  You can even add a piece of firring strip to the facia board to give the aluminum and extra bend on the rakes.  The more bends you add, the stronger the piece will be.  


For securing the felt, I agree with brickeyee - the less holes the better.  The roofing will hold it down.  You can also use caps (metal or plastic) which have a lot more holding power than staples if the paper is exposed for any lenth of time.  Some of the newer roofing underlayments require caps.

I see, I'm not doing returns.  I'm copying my house, where the rake soffit runs right down to the eave fascia board.

New question: how many nails do I need to do per piece of soffit?  I originally thought just one in the nailing strip, but the vinyl soffit is sagging and that seems less than ideal.  The fascia should hold it up, but I'm thinking this is not the right way.  One nail in each groove plus one in the nailing strip, for a total of 3 nails per piece?

One siding nail in the slot per piece of soffit.  Don't put nails in each groove.  The fascia will hold them straight.

Yay!  That will speed up soffit considerably, and justify my purchase of the nail slot maker.