soffit

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Eaves or Soffit lining on a house in Northern Australia. The flat section (underside) would be referred to as a soffit. In this example the soffit is fixed to the slope of the rafters. The fascias form the outer edge and have a groove in them to receive the soffit lining sheets.

Soffit lining a house in Northern Florida, USA. In this example the soffit is 30 cm wide and made from center lanced U groove perforated sections of vinyl in a return fashion and fixed to a truss roofing system.

Soffit (from French soffite, Italian soffitto, formed as a ceiling; directly from suffictus for suffixus, Latin suffigere, to fix underneath), in architecture, describes the underside of any construction element. Examples of soffits include:

• the underside of an arch or architrave (whether supported by piers or columns),
• the underside of a flight of stairs, under the classical entablature,
• the underside of a projecting cornice, or side of chimney
• the underside of a ceiling to fill the space above the kitchen cabinets, at the corner of the ceiling and wall,
• the exposed undersurface of any exterior overhanging section of a roof eave.

In popular use, soffit most often refers to the material forming a ceiling from the top of an exterior house wall to the outer edge of the roof, i.e., bridging the gap between a home's siding and the roofline, otherwise known as the eaves.

Soffit exposure profile (from wall to fascia) on a buildings' exterior can vary from a few centimetres (2-3 inches) to well beyond a meter (3 feet) depending on construction. It can be non-ventilated or ventilated for cooling non livable attic space.

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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