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Thread: Dog ear?

  1. #1
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    Default Dog ear?

    What do you call the trim piece at the end of the eave? (other than moisture damaged) One I've heard is "dog ear".

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  2. #2
    A.D. Miller's Avatar
    A.D. Miller Guest

    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Techincally speaking it is just the fascia on a closed cornice with a level soffit. The framing behind it is a vergre rafter with a level lookout block.


  3. #3
    MaMa Mount's Avatar
    MaMa Mount Guest

    Default Re: Dog ear?

    I feel embarrassed cause I have just been calling it the trim board on the corner of the soffit.


  4. #4
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    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Quote Originally Posted by MaMa Mount View Post
    I feel embarrassed cause I have just been calling it the trim board on the corner of the soffit.
    Probably as good as any! I was just trolling to see if anyone has a better name to direct handyman/carpenter to the offending part.


  5. #5
    Kevin Barre's Avatar
    Kevin Barre Guest

    Default Re: Dog ear?

    All the framers I have ever worked with called the entire assembly "bird boxes." That may be a regional term; I don't know. Regardless, your average home buyer probably won't know what that means. So if you don't have photos, I probably would not use that term.


  6. #6
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    Talking Re: Dog ear?

    Fascia board


  7. #7
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    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Put the picture in your report with an arrow pointing to the area.

    Repair people can't read but they understand pictures with arrows.

    Erby Crofutt, Georgetown, KY - Read my Blog here: Erby the Central Kentucky Home Inspector B4 U Close Home Inspections www.b4uclose.com www.kentuckyradon.com
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  8. #8

    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Bird box or Rake return

    Clarksville Home Inspection
    JW Goad
    TN License #307 | KY License #2402

  9. #9
    A.D. Miller's Avatar
    A.D. Miller Guest

    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Quote Originally Posted by Vern Heiler View Post
    What do you call the trim piece at the end of the eave? (other than moisture damaged) One I've heard is "dog ear".
    Vern: Sorry, I thought you wanted to know the official name and not the mythological names that float around in the vernacular of the common construction class. Those would be too many to list here.

    Google "calloused country-ass redneck carpenters forum", sign up, and ask the question there. You'll get some real hoots.

    Better yet, get on the Journal of Light Construction's forum. That question will likely spark up a long thread - and a couple of fights.

    But, no matter who you ask (I think), "dogear" is not correct. Dogear in every dictionary I have - and that's a few - means to trim the top two corners off the end of a board, usually at 45°, for decorative effect; most commonly found atop fence pickets.

    However, that's just the crass cynical cosmopolitan carpenters' definition. It may not be universally accepted.


  10. #10
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    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Quote Originally Posted by John Goad View Post
    Bird box or Rake return
    For one thing, it is part of the rake, not the fascia ... but it is not a return, so ... ... rake where it intersects with the fascia return?

    Aaron said "Techincally speaking it is just the fascia on a closed cornice with a level soffit.", except that the part which is decayed is not the fascia return, but the part which is the end of the rake board, an added piece to 'flare' the end of the rake board to match the size of the fascia return on the closed cornice.

    Jerry Peck
    Construction/Litigation/Code Consultant - Retired
    www.AskCodeMan.com

  11. #11
    A.D. Miller's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Peck View Post
    For one thing, it is part of the rake, not the fascia ... but it is not a return, so ... ... rake where it intersects with the fascia return?

    Aaron said "Techincally speaking it is just the fascia on a closed cornice with a level soffit.", except that the part which is decayed is not the fascia return, but the part which is the end of the rake board, an added piece to 'flare' the end of the rake board to match the size of the fascia return on the closed cornice.
    JP: "Rake board"? Sure, why not. I prefer "verge" or even, if you must, "barge" "rafter". It may well be a board, but then it is also lumber, a piece of wood, a segment of a tree, a piece of a plant, an otherwise-utilized stick of firewood, etc.

    It is certainly not a return. The return redirects the fascia from running parallel with the roof and underlying wall to a 90° turn where it runs or (returns) back to the wall. Just like a stair handrail return.

    The "flare" is there just to help the carpenter to distinguish, at least in his own mind, himself from the schmuck across the street who cuts his on angles because he doesn't own (or know how to use) a keyhole (kataba-pad-alligator-jab-drywall) or reciprocating (saber-jig) saw. A little board bravado, if you will.


  12. #12
    Richard Pultar's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog ear?

    pork chop
    I never met a person who acted like they did not understand what I was talking about when I used that term.

    Last edited by Richard Pultar; 01-17-2009 at 09:42 AM.

  13. #13
    A.D. Miller's Avatar
    A.D. Miller Guest

    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Pultar View Post
    pork chop
    Closer than dogear.


  14. #14
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    Default Re: Dog ear?

    I had heard "Pork Chop" but not "Bird Box" before. Dog ear came from working with a local boxing and siding contractor a few (quite a few) years ago.

    I have pictures in my report but the first thing the customer or realestate agent does is send a copy of the summary to the handyman. No pic's in the summary. Sometimes it seems the summary is the only thing anybody reads .

    I have been using "The eave closure at the (left right front rear) corner of the (house garage)", but it seems a little cumbersome. They do look at me like a grew a third eye when I use "dog ear".

    I can find most any other trim piece defined in a glossary somewhere...but not this piece. I'm thinking no one wants to claim the piece that is so often rotten!




  15. #15
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    Default Re: Dog ear?

    I have always called it a "soffit return".

    Scott Patterson, ACI
    Spring Hill, TN
    www.traceinspections.com

  16. #16
    Jeffrey L. Mathis's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Bird box works in North Carolina for carpenters. Stumps agents. I tend to have to reduce my knowledge of terminology to the lowest common denominator and we generally know who that is. I'll inevitably have to explain-"the triangle at the end".
    If you really want to mess with some one, call a soffit the fancy term: "plancier" (Stanley Badzinsky's book on framing")

    JLMathis


  17. #17
    A.D. Miller's Avatar
    A.D. Miller Guest

    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeffrey L. Mathis View Post
    Bird box works in North Carolina for carpenters. Stumps agents. I tend to have to reduce my knowledge of terminology to the lowest common denominator and we generally know who that is. I'll inevitably have to explain-"the triangle at the end".
    If you really want to mess with some one, call a soffit the fancy term: "plancier" (Stanley Badzinsky's book on framing")

    JLMathis
    JL: Actually the plancier (also plancher) according to Webster's is the soffit and not the fascia. The OED also defines plancier as the soffit, and admits to plancher as a synonym, though obsolete.


  18. #18
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    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Returns


  19. #19
    Wayne Turley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Fascia board on lower right side rake edge.

    Last edited by Wayne Turley; 01-20-2009 at 08:58 AM. Reason: correction

  20. #20
    A.D. Miller's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Quote Originally Posted by Wayne Turley View Post
    Fascia board on lower right side rake edge.
    Exactly.


  21. #21
    Rick Fifield's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog ear?

    The field guys around here, and the JLC, refer to it as a pork chop. If it is larger, steeper, and has roofing on it, it is sometimes called a return or an eyebrow (by my roofer anyway), although to my mind an eyebrow extends across the gable. But then, my painter calls a stair stringer a "riser". And then there is the subject of common names for fish.
    Rick

    Last edited by Rick Fifield; 01-20-2009 at 10:44 AM. Reason: missed a word

  22. #22
    A.D. Miller's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dog ear?

    Quote Originally Posted by Rick Fifield View Post
    The field guys around here, and the JLC, refer to it as a pork chop. If it is larger, steeper, and has roofing on it, it is sometimes called a return or an eyebrow (by my roofer anyway), although to my mind an eyebrow extends across the gable. But then, my painter calls a stair stringer a "riser". And then there is the subject of common names for fish.
    Rick
    There seems to be no formal taxonomic schema in the residential construction world. There is a certain degree of agreement in the nose-bleed section the architectural realm, but then architects don't usually design residential structures - unless of course they are overpriced or they themselve plan to inhabit them.

    So then, what the hell? Pork chop, dogear, stringer, riser, whatever . . .


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