The longer answer
Sign by sign, and what each one means:
- Peeling or bubbling paint at the roofline. Paint releases when the wood behind it stays damp — the earliest, cheapest warning you'll get.
- Dark streaks or staining behind the gutter. Water is getting behind the gutter instead of into it — usually an overflow, pitch, or drip-edge problem feeding the board.
- Gutters sagging or pulling loose. Hanger screws only hold in sound wood. When gutters lean away from the house, the fascia is usually why.
- Soft spots. Press the board — sound fascia feels like wood, rot feels like cork. By this stage the section needs rebuilding, not paint.
- Pest activity at the eaves. Wasps, birds, and squirrels find the soft spots first — an animal in the soffit almost always entered through compromised wood.
- The chain reaction. Fascia rot rarely stays put: it moves into the soffit, then the rafter tails. Every season of waiting adds boards to the bill.
The usual KC cause: a clogged or badly pitched gutter overflowing at the back edge, soaking the same board every storm. That's why we fix the gutter problem and the wood in one visit — replacing the board without fixing the overflow just schedules the next rot.
What it costs: spot repairs $150–$400 per section; full replacement $12–$22 per linear foot installed, primed, and painted. Fall is the right time — before ice dams turn damp boards into ruined ones.