How to gently remove (aluminum) soffit?

superfly

Hello DIY Gods and Goddesses,
Before tackling this job rambo-style, I'd like to know if there's a more efficient or smarter way than what seems to me to be necessary. I'd like to temporarily remove the aluminum soffit above my balcony to gain access to the side of my house, and would like to do so in a manner so that I can reinstall the same soffit with minimum damage (and hopefully effort). The top floor of my house is pretty darned cold near the top balcony, and I'm pretty sure that the wall (rim joist?) that runs along the base of the upper balcony is not insulated. To get at the exterior wall and inspect this, I must remove the soffit that lies underneath the top balcony.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so here's the front of the house:



So I'm trying to remove the decorative soffit that's on the bottom of the upper balcony, so that I can have a peek at the wall, and I'd like to install some rigid polystyrene insulation there, and then replace the soffit.

I was looking at installation guides for soffits and it seems that the typical installation for something simple like my scenario is to install some sort of channel (e.g. an 'F' channel) against the wall, slip the edge of the soffit into it, nail it to the underside of the balcony, and then at the other end, cap it with another channel and then some sort of fascia e.g.like so:

So, to remove the soffit, I'm thinking I'm going to have to remove my facia (the brown aluminum one running the length of my upper balcony), then pull down the channel running the edge of the balcony, and then I can pull down the individual pieces of the soffit. Is there an easier way? Could I somehow bend part of the F channel and slip the soffit panels out? This is looking non-trivial, and a bit of a pain to get at the fascia and replace.

Here are some closeups of the soffit:




As always, comments, suggestions (and your time reading this!) is very much appreciated

oldfrt

I think your on the right track trying to remove soffet from the house end.
Find the last piece put in,it should be a cut panel and it should have face nails through it.Grab with small nosed vise grips and pull directly down while giving it a slight twist.

This panel may have been put in" short" and centered once it was put in opening,so you should be able to slide it out by pushing towards front.You may have to bend the J against the wall,but this is where your F-channel would go anyways.
Now you should have access to the nails that hold the rest soffet in place.