Hello,
The house has a hipped roof and the gutters wrap all the way around the house. At some point aluminum soffits were installed right against the original plywood soffits. I found the attic insulation pushed against the roof and will install some baffles to better ventilate the attic. I’ll save that for another post. The problem is, I can’t find were the original vent holes in the plywood are. I’d like to ensure that I have baffles as close to the vent as possible.
There’s a couple houses in the neighborhood that still have the plywood soffits and I can see where the vents are on them. about 2 feet in from the wall corners. I’ve gone around the house poking a wire through the soffits looking for any holes. I hit the plywood everytime. I’m concerned that the original vents were closed up.
I can’t take the fascia off without removing gutters and downspouts. Any ideas how I can make sure I have an air inlet to keep the attic cool?
I don’t have any access to the soffits from the attic.
Thanks,
Adam
Replies
The aluminum soffit pieces are supported by J channel on the wall side and the fascia wrap on the gutter side. If you sacrifice the J channel, you can get the soffit off without boogering it or the fascia wrap. Take the soffit down and you can find your vent holes and add more if necessary. If the soffit pieces are perferated, re-install them. If not get some that are.
copper p0rn
Hello,The soffits are perforated. I'll probably end up making a mess of something prying on the J-channel. The corners are mitered so prying out that first piece will be a challenge. It seems like the aluminum soffit fastened to the old soffits. They don't seem to move at all.The soffits normally would float in the channels, correct?Thanks,Adam
If the soffit is perforated, then there should be "some" air flow thru the soffit vents. What do you intend to do to create more if you do find the old vents?copper p0rn
If I find the old vents on even one corner, I would leave the rest alone. If they're sealed then I would have more work to do.When we had the home inspection done before buying, the inspector noted the insulation wasn't tucked tight to the roof likely a reason the shingles are starting to curl. If no cool air is being drawn in, the attic gets really hot. I pulled some batts away in the corners and was looking for the old vents. No light shining through from bellow. I haven't fixed/added the insulation yet, but will be in the next few weeks. There are a few square vents on the roof, but even when I pulled back the insulation little air seems to be getting drawn in from the soffits. My concern is that the old vent holes in the plywood were filled in. If that's the case, whether the soffit is perforated or not, very little air will flow in to the attic.If I find the old vent openings were sealed, would taking the soffit off one side of the house and cutting holes in the plywood soffits between each rafter on just one side be adaquate for roof ventilation? I'm sure I've seen a chart with how many square inches of vent opening you need for a given square footage of attic, but what happens if it's all along one eave? With the hipped roof, I think air would be able to move all around the building, above the soffits, and ultimately through the baffles.AdamAdam
would taking the soffit off one side of the house and cutting holes in the plywood soffits between each rafter on just one side be adaquate
It would be better than no venting, but not the optimum situation. Taking that soffit down and re-installing it is not the monumental task you're imagining. Cutting holes in plywood soffit with insulation on top of it is much worse of a task, IMHO.copper p0rn
There's no insulation on top of the old soffit, so cutting the holes shouldn't be too bad. I could even just drill big holes with a hole saw.
The last issue of FHB advertised a product that is similar to a ridge vent except it can be installed at the bottom of the roof. If you need to reshingle anyway, it might be something to check out. You wouldn't have to touch your soffits then.
The shingles still have a few years left in them. I'm just hoping to extend that by properly venting the attic. I've been thinking of adding a whirling vent on the roof, but the are T-lock shingles and I haven't wrapped my head around how to pry them up, to slide the vent under. I never really saw the interlocking shingles in Central Canada, only when I moved here.
Hear is the bad news. To check or add venting, the soffit must come down. Seeyou gave you the secret to avoid the facia. If you pull on the Jchannel against the house, it will come down. The bad part is you will probably have to install new soffit.
If I pull the J channel from the wall, won't I be able to pull out and reuse the current soffits?Adam
Maybe. Then again in my view, you will damage some.
I took a closer look and you're probably right, I think I'll damage a lot of them. I bent back some of the J channel in the least visible corner and pulled back a piece of soffit see what I could see. It pushed back somewhat back in to it's original state.The fascia aluminum is bent around the edge of the old wooden facia board and supports the soffit. The soffit is stapled at every valley into the edge of the fascia board. The house side of the soffit is supported by the J channel, which is nailed to a 3/4" strip of wood attached to the plywood soffit as a spacer to bring the house side level with the fascia side.I can't get at the staples without mangling the fascia aluminum, which is behind the gutters. I'm kind of back to square one.I think if once I pull back all the insulation from the roof, if I can see some light, I'll leave it alone for now. If I see no light anywhere, I might just have to cut some holes in the aluminum and plywood soffits, then cover with old school soffit vents.Of course I am welcome to other suggestions.Adam
Adam -
The perforated aluminum or vinyl soffit is designed to be installed below an open soffit to be very efective. You don't get much ventilation from perforated soffit installed over individual vents - some, but not much.
Check into what new soffit would cost - probably not a great deal. Pull the old soffit down, cut a continuous slot all the way around, and install new soffit if it's in the budget.
One other option is to add some roof vents on the least visible side just above the insulation for inlet.
edit: I forgot about the T locks. I've never installed them, so I don't know how problematic they are to cut a vent into.
copper p0rn
Edited 10/9/2009 6:07 pm ET by seeyou
A quick look at soffit price online does make the cost seem reasonable. New J channel and soffit would only be about $350 to go all around the house. The challenge would be to not destroy the aluminum fascia in the process. The staples attaching the soffit to the fascia board are behind the wrap of aluminum fascia. I suspect the staples will be longer than the depth of the valleys in the soffit.If I managed to get the soffits and staples out, how would I get the new soffit panels in place? With the J trim installed, I would have a fixed opening between the J trim and fascia. Do I just cut the soffit 1/2" larger than the opening then slide the soffit in to place? Then I would need some way to fix the facsia side of the soffit in place, with a 1/4 overhand on both sides.I've attached a very rough sketch of what's in place now. Thanks
I also thought last night you should be able to see light from up in the attic but I see you thought of that too. You might think about just waiting for a windy day and climb up there and see if you cab detect the air movement. best of luck.
Edited 10/9/2009 11:22 am ET by cussnu2
I only pulled back insulation for maybe 8 feet at the corners, looking for vents. I may still see light somewhere when we do the rest of the the attic. If I do, I'll probably leave it alone.
Is there a problem as it stands right now? There is a reason for the old saying if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
In Southern Alberta, we are required to have MINIMUM of 1 square foot of ventilation per 500 square feet of roof. I think that drilling through the soffit and plywood with a hole saw and then putting screening and a decorative trim on sounds the easiest.
Could you expand on the decorative trim idea? With the ridges and valleys of the aluminum, how would you get a good seal to keep the bugs out?I've seen small 2" round vents, but they don't have screening. To get 3 square feet feet with those, I'd need almost 140 of them. I'm not confident in the result I would get trying to drill through the aluminum with a hole saw.I'm in Calgary, so the Southern Alberta info is exactly what I need.Adam
If you do allow air to come in at the bottom, where is it going to go?
I'm not sure, but think I see one vent near the top of the slope. That's not enough, though.
AitchKay
There are currently three vents.
Grab your 4" hole saw, drill your holes spaced nicely along your soffit and install as many of these as you think you need at $3.18 each.
http://ventmastersstore.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=58
4" white plastic soffit vents with the screen already installed. Note that the 4" vents only give .087 square feet of venting so you may need quite a few. Might be cheaper to pull down the old soffit, cut a continuous vent and put up new soffit. Run the numbers and see what you think.
Larry
We run across this all the time. For good ventilation, you will need more vents than originally installed.Use the UBC formula. We install new 8" x 16" soffit vents. We drill 3/8" pilot holes with a paddle bit and then cut the hole with a sawzall, through the soffiting and the old soffit material. We reach up into the hole and move the insulation out of the way so the air flow into the attic. We install the new vent to the soffit with zip screws (1" self-drilling hex head screws.) We put a little fiberglass insulation into the channed exposed to prevent wasps from entering.
soffit vents
Do you have any pics of the vents installed over existing aluminum soffits? This is what I wanted to try but concerned what it will look like. Thanks.
You migh be able to just remove one piece of soffet, then slide each one down, cut a big hole, slide the next one down, continuing until you get to the other end, then sneak the last piece back in.
Soffit vents are to let cool air in. I could not tell from the picture, but there has to be an "out" for the hot air. No matter if you do get some air flow from the soffit vents, there will not be proper ventillation until there is an "outlet" for the hot ait. There are two simple solutions on the market today. A gable vent on the roof (it does not have to be very big, usually 6 to 10 feet at the base and 2 to 3 foot tall) or ridge vent. Ridge vent allows for the most airflow as it runs the entire ridge of the roof and only vents when the attic reaches about 100 degrees. If there is a space for either of these on your roof, you will not damage any of your gutter, fascia or soffit. Just call a roofer.