Rafter vents should be placed in your attic ceiling in between the rafters at the point where your attic ceiling meets your attic floor.
How to vent an attic without soffit.
If you don t currently have gable vents then it would be a good idea to install this vent.
Determine the shape of the hole needed for the vent.
If there is plenty of soffit venting and if you have a relatively tight ceiling then the makeup air will come from outside which is desirable summer and winter.
For proper ventilation it isn t enough for air to simply get into your attic.
Hot air exhaust vents located at the peak of the roof allow hot air to escape.
The idea is that wind goes into one gable vent and then pushes the air out of the attic and through the secondary gable vent on the other side of the attic.
Draw it on the roof deck.
Once they are in place you can then place the batts or blankets or blow insulation right out to the very edge of the attic floor.
The design of many older houses omits eaves which maximizes the amount of sunlight.
Normal vented air likes to enter the attic lower down near the bottom third of the attic and as it passes through it will exit higher up near the top third of the attic space.
Typically you would have a gable vent on each end of the attic.
How to vent an attic with no eaves the function of soffit vents.
Drill a hole inside the shape for the jigsaw blade.
Be certain that the hole is between the rafters.
Place the roof vent over the hole.
Venting solutions for roofs with no overhang or soffit install special roof intake venting products that work at the lower edge of the roof decking underneath the first course of shingles.
Remove the shingles in the area where the vent is to be installed.
The venting drip edge seems to be the easiest and most common way to go.
The molded polystyrene baffles available at home centers and lumberyards for about 1 each form channels that hold insulation at bay and direct incoming air upward.
Intake vents located at the lowest part of the roof under the eaves allow cool air to enter the attic.
Problems when roof has no overhang.
They call this a venting drip edge.
For an attic without soffit vents you may have the option to use gable vents instead.
Insert the jigsaw and cut the hole.
The attic space will get makeup air to replace the air that the ridge vent has exhausted along the path of least resistance.