How To Ventilate Attic Soffits

Drip edge vents hang out several inches past the edges of the roof allowing you to trim.

How to ventilate attic soffits.

Begin by making sure your existing system works photos 1 and 3 plugging major air leaks into the attic photo 2 and correcting any other of the common causes of poor attic venting. How to install soffit vents make two parallel lines. The main idea of the ridge vent is to act together with soffit venting to properly ventilate the attic. When hot air rises up through the soffit venting it then keeps rising all the way up to the ridge vent.

A hot ceiling tells you that the attic is acting like a solar oven raising your cooling bills and. Hole through the soffit right between the lines and measure the. Hot air exhaust vents located at the peak of the roof allow hot air to escape. If you don t see any attic vents on the roof or in the eaves you need to add some.

Most building codes require a ratio of 1 150 ventilation space to attic floor space. Ventilation of attic spaces is required by most building codes as well as by roofing material manufacturers and the national roofing contractors association nrca. Ventilation can be accomplished using various products and techniques. Before we explore how to ventilate an attic space it is prudent to understand how much ventilation is needed.

Two simple alternatives to soffit vents can be installed with little more than a circular saw and a hammer. Touch your ceiling on a warm sunny day. For example a vent with a 6 x12 opening would equal 0 5 sq. The most common way to add ventilation to an attic is by installing air intakes in the soffits and putting an outlet at the gable of the house.

Look at your eaves and roof. Space soffit vents evenly around the bottom of the low sides of your roof. Divide the vent area by the opening in each vent to come up with the number of vents needed. Next bore a 3 4 or 1 in dia.

This is called passive ventilation. This creates a natural air flow by drawing in the air from outside pushing it up and out through the vent at the top of the house. Connect the two cuts. Start by using a chalk reel to snap two parallel lines down the center of the soffit.

A sign of roof leaks from ice damming or other causes.