How To Ventilate Attic Soffits

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.

How to ventilate attic soffits.

Intake vents located at the lowest part of the roof under the eaves allow cool air to enter the attic. Divide the vent area by the opening in each vent to come up with the number of vents needed. Most building codes require a ratio of 1 150 ventilation space to attic floor space. Hot air exhaust vents located at the peak of the roof allow hot air to escape.

Space soffit vents evenly around the bottom of the low sides of your roof. A sign of roof leaks from ice damming or other causes. Drip edge vents hang out several inches past the edges of the roof allowing you to trim. Hole through the soffit right between the lines and measure the.

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. Connect the two cuts. How to install soffit vents make two parallel lines.

Start by using a chalk reel to snap two parallel lines down the center of the soffit. The main idea of the ridge vent is to act together with soffit venting to properly ventilate the attic. This is called passive ventilation. Touch your ceiling on a warm sunny day.

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. Your roof vents may not look. When hot air rises up through the soffit venting it then keeps rising all the way up to the ridge vent. If you have either ice dams or moisture buildup improve your attic ventilation.

Two simple alternatives to soffit vents can be installed with little more than a circular saw and a hammer. A hot ceiling tells you that the attic is acting like a solar oven raising your cooling bills and. For example a vent with a 6 x12 opening would equal 0 5 sq. Ventilation of attic spaces is required by most building codes as well as by roofing material manufacturers and the national roofing contractors association nrca.

Look at your eaves and roof.