Aluminum Clading and Soffit Vents
xMike
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
I have a new old house. Brick, but the previous owners had the exterior fascia and wood soffit’s clad with aluminum so’s to prevent ever having to paint again.
The problem is that this 1600 sq ft house has about 4 – 1 foot long soffit vents showing around the entire outside soffit run. Not good. Ventilation to the attic non existent.
FINALLY, my question – is there perforated aluminum cladding that I could DIY use to replace the unpierced aluminum currently covering up the original soffits? And does this stuff come in standard widths, or is the the job for an aluminum siding contractor with a giant roll of the stuff and an on-the-site slitter?
Mike D
Replies
There are aluminum and vinyl soffits with a perforated area 4-8 inches wide in the middle. When these are installed the installers should rip a matching strip out of any existing wood soffit before overlaying.
Of course, a lot depends on the specific dimensions of your house as to whether stock pieces will fit.
Ventilated soffit ( vinyl) comes in 12' lenghts, it matters not how wide his overhang/soffit is...you cut it to lenght and insert in channel on the wall side and a lip on fascia wrap, ( or an added channel) and tack with alum trinm nails if needed. The soffit is made to lock together along the factory edges.
I'd tear out the old soffit ( easy) and replace with full vented.
Thanks for the responses, guys.Knowing that it's possible makes it much easier to track down the stuff I need to replace the solid aluminum that's there. I like the idea of simply ripping out the old the full length of the soffit and installing the new perforated stuff into the existing mating channels.I had to solve this issue before I got the insulation contractor out to add 8 inches of blow-in fill over the compacted stuff already in the attic. It didn't make sense to plan on insisting that he use baffles to keep the vents clear if there were no soffit vents to KEEP clear.Mike D
Is there a ridge vent? Soffit vents don't do much if there isn't a way out. Assuming you have a ridge vent, you might consider using round soffit vents. They come in various diameters up to 4", just use a hole saw from the underside and pop them in between the rafters.
Hi,
Yep, there's a ridge vent.
The idea of inserting round soffit vents hadn't occurred to me. Great idea - thanks.
Mike
The round pucks RARELY offer enough size to be adequate to match the outflow above...I'd NOT do them. replaceing soffit is a one man job and very easy.
Yeah, I'd reserve the round ones for getting air into corners and such where more conventional vents won't work.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
I learned it all from Piffen..LOL