We just bought a house and it needs to be reroofed. We currently have box vents and one big gable vent. The house’s soffits are only 2-2.5″ wide so soffit vents probably won’t work and I’m not a fan of the Hicks vent/drip edge vent system. What alternatives are there? We plan on covering up the box vents and adding a ridge vent. Is gable+ridge good enough or do we need something else?
Also there’s a lot of insulation in between our rafters down to the soffits. The soffits are about 3′ below the attic floor so its hard to dig out the insulation – do I need to?
BTW, we live in the northeast.
Thanks for any help!
Replies
Greetings Bob, As a new poster Welcome to Breaktime.
That subject has been addressed here on Breaktime a number of different times in the past.
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If you type in 'roof venting' or other keywords of the subject matter you'll get a weeks worth of reading from those old threads.
Cheers
Based on the volume of the attic space, the gable vents may render the ridge vent useless or they may work together. Check with your supplier. A power fan on a thermostat may help out. Also insure that any bathroom vents are run all the way through the roof and not exhausting into the attic, a bad bad practice. I have seen a product that uses ridge vent material (similar to a spic and span pad but open) adhered to the back of fasia capping metal. What is the soffit material? While small it can be vented with pierced vinyl. A 2.5" soffit yields only .2 square feet per running foot of vent but it may help enough to keep the attic cooler if kept clear of insulation.