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I have a 2 foot overhang with aluminum soffit which is covering the old plywood soffit. The problem is, the aluminum contractor never cut holes in the plywood for ventilation above the vented pieces of aluminum soffit. I’m looking for suggestion without having to take down existing soffit. I was thinking of drilling through the aluminum and plywood with a holesaw and inserting 2 1/2″ round vents??? Not sure how many I’d need to ventilate 2400 sq. ft. Thanks for any help.
Ed
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I can't remember the formula for venting a roof but I would put 2 of those 2 1/2" vents between each truss.
Just a thought, Dave
*Didn't he use vented alum soffit?
*Ed, I have 3 questions:Where are you located?Why are you worried?How Long has the soffit been unvented?The reason I ask is because it may not make one bit of difference. So please reply to my questions.-Rob
*Rob and Mike,I'm located in Chicago. I believe the soffit has been unvented since the house was built, which was in 1956. Most of my concern is that I had quite a bit of ice damming last winter and that previous owners had an air handler installed for AC which is located in the attic. I do have vents on the top of the roof and I thought for them to function properly I would need to draw air in from the overhang. There is vented aluminum installed about every 8 feet but above it is solid plywood.
*Ed,Is ice damming your main concern??? Check for adequate insulation at the point where walls meet rafters. Ventilation can have a small effect on ice damming, but I think improving your heat loss would be a better solution. Do you have any moisture problems in your attic? Gable vents?
*New air handler?You didn't say, but I'm assuming from the locale that this air handler is strictly for the A/C and not for the heat too.But, you might want to check the integrity of the ducts which apparently are also located in the attic. Rising warm air entering the ducts from below during the winter could be a major cause of your problem if they leak back into the attic.
*Ed, I have seen soffit installs like yours. There probably are old vent in the plywood soffit, but they are not directly over the vented soffit panels. I have never recieved a good explanation for staggering the vented panel away from the old vents but around here they do it all the time. It makes for a convoluted air passage, but there is still some air drawn up and through the soffit. I would not worry about additional vent unless you have a moisture problem in the attic space.Good advice from others on the ice daming problem.Dave
*Dave, I did a small remodel job on the side of the house and hade to remove about 40 feet of the aluminum soffit and found no vents in the old wood soffit. that's what led me to believe that the rest of the house had no vents as well. thanks for the post and I will take the others advice for the ice daming issue.Ed
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I have a 2 foot overhang with aluminum soffit which is covering the old plywood soffit. The problem is, the aluminum contractor never cut holes in the plywood for ventilation above the vented pieces of aluminum soffit. I'm looking for suggestion without having to take down existing soffit. I was thinking of drilling through the aluminum and plywood with a holesaw and inserting 2 1/2" round vents??? Not sure how many I'd need to ventilate 2400 sq. ft. Thanks for any help.
Ed