Building codes vary.
Attic too small get soffit vents.
Butt a cardboard template against the fascia and mark your soffit hole locations to begin.
Also should the vents to the crawl space.
If you re lacking good attic ventilation installing a soffit vent where needed is a no brainer.
Soffit vents come in several sizes and styles including small round discs and rectangular grilles.
If your home is fitted solely with small gable end vents or a ventilator high in the roof you might want to consider adding soffit vents to increase airflow.
Add soffit venting first.
My house has soffit vents on the eaves gable vents on each end of the house and a ridge vent.
These vents allow outside air to enter the attic at the lowest point of the roof along the underside of the eave.
They re most effective when used in conjunction with a continuous ridge vent.
A hot ceiling tells you that the attic is acting like a solar oven.
Ft you divide that by 150 to get 10 sq.
Of vent for every 300 sq.
It prevents mildew growth and rot on your roof s framing and sheathing by.
I live in north carolina.
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.
If the attic ventilation system is not a balanced combination of intake vents installed in the soffit under eave or at the roof s bottom edge and exhaust vents installed at or near the roof s peak the attic ventilation system will not be efficient and effective.
Look at your eaves and roof.
If you don t see any attic vents on the roof or in the eaves you need to add some.
Here s how to keep the air moving with soffit vents.
Touch your ceiling on a warm sunny day.
So if your attic is 1 500 sq.
That said air resistance and interference such as vent grates reduces the area of true ventilation.
Of vent space for every 150 sq.
Generally speaking you need a ratio of 1 300 where for every 300 square feet of ceiling space you need 1 square foot of attic ventilation.
This is one home improvement task that is well worth undertaking.
In other words the entire vent opening doesn t count as vented space.
This is called passive ventilation.
In order to facilitate this exchange of warm and cool air the general rule of thumb suggests installing at least 1 sq.
The rule of thumb on the amount of vent space needed is approximately 1 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.
Talk to your local home improvement store or a professional contractor and get to improving your attic ventilation as soon as possible.
