Proper Attic Ventilation Without Soffits

The function of soffit vents.

Proper attic ventilation without soffits.

However if your attic has blocked soffit vents and is not well sealed from the rest of the house attic fans will suck cool conditioned air up out of the house and into the attic. With a soffit venting is not much of a challenge. Roof and attic ventsl protect your house from expensive future repairs. One static vent style is the turbine vent which uses wind to power its enclosed fan all it takes is a light breeze to rotate the blades and suck heat out of the attic view example on the home.

For more information on ventilation and moisture control read this article i wrote on proper attic ventilation it s my position that you should have a proper ventilation system in your attic and that you should always take the time to air seal the floor of the attic. Even without soffit venting it is important to provide an air gap at the soffit level to help keep the roof deck dry. However if the home has no soffit it is quite a different matter. 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.

It must also circulate. If i had an older home without soffits i would strongly consider just completely air sealing the attic and adding foam insulation totally removing the need for ventilation. Space the holes 12 to 14 in. The important thing to remember is the air must flow through the attic to the roof vents somewhere near the ridge of the roof.

With the help of an assistant raise the vent up to the soffit and center it over the cutout slot. With old homes it can be very difficult to properly ventilate the attic for a variety of reasons. Attic fans are intended to cool hot attics by drawing in cooler outside air from attic vents soffit and gable and pushing hot air to the outside. For proper ventilation it isn t enough for air to simply get into your attic.

Thankfully there are some ways around this dilemma. In addition insulation baffles must be installed at the point where the attic floor meets the roofline to prevent the attic insulation from migrating into the cavities and restricting the airflow from the soffit vents. 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. The soffit vents allow convective air movement from the soffits of the residence to the ridge vent.

Both roof and soffit vents are easy to install in just a few hours. Step 5 attach the vent to the soffit photo by merle henkenius.