[Feetsdr]

We're getting our house painted later this year and want to take care of things that have been hanging out.

roof over our garage has a gable vent for years - installed before we bought the house 25 years ago. But no soffit vents.

Our crap roofer 2 years ago put in a ridge vent and said he would put in soffit vents. But never did (besides loads of other screw ups... so it's not for him to do. But for me to do now). Would you bother? it's an unheated area / no insulation since it's over garage.

We have these every few feet apart on soffits of main roof:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Master-...-Eave-Soffit-Vent-in-White-EAC16X8W/100023618

The box they were in say they are 50 sq. inches of ventilation.

There's 4" round vents but they say they are 5 sq inch. ventilation. These woudl be much easier to install with a hole saw, but I'd have to put in 10 of these to equal 1 of the rectangular ones.

What would you use? Is it hard / any tips on cutting a rectangle above your head in the soffit while up on a ladder? what tool woudl you use? A jig saw?

But you can't control the depth when you hit a joist : ) (I like the idea of cutting the ridge vent with a circ saw set for shallow depth.


2nd - we have a whole house fan (in ceiling of 2nd floor). It blows air up into main attic, then out the vents.

For years, I can feel air coming out from wall switches on 2nd floor - (attic air gets compressed / can't get out only from gable, ridge, soffit vents. so it finds ways down wiring holes back into house) I think there was a drop in this when ridge vent was put in. But still there. and certainly not going to move your hair (not strong, but noticable).

Would you add more soffit vents to give air more space to get out? I checked the gable vents and they aren't blocked. I have to check the soffits to make sure they are working.

And for the rectangular soffit vents, what do you use to secure them? Tiny screws? nails / brads? stainless? or galvanized OK / don't leave rust marks on underside of soffit?

THANKS!

 

[Bud9051]

Face mask and good eye protection plus a compressor to blow the sawdust off of you when done, piece of cake.

Also check the ridge vent to be sure the roofer cut back the underlayment before he installed the cap. Some like to leave it covered so they don't get blamed for any rain blown in. Happens all too often

But, blowing a large whole house fan into an attic is almost an impossible situation, the attic has to get pressurized to force that air out whatever vents you have and unfortunately back into the house as well. It also forces conditioned air out of the house, a lose, lose situation.

Stainless or galvanized are good, I prefer the SS, better threads and won't rust. Galvanized can rust where the coating missed.

The 4" pop in vents are easy and this is a garage. With both ridge and the one gable vent any amount of low venting will help. The actual science tells us the attic pressures will adjust to increase the pressure across the high vents improving their performance.

Bud

 

[Feetsdr]

Bud - THANKS! What type of tool would you use to cut the soffit?

Interesting about the underlayment! I was up in the attic checking his shoddy work. I think I would have noticed that, but I will double check.

Reminds me of another contractor that was redoing our bathroom. Put in a new ventilation ceiling fan THEN did sheetrocking / sanding. And he had the fan running while he worked..

me being me, I gave it a good cleaning after he left / we took issue with loads of things he did wrong (I really don't think we are picky... these are functional issues. NOT cosmetic).

I was wondering how I was going to clean the vent hose. Turns out I didn't have to since there's tape that holds the flapper closed for shipping. HE DIDN'T REMOVE THAT TAPE / THE FLAPPER WAS LOCKED CLOSED / NO SHEETROCK DUST IN THE PIPE : )

all else fais, read the directions.

 

[Bud9051]

"What type of tool would you use to cut the soffit?"
Well, I'm a retired contractor and a bit of a tool junkie so have several to choose from. Mu go-to for tight spaces is my 5" circular saw, battery powered and can get in close. I can also put a wood blade on my grinder and it has a blade guard which allows me to set depth.

On my house I opted for a series of 3" holes and then used a saber saw as I could then see the rafter tails. I actually left many of the bridging pieces in place as I was covering the full length with a long vented cover.

Bud

 

[Feetsdr]

I actually left many of the bridging pieces in place as I was covering the full length with a long vented cover.

And THAT is why you are a contractor and I am a noob! I would try to get every last piece of the soffit off, even whats under the rafters. Why bother! The rafter will be blocking the air flow anyway. DUH!