[DIY Patrick]

Hello and thank you for the help in advance. Helping new neighbor with a cold master bedroom. It seems to be an afterthought from the original house plans. The gable comes down further on the front of the house so that will be the main area to talk about. There is a knee wall built there where the gable would come down too far for useable standing room. I noticed a small cut door that was placed to access the associated storage area created when the knee wall was built. It was sealed with packing tape and masking tape and locked on the knob. He had never been in there since moving in. I popped the lock and peeled the tape to enter. Holy crap. Outside air temps in there due to the soft vents still being open. When I spin around I could see that they used bats in the ceiling. The bats block most of the air flow to the ridge vent so I am not sure why the soffit vents were not sealed up.

Is there any reason why not to seal the soffit vents? Also want to seal the area in the pics that runs up to the ridge. If the ridge vent is still there it will pull air from that room so I want to seal off that storage area all together. Anyone see a reason not to? Condensation?

 

[huesmann]

What's on the walls of the cavity, on either end of the knee wall?

 

[DIY Patrick]

What's on the walls of the cavity, on either end of the knee wall?

Just sheeting

 

[huesmann]

Might be worth installing gable vents there.

 

[Bud9051]

Not clear on what space is being finished, the attempted master bedroom or unfinished space somewhere.
But before we go to far, sounds like some construction that was not permitted and approved by by the town which can be a can of worms when discovered by inspectors. If the new neighbor is new to this house and the construction you describe was not of his making, then now would be a good time to bring all up to code.

I deal with code enforcement in different towns and they are great people, unless you leave them out of the loop.

Many issues to be determined, ceiling height, egress, insulation, electrical, and more.

Bud

 

[huesmann]

Sounds like the master was created (or originally designed) at least partly over the garage. Ours is same. There's a cavity behind the wall above the garage between the front edge of the roof (over the garage door) and the front wall of the master. OP is trying to figure out how the cavity should be vented, as it only appears to have soffit vents. Is that correct, OP?