How we rehab a house for new ventilation

This house was built in the early 60's and not much has been done to it since. We are going to install a new roof in the spring, tearing off the old and inspecting the deck. I am starting on the new soffit while I have a chance, kind of just playing with it. Too many people will just cut a few holes and then install vented panels, maybe on every third panel. We fully vent and we also install prper vents on every rafter. I don't want any contact with the roof deck and the insulation. There is a lot of condensation right now and we will replace the gutters when all is said and done too.

For all you young guys, this is the proper way to vent the soffit of an old home. It works!!!

https://picasaweb.google.com/crookston.john4/SoffitVentilation?authkey=Gv1sRgCOay6t-V8tW7Tg#5839438461840770210

Salute!1 Well said.

Old School Said: I have seen the EDGE and am unimpressed. A lazy mans way to try and vent a roof. This is natural and works much much better. It also eliminates the insulation touching the botom side of the roof.

As far as venting goes most ridge vents allow 18 NFA. The venting qualities of The Edge vent is 9 NFA. So if either side is equal to the ridge vent you have proper air flow. It helps keep the cost down for the homeowner and unless they are doing new siding will allow them to keep their old soffit.

On homes that we are installing new siding we use Ventura hidden vent system. This also gives you proper venting without seeing the holes in the soffit area. Makes for a cleaner look.

Most of the improper venting that I see anymore is the roofers not installing any kind of intake system and using ridge vents. This is against our State Code however, if the City doesn't know what they are looking for they don't stop the hack and wack companies that are doing it wrong.

Any system that you use you should install baffles whenever the attic insulation is touching the wood deck.

OS, yeah, I really scratched my head on that one. But in eliminating the insulation right at the plate like that, and with the heat loss from the (pretty sure) uninsulated wall cavities, I was convinced that ice dam issues would continue. I DO like your suggestion of shimming the first few feet of the deck though. I'll keep that in mind for the next one.

Andy, isn't that the truth!!! Home owners will point out the vented soffit panels, and claim it is vented. Then we go into the attic and turn off the lights and look for light coming in at the soffit. No light, no ventilation and no air movement!

On that flat a roof with that minima; air space at the bottom, I would still be leaning in the direction of shoving a proper vent into that space and just eliminate the insulation for the first 6 inches to get the air movement. You could also take off the first sheet of plywood and shim it up about 3" for the first 4' so that you could get the air flow. perhaps you could also extend the overhang about 6 inches to give you some space to install the fully vented soffit. It would last much longer and work 10 times better inspite of the slightly flatter pitch that would result.

Rehabs on existing are tough, but the priciples are always the same.

We have used AirVent's Edgevent with mixed success. On an old farm house with about 4" of overhang, we installed ridge venting and edgevent. About an 8 pitch roof. The homeowner has commented on a couple of occasions how well the system is moving air.

On a few other installs, haven't heard yay or nay.

We installed the same on a very basic ranch. The pitch was barely 4/12, with the bird's foot cut of the 2x4 (1 1/2" x 3 1/2") rafter at the plate providing about 1" clearance plate to roof deck, if that. Again, no overhang. We installed the product to spec., but the build is creating airflow issues. A competitor came in after the fact and insists that building out overhangs and traditional soffit is the solution. I remain unconvinced, as the restriction at the rafter/plate remains.

We learn something new everyday in this business.

Given the overhang and plywood soffit, I would follow John's lead on this project. Been there, done that. Oh, and it's worth noting the number of homes we've worked on where the siding installers did in fact provide ventilation panels, but neglected to cut open the existing soffit. Very common.

We've had no problems w/ Lomanco's version of the edge. We only use it when we other options aren't ideal.

Nice job as usual OS.

I have seen the EDGE and am unimpressed. A lazy mans way to try and vent a roof. This is natural and works much much better. It also eliminates the insulation touching the botom side of the roof.

One word of caution about the pictures. If you have far more soffit ventilation than ridge ventilation, you get soffit-to-soffit flow instead of soffit-to-ridge flow. I don't think it's a problem in this case because the insulation baffles will limit the soffit intake to a balance with the ridge venting.

Altho I think the EDGE is a better made product, I like the tapered ends provided by the DCI

Have you used Air Vent's The Edge vent system yet? We have used it since it came out. Use Smart Vent by DCI also.