How many vent chutes do i need

A piece of rigid foam board placed on the outer edge of the top plate works very well for this. Place rafter vents in between the rafters where the ceiling meets the floor. Photo courtesy of Doug Anderson. Add insulation around the rafter vent and out to the edge of the attic floor. Slide the fast rafter vent so that it extends from the wall plate to the roof with the vent behind it. Repeat the procedure for all the rafter vents and avoid stepping on the rafters.

Skip to content Rafter vents are crucial for the stability of your attic and roof, and for ensuring that your insulation provides maximum coverage and keeps the temperatures in your living space fairly constant. How much vent space do you have? If you want to insulate the rafter bays rather than the attic floor in order to make the attic a heated space, baffles are even more important for proper air circulation.

Baffles establish a channel for air to circulate between the insulation and the roof sheathing. An air chute is installed in your attic to allow air to flow through your soffits, past your attic insulation and through to the roof vents. Without air chutes , your attic will not breathe. A poorly vented attic can cause energy loss, ice dams, mold and rot.

Can there be too much ventilation in an attic? They can disrupt the air flow through the attic. Theoretically you can have too much soffit venting if the system is out of balance dramatically but most homes are out of balance in the wrong direction i.

The general rule of thumb on the amount of total attic vent space needed is to have at least one square foot of vent space for every square feet of attic area. One great alternative to a soffit ventilation system is to install an intake vent right at the lower edge of the roof.

They call this a venting drip edge. The venting drip edge seems to be the easiest and most common way to go. Place plywood over two or more joists under your work area to prevent damage to the ceiling below.

Measure the distance between your rafters and between the rise. Cut one-half-inch, foil-faced, rigid foam into strips the width of the space between your rafters.

Push the foam strips into place between the rafters. Dangers of Too Much Ventilation If you have too much air circulating, your roof will collect moisture causing damages that will weaken spots and then cause leaking.

During the warmer months, your air conditioner is going to kick into overdrive to keep up with the warm air that comes in from the outside. The rule of thumb used to determine the number of roof vents to install is one for every square feet of attic area if your attic has a vapour barrier, and one for every square feet of attic area if the attic does not have a vapour barrier.

Mostly we use insulation baffles prevent blockage of soffit vents from blown in insulation. Batt insulation can simply be held back and physical baffling isn't really needed. Baffles are chutes that, when installed properly, can provide a channel for air to flow from your exterior soffit vents up into your attic space.

That airflow is intended to churn the stale air in your attic which helps to remove moisture and control the temperature of your attic. Baffles reduce the amount of sound produced by the exhaust most commonly on an internal combustion engine by forcing the exhaust flow to take an indirect route before exiting the muffler.

To answer simply: no, your soffits should not be insulated , and there is a chance that your insulation has been damaged by this.