I live in Minnesota. I have a story and a half house (basically, two
bedrooms exist in the attic.). Every year I get nasty, nasty ice dams
and I am trying to get ahead of it now.

Here's my question:
The previous homeowner had insulated kneewall where the highest part
met the room walls. All the way to the top. There was NO AIR going up
over the insulation to escape out the three or four roof vents.
Completely sealed off.
No wonder my upstairs gets to be 100 degrees in the summer.

I ripped that out. I would like to cut in some soffit vents but I have
a tiny (5" overhang).

Are soffit vents going to do me any good?
What about a "Whole house fan" especially in the summer?
Did I do the right thing taking out the insulation batts at the top of
the kneewall connection so that air can move up to the vents?

Another thing that I thought of is my boiler (located in the center of
my home) puts out a huge amount of heat. It rises right through that
ceiling, right through the floor above, and right to the roof, where it
consequently melts a lot of snow.

Would I be doing the right thing by lining the ceiling in the boiler
room (it's a small room) with R 21 insulation, 1/2 sheetrock, followed
up by some 1" R-Board? My goal is to keep that heat downstairs and not
flying right to the roof every time the boiler runs.

any suggestions would be appreciated..

mrbeanfan