Can you remove the sofit vents from the outside? If so you could
move the insulation away and add propa vents. These are 4' long "air
shoots". The insulation should hold up the shoot, but it would be good
to get a few staples in it from the inside.
What size sofit vents do you have? You should have at least a
6"x12". You could have a 4", which will not alow enough air to move.
mm wrote:
On 20 Jan 2007 10:32:28 -0800, "sserrels"
wrote:

My house is one half of a prefab duplex from the 80's. Last week I went
into the attic and found mold covering the roof sheathing. It had not
been there a few weeks earlier. The attic is supposed to be vented by
soffit vents and ridge vent, but I found that the air is not flowing up
from the soffit to the ridge like it should. The only moving air in the
attic is the air blowing in from the ridge vent. The soffits are
blocked by fiberglass batts and an additional layer of blown in
insulation. So there's practically no ventilation.

Now here's the problem: the roof pitch is something like 2/12 and the
rafters (except those at the soffit vent) run parallel to the ridge.
The pitch is so shallow that I can't get any closer than maybe 10 feet
away from the soffit vent from inside the attic. I can't clear out the

Use a tool, like a rake. I forget the name of the rake with an iron
part at the end with tines perpendicular to the handle. That might
work better than a leaf rake. Or make a tool from an old broom handle
and 2x10" piece of plywood.

insulation blocking the vents. Plus, if I did remove the insulation,
the ceilings of the rooms below would be exposed and uninsulated for a
couple of feet from the outside wall.

Don't remove it that far.

First scrape away the blown insulation. That might be the only
problem**. For those vents that are still obstructed, move the batts
back 2 to 6 inches. Even with a low pitch, an inch or two will likely
be enough to let air from the soffit vents circulate through the
attic. It doesn't have to be a big opening. An inch from the roof is
plenty.

If the batts run perp to the edge of the roof, you may be able to stay
where you are and pull them towards you an inch or two or whatever it
takes. If this leaves some of the ceiling uncovered, you can push
back some of the blown in.

**Because the guy who put down the batts was probably careful, since
you didn't have mold from the 80's until a few weeks ago. But blown
insulation is harder to control and I would guess can move even when
no one is there. So I suspect the blown-in is the only problem.

I'm considering buying an electric attic fan and just forgetting the
soffit vent. Any ideas?

I don't understand which direction thiis fan is going to blow, or why
the ridge vent should be closed. Closing that will close everything,
it seems, so you'll just be blwoing the air around inside, no?

Shawn