LJMeek wrote:
I'm planning to replace both the soffits and fascias on my two-storey
house. It was built in 1906.

It has cast iron ogee gutters that sit in a cutout section at the end
of the joists; the joists sick out about 10 inches from the walls. The
soffits and fascias are attached to the underside and ends of these
joists.

A couple of the gutter sections, no doubt sealed together with putty,
started leaking and dripping onto the soffits. This resulted in a
couple of the soffits rotting. A couple of years ago, I got a local
builder to reseal all the gutter sections. He was worse than useless
as he managed to remove any putty that was still providing a seal. The
result is that ALL gutter sections are now leaking on to their
soffits. This is serious as the joists are getting wet.

As I wont trust anyone to do a good job, I've decided to do reseal the
gutters and replace the soffits/fascias myself.

However, the advice I'm looking for is this: houses of this style were
built 100 years ago; nowhere on the soffits or fascias are any
ventilation holes; apart from the (recent in 100 year timescale)
problem I described above, the loft space is perfectly dry; so, do
houses of this style need ventilation holes? There's no obvious
movement of air in the loft, even on windy days (though I'm not saying
the loft is hermetically sealed).

Basically, if the house lasted for 100 years without ventilation
holes, why bother fitting them now? Are ventilation holes for eaves
only for modern houses, or just a modern fad?

[Background: two storey house, sandstone exterior, exposed west of
Scotland location, fibreglass loft insulation.]

Any help much appreciated.

Ta.

Personally I think this fashion for howling draughts in yer loft is so
much bunkum.

It arose I suspect when people started felting..no natural draught
through the tiles or slates. And then adding ceiling loft insulation
made the loft a very cold place indeed..and condensation then rears its
ugly head.

So we were then told to fit vapour barriers between the habitable space
and the loft, but they still kept these massive ventilation requirements.

Frankly I feel that a couple of vents at each end of a gable roof is by
far and away all you need. But the regs say otherwise.