Yeah, I've seen those sytrofoam baffles - there are acutally a few in this
house. Not many tho I traced back with the past owners of the house
(who bought the house at 5 years old and owned it till 20 years old) and
they confirmed they didn't touch a thing in the attic. That is, no adding
or changing of insulation.

This leads me to believe that the insulation done was done from new or
almost new. Not sure why they thought it was a good idea to block the
vents! However, you can speculate that if after 20 years of being this way
there is /really/ no issue, not sure I wanna rush and change thigns now -
considering the work involved. If there was notable condensation in winter
the insulation and roof members would show it - and they don't. I'm sure
there is /some/ issue with heat buildup in the summer - which i'm sure adds
to /some/ deterioration of shingle life....

but considering the job of evacuating the insulation from the soffit gaps
(really, you HAVE to see this nightmare) i'm pretty sure i'll accept 5 years
less shingle life in exchange

bmoney
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
Hamilton Audio wrote:
I noticed recently (on a house we've owned 2 years) that the blown in
insulation in the attic was blown right into the soffit gaps. I am
interested in improving soffit venting as i have a "wee bit" of faint
frost on the main header in the winter and am hoping the AC won't
work as hard in the summer.

So I got up there today with a scoop I made with sheet metal and a
broom handle, hoping to pull out the plugged up gaps. It turns out
that the batt insulation (with the paper on the back) was installed
in such a way that it is stuffed into the gaps as well!!!!!!!! Its
obvious this has been the case for the 20 years of this house's life.

I'm perplexed now....I've got 3 of the regular square type vents near
the roofs peak, and a pair of about 24x24 gable vents (one on either
side). I'm thinking about having two of the three top vents changed
to turbine style, but am told that with plugged eaves, the turbines
will make a negative pressure and draw household air into the attic.

What do I do? Is there sense in taking down some of the
soffit/fascia and seeing if I can rectify from the outside? It
doesn't look possible..... considering it has been this way for a
LONG time and there doesn't appear to be any sort of systemic damage
from it, I'm almost tempted to just install the turbines and say
screw it.
any ideas?

b

I would want to open them up. Have you seen the various forms of
baffles made to hold back the insulation? Could that work for you along
with some sort of tool to pull back the insulation as you install them?

How about removing the covers over the openings and working from below,
maybe with someone else in the attic?

It sounds like you are not getting buy with just slightly sub standard
venting due the the existing vents. I would want to correct that.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit