Are there roof ventilation specialists?

in my area (which has a similar climate to yours) in all new construction the soffitt vents are 1/8 holes. so i dont see why it wouldnt work. and i dont know of any bug problems with them.

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Seems odd to me that you can’t find someone (or @ least had a hard time doing so) that is a gearhead when it comes to proper ventilation.

For maximum soffit ventilation, James Hardie corp. has a continuous vented soffit vent product. No, there isn’t any screening, however the size of the baffle / vent is small enough that only an ant would be a problem. If an ant wants in the house, there are a zillion other places they will intrude via, so don’t get all worked up about ants, per se.

http://jameshardie.com/homeowner/prodhome/hardisoffit.php

That’s their product line… one suggestion: I have seen some of them sag inbetween the outriggers & rafter tips, so if you were going to install them, try to get yoru carpenter or whomever to add a fesh 2x4 @ the 12" mark (assuming you have 24" o.c. rafters). Then secure through the hardie into the new 2x4 spans… this should hold it up much, much better.

Another option or two is a powered vent. GAF makes a nice line of solar powered exhaust fans & one of them has a remote power / solar cell that has a 25’ cord. Let’s say your roof has a Southerly ‘street side’ orientation - that will mean you don’t want a big honkin’ fan with the solar panel pointing towards the side that will be seen most often. Use the remote corded unit: put the solar cell (18" x 18") on the street / South side & then the fan on the Northerly exposure. The cord gets snaked through the attic space & everyone is happy.

GAF also makes a solar powered INATKE booster fan, however that one is only goign to work for a Southerly exposure because it goes within a few feet of the low side of the eave & that means no snaking a cord from end to end (unless your Southern slope is less than 25 ft long… but then I don’t think GAF has this unit set up for a remote cell anyhow). The intake booster pushes 1,000 CFM & both the intake & exhauste units are soopa quiet. I have had to get down on the roof deck (on a really sunny day) to hear them operating.

Hope that gives you all the info you need.

Just giving everyone a long-overdue update…

I completed the soffit vent retrofit job in early February. We lucked out and found a 2 day warm spell in the middle of otherwise deep freeze.

I went w/ the standard continuous soffit venting product (in our case the Alcoa NAS70 at 8.8 per foot NFA)

I now have gobs of intake (and light too!).

For those who said ventilation was my problem and my solution, I think you all were right.

I haven’t noticed any condensation (e.g. on nails) or any new mold spreading since I increased the ventilation months ago.

Actually the first thing I did that helped a ton was to temporarily open up the gable end windows and prop open the opposite gable fan louvers.

Then once the soffit vents were installed, I closed the gable windows, closed the fan louvers and “sealed” the fan w/ plastic & duct tape. (I may remove this monster 3 foot fan entirely in the summer)

Anyway, that seems to be the end of the story. :mrgreen:

Thanks again to everyone who gave me advice along the way, especially Gtp1003!

Just giving everyone a long-overdue update…

I completed the soffit vent retrofit job in early February. We lucked out and found a 2 day warm spell in the middle of otherwise deep freeze.

I went w/ the standard continuous soffit venting product (in our case the Alcoa NAS70 at 8.8 per foot NFA)

I now have gobs of intake (and light too!).

For those who said ventilation was my problem and my solution, I think you all were right.

I haven’t noticed any condensation (e.g. on nails) or any new mold spreading since I increased the ventilation months ago.

Actually the first thing I did that helped a ton was to temporarily open up the gable end windows and prop open the opposite gable fan louvers.

Then once the soffit vents were installed, I closed the gable windows, closed the fan louvers and “sealed” the fan w/ plastic & duct tape. (I may remove this monster 3 foot fan entirely in the summer)

Anyway, that seems to be the end of the story. :mrgreen:

Thanks again to everyone who gave me advice along the way, especially Gtp1003!