Getting attic airflow right: my step-by-step for better roof health

susanm78 · 2025-11-09T03:52:22Z

I’ve been messing around with attic ventilation since I bought my first house (old 60s ranch, leaky as heck). Here’s how I tackled the whole soffit vent thing, step by step—maybe it’ll help someone, or maybe there’s a smarter way I haven’t tried yet. First, I checked if I even had enough soffit vents. Turns out, nope—just a couple tiny ones for the whole house. I measured the attic and used one of those online calculators to figure out how much vent area I needed. Next, I popped off the old vents and installed new, bigger ones (had to cut the wood a bit, which was nerve-wracking). Then, inside the attic, I made sure insulation wasn’t blocking airflow from the soffits—used those foam baffles to keep a clear path up to the ridge vent. Since doing all that, my attic’s way less stuffy in summer and no more weird frost in winter. But honestly, it was kind of a pain and I’m still not sure if I did it perfectly. Anyone got tricks for making this easier, or is there something I missed?

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I’m in the same boat—batt insulation just never seems to stay put, especially after I crawl around up there. I haven’t switched to blown-in yet, but I did talk to a couple neighbors who did. They said it doesn’t shift nearly as much, but you’ve gotta be careful about covering soffit vents. One guy used those foam baffles to keep the airflow open before they blew in the insulation. It sounded like a bit of a hassle up front, but he swears it’s less maintenance overall. I’m still weighing the cost myself... just feels like one of those “pay now or pay later” situations.

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Getting attic airflow right: my step-by-step for better roof health

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