I have a two story home in Southern California. It has a tile roof with one gable vent in the end and two eyebrow vents on the roof. I also have a total of 6 soffit vents in the eves that are what appears to be a 2" x 8" rectangular cut holes in the face of a 2 x 4 (in the 3-1/2" side). These holes are meshed with 1/4" mesh. The bad part is the builder or the builder's pet monkey jammed insulation against the vents. Bottom line is my upstairs turns into an inferno in the summer. I can't climb around in the attic without destroying my AC ducts and everything else up there. My plan is to come in from the outside and open each soffit and push the insulation down. Sounds simple but I know better than that. Any ideas on the best method?

 

Hi secondman.

Things always sound simple. I assume you cant get it from the inside, difficult to crawl down to the eave on top of insulation in most roofs, unless you have a raised heel 12/12 roof or something.

From the outside probably is easiest, pull off soffit and install moore vents or baffles between trusses. An example of a baffle, two short pieces of 2"*2" nailed on each truss over the wall, tight up to the roof sheathing, then say a piece of 1/2" plywood 2' long by the space between your trusses 22 1/2" in most cases nailed up onto your two pieces of 1 1/2" material. Insulation place back between top of wall and baffle. You now have a 1 1/2" air space between your roof sheathing and the baffle down into your soffit. I'd do this on every other truss space, minimum. A moore vent is a styrofoam commercial product that does the same, but not as well.

Hope that helps, Myron