Ventilating a loft

[Frank Z]

Many of you will be aware how searingly hot a loft can get - especially during a heatwave. This is a real problem for me because I have a makeshift office situated in my loft.

Would drilling a lot of 2" diameter holes in the soffit be a good way of allowing some fresh air to pass through the loft space? Are there any other easier methods (apart from adding roof windows)?

Frank

[David W.E. Roberts]

From Screwfix:

Dear Mr D Roberts

Thank you for your recent email.Soffit vent 68936,

In catalogue 71,page 80, we sell a very wide range of holesaw blades, there is one there that is 70mm, code 19804-71, price £5.80,then you would need a arbor to go with that, code 12437-71, priced £7.70.

Thank you for using the Screwfix Direct Technical Support Facility.

Regards

I am about to ventilate my soffits (wowch!) and ordered the bits using the part numbers above.

HTH

Dave R

[Simon Avery]

Hello Frank

Yes. Makeshift isn't really a good idea for many lofts since the joists are underspec for flooring. You're also generating moisture which if the ventilation ain't great will promote rot. I guess you can figure out why loft conversions are often so expensive, especially in modern multi-truss lofts.

Yes, it'd help. A bit. A traditional cold loft should be very well ventilated anyway (enough to feel a definite breeze on a blowy day), but many aren't. Soffit ventilation is good, but won't relieve the heat build up since it's only operating at the bottom level. Ridge vents are more expensive and more fiddly to fit, but are much better at removing heat.

[Andrew]

Try one for fit in a piece of scrap wood before you drill all the holes! The Marley vents I used call for a 70mm hole. I already had a

68mm hole saw in a Bosch set so I tried that and the vents fit perfectly, just requiring finger pressure to snap them into place. Either my hole saw is oversize or the vents are undersized.

Andrew

[jerrybuilt]

Ah. Jablite. (compressible) "Expanded", not "expanding"! I thought he was on about foam generating mixes!