Insulation Covering Soffits

The resale house I bought is a 2-story colonial plus basement. There's the main rectangle of all three levels. Connected to this on the first floor is a 3-car garage on the front and the family room behind it. Above both is the master bedroom, which has a cathedral, sloped ceiling following the roof line. It's roof is connected to the main roof, and is not quite as high up.

We have two closets in the master bedroom on the front side. They are narrow and long, and the master bedroom roof slope is very prominent in the closets. One of the closets has a rectangular panel covering an opening to a crawl/storage space.

After having lived here awhile, I finally opened this panel to find a nice storage area, insulated, with floorboards neatly covering the insulation. The storage area spans the entire length in front of both closets.

I noticed there are rectangular solid pieces of insulation (look like pink styrofoam) laid on top of each of the soffits in this storage area. Above, there are blue channels (for lack of knowing the correct term) shoved into the insulation, presumably to allow for air flow coming up from the soffits to go above the bedroom ceiling up to the ridge vent.

Shouldn't the soffits be uncovered and allowed to let air in?

I should say our room is hotter than the rest of the upstairs in summer, colder in winter, and our closets brutally so.

Would removing these styrofoam blocks and uncovering the soffits help? Further, is this most likely the prime cause of the closets being hot in the summer, cold in the winter?

On the other hand, since the closets are already very cold in winter, would letting cold outdoor air flow into the crawl space through the soffits make this space, the closets, and the master bedroom even colder?

Reply to
Dimitrios Paskoudniakis
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Yes, that is why they put vents in them.

Ventilation helps in many repects. You may wanto to insulate around the closets, but keep the vents open. You can otherwise get moisture in there that will cuase rotting.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

The blue plastic thingies are supposed to keep the insulation from blocking the soffits. Are the soffits wood, aluminum, plastic??? Are the ventings continuous or periodic. If periodic, the blue thingies must line up with the vent holes. The rest of the soffits can be covered. Do you have wind tubine vents, continous peak venting, gable end vents, or discrete roof penetrations/vents?

Reply to
hrhofmann

The blue plastic thingies are supposed to keep the insulation from blocking the soffits. Are the soffits wood, aluminum, plastic??? Are the ventings continuous or periodic. If periodic, the blue thingies must line up with the vent holes. The rest of the soffits can be covered. Do you have wind tubine vents, continous peak venting, gable end vents, or discrete roof penetrations/vents?

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I think I need to clarify.

This is not an attic space with blown insulation that could cover the soffits. This is a storage space behind the closets. The storage space is completely covered by wood panels - floor and walls. Above is like the underside of the roof in the main attic. There is no exposed insulation. It is a completely dry, wood-covered space. The soffits are just past the edge of the wood flooring, and happen to be covered by rectangular styrofoam blocks.

There is no attic above the master bedroom, closets, and storage space. The ceiling of these areas follows the roof line. There is probably a very small amount of space between the ceiling and the underside of the roof. The roof is ridge vented.

The storage space is insulated under the floorboards, behind the walls, and above in the space going above the closet ceiling. The blue plastic channels are in the spaces above leading to above the closet ceiling, wedged into rolls of batted insulation, to allow air to flow into the space above the closet and bedroom ceiling up to the peak, and out through the ridge vent.

The soffits have no insulation near them, other than the styrofoam rectangular blocks covering them. On the exterior, they are wood, with thin slot spacers. They are periodic, not continuous.

Reply to
Dimitrios Paskoudniakis

The soffits should not be blocked. From the description, it's not clear how this came to be. Since this storage space has walls and a floor, it's not clear how the soffits and insulation blocks can even be visible. Normally, if this was being walled, the wall would be many feet out from the soffit area, as otherwise the wall would be very short, no headroom, etc. If the wall was placed this way, then the soffits would be open behind it and the baffles on the underside of the roof sheathing would allow the air that comes in via the soffits to go out via the ridge vent. It would also have been a good idea to put insulation on the backside of the storage space walls, as that would help keep the storage space from having temp extremes.

You suspicion is correct. Removing the blocking will help keep the storage space temp down in summer, but it's going to make it hotter in winter. Perhaps that's why they put these blocks there. But there should be ventilation all year, otherwise you could get condensation problems in winter.

Reply to
trader4

The soffits should not be blocked. From the description, it's not clear how this came to be. Since this storage space has walls and a floor, it's not clear how the soffits and insulation blocks can even be visible. ______________________________

The flooring ends at a floor joist just short of the soffits.

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Normally, if this was being walled, the wall would be many feet out from the soffit area, as otherwise the wall would be very short, no headroom, etc.

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It is. The wall is the back side of the closet. On the floor of the storage space, from the wall to the soffits is I'd guess about eight feet. The ceiling when you enter is maybe five feet, dropping to almost zero at the soffits.

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If the wall was placed this way, then the soffits would be open behind it and the baffles on the underside of the roof sheathing would allow the air that comes in via the soffits to go out via the ridge vent. It would also have been a good idea to put insulation on the backside of the storage space walls, as that would help keep the storage space from having temp extremes.

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You have described it correctly. The walls are insulated. Under the floor is insulated. The space above the top of the wall, above the closet ceiling is insulated. The baffles (thank you for the term for blue plastic thingies) are shoved above this insulation to allow an air path up to the ridge vent. ____________________________________

You suspicion is correct. Removing the blocking will help keep the storage space temp down in summer, but it's going to make it hotter in winter. Perhaps that's why they put these blocks there. But there should be ventilation all year, otherwise you could get condensation problems in winter.

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I assume you mean keeping the blocking in place will make it hotter in winter. As for condensation problems, although it is now summer, it is bone dry, and no sign of mold or rot.

Reply to
Dimitrios Paskoudniakis

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