soffit vent screens, how to replace?

[Linus]

house is about 30 years old with soffit vent screens in need of replacement.

They are imbedded in a cement-wiremesh and am wondering if it is possible to just cut off the screens, clean, vacuum&blow away any obstructions and install a new screen by just somehow attaching the new screen in some type of frame that could be screwed into the vent opening?

in other words, if I cut away the screen in the overhang portion of the roof, is there a replacement vent&screen that can be retrofitted from the outside or is this a job that can only be done from inside of the attic?

[rcf]

if I cut away the screen in the overhang portion of the roof, is there a replacement vent&screen that can be retrofitted from the outside

Our handy man did exactly that for us. He made 40 diamond shaped wooden frame with in the inside and then nailed them to the soffet.

[GMach3]

my neighbor just bought some of those stamped aluminum vent covers and didn't worry about it. It thought it looked ok.

[PK]

Linus, sure sounds okay to me ... cut them out and mount new screens/vents on the surface over the hole. Depends on the look you are looking for - mine are pretty cheap, mounted on the surface of the soffit and painted the same color as the soffit/eaves. Looks okay and I tend not to spend too much time looking at them.

Mine look just like these ones:

PK

[HeyBub]

Outside. You can't possibly reach the soffits (overhang) from the attic.

I used the 6" wide aluminum gutter guard material from HD. Cheap, easy to work with. Using 1/4 by 1.5" lathe, I built frames for the gutter-guard material, stapled the mesh to the frames, and mounted the frames over the exiting holes with screws. Paint first.

I did it this way because our original soffit vents were, like, six feet long. I also put in dozens of commercial vents (each about one foot long). You can't have too many soffit vents.