soffit on 125yr old home

[jody]

I have a 125 yr old house with thick original old wood in the soffit. Question is, do I go through the extensive process of drilling through the old wood to provide ventilation or are the gable vents at each end enough for the attic?

[John Dirks Jr]

Soffit vents are generally intended for incoming air when combined with a ridge vent at the peaks of the roof to let hot air out. Does or will the house also have ridge venting?

The design of the house including eave over hang, type and amount of insulation as well as other factors play a role on the best ventilation plan.

Can you post some pictures of the house and the attic space?

[jody]

no ridge venting, only gable vent at each end, blow insulation.

sorry, these are the only pictures I have on hand at the moment.

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[hausdok]

If it's 125 years old and hasn't had any issues and doesn't have any now, you don't have to do anything unless you are doing something that you think is going to cause an issue.

What are you doing now that makes you think you need to change the ventilation scheme?

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[John Dirks Jr]

Does the attic show signs of moisture damage due to poor ventilation? If its 125 years old, you have an example of how things have managed.

If it's managing well as is, why change it? I've seen houses, older and newer where gable end vents were performing just fine.

The pics are too small, dark and poor quality to get any decent information from. Although, there does not appear to be very much eave over hang to work with. I'm not sure if hacking the soffits is a good idea.

[Jim Katen]

I wouldn't spend time fixing something that isn't broken. If the attic doesn't have moisture problems, leave it alone.

[jody]

Thank you, I agree that it does not need it, there are no signs of moisture being a problem in the attic or elsewhere however I didn't have another home inspector tell me they were a concern and needed. but many others who have looked at it agree they were not needed and like one of you said, would be stupid to cut up such a small soffit area.

Thanks for your opinions they have re-inforced my original thinking.

[John Kogel]

It's pretty dark in that attic. []

My theory about old attics with minimal ventilation is that the insulation is also minimal, so the attic warms up with the rest of the house and there is no condensation on the roof sheathing. Also, quite a bit of air leaks in around the old planks at the eaves and the edges.

Warm interior air is leaking into your old attic through plaster cracks, interior walls where they meet the ceiling, light fixtures, etc. If you decide to add a lot of insulation to your attic floor, first work on sealing off the places where warm air can leak through. There are new paints that they say will act as a vapor barrier.

If your attic becomes cooler in winter through more efficient insulation, condensation will become more of an issue.