Attic Vent Chutes, Does Your Attic Ventilation want Any?

House attic vent chutes (also called baffles or rafter vents) play an foremost role in your attic ventilation system.

Attic Vent Chutes, Does Your Attic Ventilation want Any?

Attic Vent Chutes, Does Your Attic Ventilation want Any?

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Attic Vent Chutes, Does Your Attic Ventilation want Any?

Attic Vent Chutes, Does Your Attic Ventilation want Any?

They serve three functions:

provide unobstructed air tube between the soffit and the attic allow facility of attic floor insulation close to the soffit, without worrying about clogging the soffit ventilation ports with insulation allow for enough accumulation of insulation right above where your house ceiling meets the outside wall, thus limiting air replacement between the living space and the attic

However, your attic can also have a exquisite air circulation without the vent baffles, in some cases they might be even useless (houses with no soffits or no soffit vents don't have any use for them) - it all depends on the attic ventilation originate and insulation of the attic floor.

Soffit - the exposed underside of the roof section overhanging house wall

So, how do you find out if your attic is properly ventilated, and if you need any vent chutes?

Unfortunately, you have to have your attic examined (not that this is the only reason to visit your attic periodically), and if your atmosphere includes a cold season, pick one of the coldest days for this purpose. This way, you'll be able to spot many more attic problems than while doing it on a warm day.

Attic vent chutes come in two beloved flavors - cardboard and foam (looks like a compressed Styrofoam), and range of colors. Most typical sizes are 16" and 24" to match open space between the roof framing members.

They are shaped in such way that can be stapled to the roof decking along its edges, which is an easy task if installed on a new construction, without the ceiling drywall below. Vent chutes can be also installed by sliding them between the insulation and the roof decking. Sliding part might be hard in some cases because of the roofing nails sticking out of the decking, low clearance, and insulation of course.

Attic vent chutes are very beneficial with a blown-in type insulation.

Blown-in or any loose / poured type of the attic floor insulation isn't as easy to operate as blankets and other compacted / formed into a shape insulation types. Without vent chutes, the insulation can fall into the soffit, or it is often blown by air drafts from the area near the soffit deeper into the attic.

This exposes attic floor, and allows warm air from the living area below to migrate into the attic and condensate on the roof decking outside (cold season). This situation can be avoided by placing short pieces of batt insulation in the area closest to the soffit, and then filling up the rest of the floor cavity with blown-in type insulation, or by installing a vent chute.

With already installed blanket, batt, rolled type of attic insulation stuffed to far into the soffit, you'd need to pull it back into the attic so you have enough room between the roof decking and the insulation for sliding the vent chute into that space.

Don't push the vent baffle all the way down into the soffit, this is not necessary, it just has to go slightly deeper than the insulation directly below it. After placing the vent chute against the roof decking (staple it if you can), push the pulled insulation firmly back into the space, but without crushing the vent chute.
Attic vent chutes in cathedral ceilings

If there are no vent chutes installed and the insulation has been packed tight into the rafter space, you'll most likely end up with mold, and not much can be done without serious remodeling.

In some cases, installed vent chutes might originate problems - a very coarse issue is when the bathroom vent discharges into the soffit (International building Code does not allow it, but some jurisdictions do... For some unexplained reason). With the vent chute installed close to the bathroom vent extraction register, the warm and humid air will often find its way back into the attic and often follow in condensation + mold growth.

How many vent chutes do you need?

If you go to your attic, and against all odds everything looks perfect:

there's no moisture stains on roof decking and framing no corrosion or roofing nails sticking straight through the decking no dripping condensation stains on the attic floor insulation no mold residue

you most likely don't need any vent chutes.

If you did observation any of the problems listed above, you'd have to start investigating, and attic vent chutes facility might be a way to solve your problems. You can start from installing them only in the areas where you observed some clear ventilation issues.

You can also fill every single rafter / truss space with a vent chute just to be on a safe side, but before you do that, make sure that your house has a soffit with existing and open vents.

No matter how many vent baffles you'll install, they won't work if the soffit vents are clogged or if they don't exist at all - looking a soffit vent register on the house outside does not necessarily mean that it is open. It might be sealed with some coats of paint, clogged with dust / lint, clogged with insulation from attic, or there might be no cut-out above the outside register - check this first.

Whatever you'll do about the attic vent chutes, all the time remember about your security first, don't endeavor to do anything you are not felling 100% comfortable with, avoid performing attic work in hot weather, be very cautious on the ladder, and all the time wear protective gear.

Attic Vent Chutes, Does Your Attic Ventilation want Any?

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