What Is Soffit?
The soffit closes the gap between the wall and the roof edge, finishing the overhang and keeping weather, birds, and insects out of the eave cavity. Its second job matters more: perforated or vented soffit panels are the intake for attic ventilation, feeding the airflow that ridge or box vents exhaust. Materials range from wood beadboard on older homes to vented aluminum and vinyl panels. Soffits fail from above — a clogged or overflowing gutter sends water backward over the fascia and into the eave, rotting wood soffit and staining or corroding metal — and from within, when attic insulation is pushed into the eave bays and suffocates the intake. Homeowners spot peeling paint, sagging panels, stains, or wasp and squirrel entry at the eave. Repair means finding and fixing the water source first (gutter, drip edge, or shingle edge), then replacing panels; adding vented panels during the work is the cheapest ventilation upgrade available.
Important Distinction
Note: The soffit is the horizontal underside of the overhang; the fascia is the vertical board at its edge. They fail together (both take gutter-overflow water) but are different components with different jobs.
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Also Known As
These are the search terms and phrases that commonly refer to this topic, so you can find it however you describe it.
How Soffit Relates to Other Topics
Soffit vents are the intake half of the ventilation system, and painting, insulating, or pest-screening over them is the most common way a correctly built system gets silently starved years after installation.
Soffit is the horizontal underside of the roof edge, fascia the vertical face - and a stain on the soffit means water is already inside the edge assembly: by the time it shows underneath, the wood above has been wet for a while.
Related To Soffit
Soffit vents supply the intake air an attic exhaust fan depends on; a fan without matching soffit intake can depressurize the attic.
A ridge vent only exhausts if air can enter at the soffit; with intake blocked, the ridge vent pulls air from the nearest opening - often itself, drawing rain and dust in instead of pushing hot air out.
Every box vent's exhaust is powered by intake at the soffits - the two are one airflow path, and the vent only moves as much air as the soffits let in.
Whether to close gable vents after adding ridge exhaust turns on the soffits: with generous, unblocked soffit intake the gables are redundant; with starved soffits they may be the only intake the attic has.
Questions about Soffit?
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