So I went and looked a house today that had a lot of ice dams and water stains around the recessed can lights. From what I can tell, the soffits are almost completely stuffed with insulation and it isn’t vented very well. Insulation is 12-14 inches thick. What is the best way to fix this so it doesn’t happen again? I asked a few friends.
“Best way is obvious. Removal use spray foam insulation,” one of them said.
“Use the right baffles. Looks like a 12″ where a 24″ should be,” said another. I replied, “Yeah I was going to pull out all the 12’s and put in 24’s and blow another 6-8inches on top. I’m just unsure if that will fix his problem.”
“Proper venting will go a long way. Right now it 50% less air flow then it should be. Is ridge vent good to?”
“No ridge venting,” I said. “It has 3 roof vents on that section of house.”
Another friend chimed in, “You want to keep a balanced pressure in the attic. If output is limited to only gable vents, cutting the input down is always a good bet. If you’ve got too much airflow and nowhere for it to go but down, you’re bound to have moisture problems. If you can’t foam it, at least try and equalize the pressure. Run a blower door if possible to cut off some of the infiltration points that can be fixed from the attic, that will keep the excess attic pressure from pushing into the conditioned space.”
Thanks for the lecture.
The conversation continued. “Since your already talking adding more blown, you could also suggest going around and can foam as many of the penetrations as you can find. It’s actually not too bad if you can get a decent layout of the walls below and the light fixtures.”
“Yeah I brought up doing that. Any other suggestions?”
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