Hey everyone. Since I bought my house I've had ice dam problems. Insulation was poor so I had a bunch blown in. Helped with the melting but not eliminated. I have a continuous ridge vent, a gable vent at each end, and now soffit vents. Until this fall I did not have soffit vents. I rented a boom lift from home depot, pulled the vinyl soffit covers off, hole sawed 3.5" holes in each rafter bay and replaced the vinyl with perforated vinyl. I also at the same time routed my 2 bathroom fans to the soffit. (previous builder/owner had them just hanging out in the attic)
I still have melting that I fear will cause ice dams. I did not yet put in the styrofoam channels in the rafters to let the air travel up the sheathing easier and some of my blown in insulation is touching the roof surface, so I know I need to fix that. My main question is about the gable vent. If I want the air to come in mainly through the soffits, could the gable vent be hurting that airflow? Should I block the gable vent since I have so much soffit and ridge venting. Seems to me that blocking it would make for a better exchange of air even if it does mean less surface area of venting. Any input is appreciated.
I still have melting that I fear will cause ice dams. I did not yet put in the styrofoam channels in the rafters to let the air travel up the sheathing easier and some of my blown in insulation is touching the roof surface, so I know I need to fix that. My main question is about the gable vent. If I want the air to come in mainly through the soffits, could the gable vent be hurting that airflow? Should I block the gable vent since I have so much soffit and ridge venting. Seems to me that blocking it would make for a better exchange of air even if it does mean less surface area of venting. Any input is appreciated.