Charlie: “First question this morning comes from Jersey Village. Bruce writes to us, “I have vaulted ceilings in my home.” That’s pretty common out there, isn’t it? They got a lot of those houses with those kind of vaulted ceilings.”
Tom: “It’s common everywhere.”
Charlie: “Yeah. “It’s a single-story house,” of course, “and there’s a four-foot piece of six- to eight-inch fiberglass insulation between the rafter and the joist. The insulation makes the soffit vents, putting those in, useless,” he says. “So, what’s worse, no insulation, or no venting?”
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Tom: “What’s worse is no insulation. With the venting, you either tighten it up really tight, or you vent. And if you can’t vent properly, don’t vent at all. Just go ahead and keep it tight. That insulation is really, really important to keep the heat gains down.”
Charlie: “So, he’s kind of stuck where he is, is what you’re saying. …”
Tom: “I think whoever did it did it right, yeah. If you opened it up with soffit vents and ridge vents and you had that insulation in there, that air would get up in there, it would get trapped, and then you’d have a lot of moisture in the insulation and the insulation wouldn’t work. So, it’s always best to either be able to do it right or not do it at all. In this case, you can’t do it all on that one, and the insulation will be your most effective …”