Attic frost in eaves

[jtfoxman]

Hi everyone.
Slight problem I am having here. This is our first winter in the house we purchased and I noticed that up in the attic if you look down the roof slope to the eaves there is frost on the underside of the roof. It only extends about 6" up from the edge of the roof in the eave. Is there any way I can stop this with insulation or another product? Is theis an attic ventilation problem?
Thanks
Jason

Jtfoxman

[kactuskid]

Do you have a bathroom exhaust fan that vents out the soffits instead of the roof. Or does it vent into the attic and not to the outside. Something is introducing warm air into the attic space.

[jtfoxman]

No nothing vents out the soffit or into the attic. Could this be the makings of an ice dam?

Jtfoxman

[kactuskid]

Well, it's hard to say but you could end up with icedamming if your attic is getting warm. You need to make sure you have adequate ventillation and insulation. Rule of thumb is 1 sq ft of ventillation for every 300 sq ft of attic space, that's for both roof and soffit venting.

You also need to make sure all holes are plugged that could allow warm air from the living space to enter the attic space. And most importantly you need to make sure that your soffit vents are not covered over with insulation. There should be vent chutes installed to prohibit this.

Here's a ton of info for you, read it all and you'll learn alot. Let us know what you find.

http://www.detnews.com/2004/homeimprovement/0402/10/e18-56678.htm

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/burema/gesein/abhose/abhose_ce13.cfm

http://www.ronhungarter.com/ice_dams.html

http://www.homedepot.com/HDUS/EN_US/energy/en_project_ventltn_01.html

http://www.naima.org/pages/resources/library/html/BI458.HTML

[LazyPup]

Be careful with installing insulation,, it it is too close to the soffet vents the insulation will block the airflow. They make small cardboard guards that may be placed near the soffet vents to insure a proper clearance and allow air flow.

[jtfoxman]

Thanks for all the info. Very informative. I have 0 insulation in the attic and 0 soffit vents or vents of any kind. Except fo the windo I keep part way open. Where would the best place to be to install the insulation, the attic ceiling or in the floor joists? I have floorboards so it will be a pain to rip that up and install insulation. Can I lay out new floor joists and place the insulation between them right over the old floor?

Jtfoxman