Wood paneling and moldings cover a ceiling.
Technically, a ceiling is the bottom of any element of a building. The word comes from the Latin suffigere, meaning “to fix below.” So there are ceiling soffits, stairs, and even cornices. The most common type, however, is found in the area under the eaves outside the house. The soffit extends from the side of the house to the edge of the eaves and closes off the space below the eaves.
The dimensions of an eave panel depend on the structure of the roof. A roof with a wide overhang will have a correspondingly wide soffit, sometimes up to 3 feet (0.9 m) wide. A roof with very little overhang will have a narrow bottom, sometimes as little as three inches.
The soffit is more vulnerable to weather damage than any other part of the house. Wet material will rot, and the bottom can be repeatedly soaked with water from broken shingles, damaged or rusted chips, ice dams, or malfunctioning gutters. Squirrels and birds can also damage a ceiling, as they like to nest in the space behind it if they can find an entry point. Bees, wasps, and wasps don’t really do any harm, but when they build a nest in this area, they present a problem to homeowners.
Fortunately, repairing a damaged soffit is very easy. The owner must first remove the mosaic frame and front panel. Then you need to remove the damaged or rotted soffit. If a joist is rotten or damaged, that section will also need to be removed and replaced. Damaged material should be replaced, making sure all surfaces of the new soffit have been treated with a sealer to protect the material from water damage. Then the front panel and frame can be replaced and all surfaces can be painted or sealed.
An overheated, unventilated attic can be improved with ridge and soffit openings. As the heat increases, warmer air exits through the top vents and cooler air enters through the soffit vents. If air circulation is poor, an attic fan can be used to increase air movement.
The improved ventilation with these vents keeps the attic drier because condensation will not form inside the roof. This reduces damage to the rafters and the roof. A cooler attic also means less use of air conditioning in the rest of the house.
