What You Should Know About Soffit and Energy Efficiency

Matt GreenfieldInnovative Building Materials • Last updated April 25, 2023

vented soffit on a house
Vented soffit panels

Introduction

As a homeowner, it’s your duty to know about every aspect of your house which might be able to improve your energy efficiency.

Not only will you be helping minimize your negative impact on the environment by maximizing your energy efficiency, but you’ll also be able to save yourself some serious cash each month on your energy bill. 

One of the lesser known items on a home, the soffit, can have a big impact on the energy efficiency of your home. In order to fill you in on this little-known part of almost every home, let’s take a deeper look at everything you need to know about soffit and energy efficiency. 

A Breakdown of Soffit

To put it in layman’s terms, soffit is the material that covers up the gap between the edge of your roof and your siding. It sits underneath the roof where it hangs over the edge of your walls.

Aside from looking nice and preventing your home from having a bare spot on the outside of it, it also provides necessary ventilation for your roof and attic. In addition to this, soffit serves the same purpose siding does for your walls, protecting the underside of your eaves from rain, moisture, and more. 

When it comes to value, soffit provides a lot. If you like to store items in your attic, you’ll need it to be properly ventilated so that the humidity doesn’t create the perfect conditions for mold growth.

A properly installed soffit will also help give your roof a longer lifespan, and most importantly, improve the energy efficiency of your home.

How Can Soffit Improve the Energy Efficiency of My Home?

By ventilating your attic, the soffit prevents the build-up of heat within your home. Heat rises, and if it has no place to go once it reaches your attic, it will overflow into the rest of your home and superheat your roof. This is bad for a number of reasons. 

Firstly, you will need to use the A/C more frequently to cool off your home if you don’t have soffit.

Secondly, the superheating of your roof will cause the shingles to wear out much faster, resulting in ice dams being formed on your roof in the winter. Ice dams can weigh down on your roof and crack it, causing leaks which can lead to even better conditions for mold growth in your home. 

A good soffit will stop all of that from happening by letting hot air escape freely from your attic, while still keeping it insulated in the winter. 

Don’t Chance it, Soffit is Important

Don’t take the chance of going without a soffit on your home, the likelihood of overheating in the summer is too high.

Unless you want to deal with a bunch of different problems like mold, leaks, lower energy efficiency and more, you need to make sure you have a well functioning soffit that has been properly installed. Doing so can prevent you a lot of trouble down the line, while saving you money the entire time.