DCI Products RafterVent - Manual (Page 7)

7
builders don’t like this solution because it
requires extension jambs to pad the win-
dow and door jambs flush with drywall on
the inside. But if you’re framing 2x6 walls,
or using windows with 2
1 / 4 -inch-deep
jambs in a 2x4 wall, then you’re ripping
extension jambs anyway, so there’s no
extra labor and minimal materials.
EXHAUST-VENT DETAILING
Don’t forget to provide a route for the
rain-screen vent space to exhaust along
the top. I’ve used two different details:
Frieze-board vents require only a little
advance planning and can be incorpo-
rated after the soffit board has been
installed. Leave a
1 / 2 -inch space between
the last batten and the soffit board, and
cut the top of the shingles about
1 / 2 inch
short of the soffit as well (Figure 7).
Then use blocks approximately
3 / 8 inch
thick to space the frieze board off the sur-
face of the shingles. In order to keep the
frieze plumb, I rip tapered blocks to apply
over the shingles at 16-inch centers. Air
flows freely between the rain-screen
space and the space behind the frieze.
Vented soffit. With a little more plan-
ning, you can eliminate these tapered
spacers, and just let the rain screen
exhaust into a vented soffit. Cut the soffit
board
1 / 2 to 3 / 4 inch narrower than the
fascia-to-wall dimension, so there’s a gap
between the back edge of the soffit board
and the wall sheathing. This allows you to
run the rain-screen material right up to
the soffit space, and the frieze board will
conceal the gap. Air can then flow freely
from the rain-screen vent space and into
the soffit.
~
Mike Guertin (www.mikeguertin.com) is a
custom home builder and remodeler in
East Greenwich, R.I., and a member of
the JLC Live Construction Demonstration
Team leading sidewall shingling work-
shops. All photos by the author.
Illustrations by Chuck Lockhart.
Best-Practice
Wall Shingles
March/April 2007
~
CoastalContractor
RESOURCES
SPACER MATS
Enkamat, www.colbond-usa.com
Home Slicker, www.benjamin
obdyke.com
Waterway, www.stucoflex.com
PLASTIC BATTENS
Battens Plus, www.battensplus.com
Cor-A-Vent, www.cor-a-vent.com
CedarVent & RafterVent,
www.dciproducts.com/html/
cedarvent.htm
Exhaust Vent into Soffit Vent Frieze Board
Soffit
Rain-screen
mat
Plastic
battens Plastic
battens
Rain-screen
mat
Insect screen
Frieze board
Spaced tapered
blocks
Frieze
board
Spaced
tapered
blocks
FIGURE 7. The vent space in a rain screen needs an air exhaust along the top. This can be detailed in two
ways: (1) by venting the space into the soffit (above left), or (2) by using a vented frieze board (above right).