What are Soffits? and why would I need them for my off grid 16x40 cabin?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- In this video I get to learn all about soffits and how to prepare them for installation on my 16x40 cabin.
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Respirator Don, when cutting Hardi Board.
Doing a great job, take care.
And need to cut that stuff outside.
That silica dust will cause all manner of respiratory problems. I don’t ever cut it with a power tool. I snap it after scoring it.
Those holes in the hardiplank are to allow for airflow. As the roof heats, convection will cause air to flow in through soffits vents (those holes) and rise and exit out the roof vents. It reduces heat and moisture buildup within the structure.
Depends on insulation plan as to if you want the air holes in the soffit.
Direct insulating the roof sheathing, no holes. The attic is part of the insulated space. Cooler attic in summer if you store stuff up there or need to work up there. This is becoming standard for spray foam houses.
Dehumidifier highly recommended in a spray foamed building.
Soffits should never get water on them. If they did, no one would make them out of hardy board.
You should definitely be using a respirator around that hardiboard dust
Early April 2020 we broke ground for the tiny home for our daughter. I am now 81 1/2. That spring & summer, we excavated, formed for concrete slab leveled gravel, installed underground plumbing, & poured the slab. Finally January 31, 2022 we had the roofing & siding on so were "dried in". By last week we finished drywall, painting, & flooring. All electrical is done, water line from main well (200 feet away) ready to hook up. She should be able to move in by next spring. Five year project. "Tiny" turned into a 2 story 1300 foot house.
Breakfast favorite - black coffee❤😊
Don, here is my trick for the string in the trimmer's head: Silicon Spray. I get mine from NAPA. The string binds up in the head, but with some lubrication, it works better. I have a Dewalt 20-volt trimmer and had the same problem.
Don, I appreciate all of your videos as I lived probably 50 miles from there when I was younger. Keep up the good work and try to put out a video more often.
Good stuff, Don! We "intermittent fast", so no breakfast here... but, a hearty lunch and a lite supper- and, yes- organic whenever possible. Thanks for sharing your adventures!
All kinds of small insects are gonna LOVE those little 'Air' holes ! Gnats will find a new home once they discover your lil' air holes !
Great to see you back in the saddle Don. I think that you have made the right choice for the soffit material as durability is so important especially in such a difficult area to access.
Thanks Graeme I so appreciate all of your encouragement over the years.
Good ventilation is important in this climate, and that goes way beyond soffits. Be sure to install louvered vents on the gable ends way up near the ridge. Louvered vents can be opened and closed as needed. Before you finish off your roof you can also plan on the placement of a circular ceiling vent that will turn both in the wind and by the convection current of warm air rising from the interior. Not sure if you are going to have a storage area / small attic or not. I personally would choose aluminum over hardie board any day of the week. Keep working and good luck, Sir. With Respect.
Greetings, ive made so many soffits I cant remember. I worked for my uncle for 20 summers building, I worked the school year then off all summer. Ive had five back surgeries from all the concrete work done. I wish you luck and dont worry just google what you dont understand and there are videos to help you. You will get it and be smarter for it!
Hardiboard, good choice! I love your "scaffolding." Congratulations on the new weed eater and all your hard work: looking good!
The holes are more for airflow not really moisture drainage. The airflow helps prevent moisture in the attic... looking good...
Fireproof as well. An added bonus.
Hi Don, love the progress you are making on your big house.
I am glad you checked the area for snakes before you got down on your knees and started pulling!!
Waiting for the next video is like watching the grass grow with you ...
If you can still return the trimmer, take it back and get one with a steel blade vs string fed. You'll be glad you did. Also, if you stop the power, the string refeed will not work. You gotta tap the ground while it is in operation.
Best to wear a mask when you are using the skill saw. Not good to breathe all that dust (must of which is synthetic) into your lungs. We need you healthy Don so that you can enjoy living in the house when it is done!
Good job Don those weed wackers are all like that i have had a few and well all the same i know you can put a solid blade on that it work good google a better solid blade for it your amazing man really what your doing there thanks for sharing with us all !!
Hay Sparky, nice job. When I lived in northern Ontario I heated with wood and needed lots of air flow in the attic. I first stapled metal window screening to the rafters then added 1/4 inch galvanized wire mesh over the screening. Then I cut and installed plastic lattice with small spacing over that. Keeps out bugs, flies etc and squirrels easy tut and cheap lasts forever good luck Don
This is perfect. For my house, I used 1/2" plywood with a 3 inch strip cut out along the entire length and stapled 4 inch screening before installing the soffits. No problem with squirrels so far but if I do I will use the 1/4" wire mesh idea.
Good to see you.
Moving right along
Hi Don,
You are coming along so well. You have done a wonderful job. There is a reply by someone who gives a great answer to the soffit. Your such a delete to listen too. And becoming a a carpenter. I'm sure your quite the inspiration to many in our age bracket, and younger people as well. God bless you and keep you safe. 👍👍🙋♂️🙏
I hope you are doing alright, Don! You've been going at it for sometime now dealing with the elements, setbacks and strenuous manual labor. Give yourself some good breaks and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! You're a great teacher! Dont forget your oatmeal! Emm, emm good!! Thanks so much! Veteran Charlie.
Awesome!
Yes, organic is very important. Dr. Eric Berg explains healthy food. I am glad you want to eat healthy food.
Were you at full throttle when you tapped it for more string? Has to be at full speed while tapping .
Plastic cement, either alone or mixed with roofing tar . It is very slippery though. If the holes are wide the plastic cement can be put on to a webbing.
I have seen that scaffolding setup in other diy builders' channels, what a great idea.
Enjoyed the video, great scaffold idea, great job on the home build, my Hats off to You !!
Yes we used our riding lawn mower. We have rattlesnakes but none of them bit us. It was scary. Just keep it mowed down low at all times.
I love hardy board for the floors. They do great. I hadn't thought of it for soffits, though. I eat toast with lots of butter early, then a heavier meal mid-morning. I use a lot of wood and paint everything. Lots of caulk, too. Like you say, when there's a storm, the rain drives in everywhere, and could come from any direction, and you don't want that wood weathering and splitting ... the way it's inclined to do.
Be sure to put to soffit on with the holes away from the house. They are for airflow, not water and you need to make sure you don't block the hole areas with insulation. I don't remember if you put a ridge vent on your roof but you need it. Especially in summer!
You're doing great out there Don! Stay safe
Great photo from your farm work days, bet you were popular with the ladies. Thanks for your work, and please get a quality respirator with purple (particulate) cartridges for cutting Hardie board. Silicosis is the medical term for what happens when you breath stone dust.
LOL re: popular with the ladies. Also you are correct I should have used a quality respirator. Noted and will do next time. Thanks.
Good job!
Hi Don! Good to see you. Great work. Keep it going 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
A+
I love pistachio food items too❤❤❤❤all types👍🙂
Read instructions for putting "string" on the trimmer. There's one correct way to do it. There may be a TH-cam video to explain it too. If I was close I'd be happy to show you but can't really explain it.
Nice breakfast!
Bravo, great progress on your large home! You will be moving in this spring! I did notice your pond was low on water. Love your little pond!
House is coming along nicely , Have been enjoying the build, Keep up the great work Don.
Hey there! Things are looking good. Greek yogurt is fantastic. I actually just learned the other day yogurt is like 6000 years old. The Turks and Mongolians made it. Ghengis Khan said it made his people brave. 😂 Anyway, stay safe and keep up the good work.
Hi Don, I have 4 EGO products and I love them. The batteries go on longer, the chainsaw is awesome, the blower is the best. The 2nd gen string trimmer head is automatic feed. You might want to look into that. Happy days on your home progress..
Hello, Don. Great update video. You are doing a fantastic job. The weed-eater is nice. I hate them. I keep my weed areas clear using a weed killer. Perhaps investing in a garden mower will work better for you. Plus you can hook a trailer to it to help with hauling lumber around and hauling weeds off that you pull up. Just an idea. Your breakfast looks delicious . Franks red hot on my eggs plz.
Great video Don! I used the same soffit on my house recently. The holes are to allow cool air from under the eaves to come in, flow upwards along the roof decking and out through a Ridge Vent or gable-end vent (hopefully you have one or the other, preferably a ridge vent). Really cooled my attic down here in Houston. Be sure and use a respirator when cutting Hardie Soffit because of a condition called Silicosis which is lung scaring by the sharp-edged dust (a.k.a. Coal Miners Lung). I put up my soffit by myself using a cheap drywall lift I got from Harbor Freight - made installing 12' sections a breeze!
Standard morning breakfeast for a 62 year old man is a cup of coffee and one egg. Your correct about the pesticides with store bought veggies. That's why I grow my own Microgreens, usually I eat broccoli with my omelets at the end of the day.
You could have a defective weed eater spindle. While it's new, you could reach out to the manufacturer for a replacement under warranty. In my experience, it's usually my fault that the string won't advance. They have very specific requirements on how the string is wound onto the spool. Also, when bumping the button onto the ground, the ground must be fairly solid. Bump it onto concrete, or a large rock, and make sure you have it spinning at a high rate while trying to advance the string. Maybe watch your neighbor load the string in his similar machine to see if you are doing it correctly. Best of luck! 🙂
I think that's a common thing with weed eaters, the line spooling problem, I different brand but same problem. House coming along really good! Great stuff !
we put a steele tri blade on our brushcutter
No fiddling with string all day long.
Excellent video!
Hi Don!!!!!!
👍👍👍👍👍
Grits with bacon bits, salt pepper and some butter. Once awhile I add some chopped eggs 😊
Make sure the vent holes are not blocked with the paint or your. Soffit is ruined.
All of the "bump heads" for string trimmers break rapidly if you bang them on the ground trying to get them to feed string.
Stop trimming. lift it inverted like at 14:55. Press on the button and pull on the string at the same time. Then pull the other string. Resume trimming.
Slower than bumping the head. Faster than taking it apart.
I switched to using the Grass Gator 3 blade heads. The blades last a LONG time.
There's a competitor Rino Tuff "Push N Load" which is easier to change blades. The Grass gator blades (even the metal inserted ones) fit tightly, but they do work fine in it.
I have one Harbor Freight Atlas 40 V trimmer with the Grass Gator and one with the Rino Tuff. Grass Gator head I keep the metal inserted blades in (change less often and cut heavier stuff) Push N Load on the other with the plastic blades, which are better near trees or bushes you don't want to kill.
I've never had that problem, and I use it twice a week for about 8-9 years, then get another one. It also accepts a metal blade. It's gasoline powered.
Just a reminder WARNING: Don't store your Lithium ION batteries in your wood structures. They still tend to spontaneously catch fire and take anything and everything around it with it.
😎
The roofing tar is for the top of the roof.
By the way, how are the empress trees.
Don I must know how that scaffolding was done I'm about to pour concrete on 8 foot walls and I need a set up like that ... I can't find it anywhere online.... 😊😊
Very wise eating habits Don, I need to work on that
I think you should have went with vinyl soffit.
Hey Don you should pick up a goat! They eat anything! Plus you get fertilizer!!!
don get rid of the string on your machine and replace with heavy duty cable ties .its easy to adapt and then easy to change the cable ties
Can you recommend a place to get plans for great horned owl nesting boxes?
String advance on the trimmer is a basic, very important, feature. Something is wrong ... Either not loaded correctly, or defective ... Need to get that repaired or loaded correctly.
Hardibacker a good choice for your suffix good choice for your siding the paint just bites to it also pretty much fire proof the water does not come out of your suffix where are you getting that from no reason to be painting the backside either
Hi Don, CONGRATULATIONS for all your hard work, I want to ask you if you can share PLEASE the company contact for the Insulation, we need Insulated our Shed, THANK YOU DON and God bless you.
Weed eaters Rule! 😁🙏💪
❤❤❤
Those holes allows the attic to breathe
Don - what did you end up doing with that leaky roof? Did I miss the update?
I know it’s weird, but I like spinach for breakfast. ❤😊
Waffle house LOL ...... Hello from Dateland, AZ fellow off-gridder 🙂
The holes in the soffit are for air flow... to keep your attic space dry. I assume you will use a ridge vent with the metal roof. Great choice for the soffits...You can use the same brand for siding... very good stuff.
That Hardie board was (years ago) made of asbestos. Unfortunately I was exposed to the product and it's dust in my early twenties, and now in my seventies I have asbestosis.
So even though the product you're using does not have it, please protect your self from the dust.
Cheers Mate.
Goats are good weed eaters...
And entertainers
And they give you fertilizer
YES! And fun to make Friends with. And delicious meat if you don't get emotionally attached 😁Don needs a pair of goats🐐 🐐 👍1952 Boomer🧓+🦮🐕🐩🐶🐕🦺Retired nurse living contently on 20 acres in the NW Chihuahuan Desert area in the USA
Should have got a string mower. It would have made quick work of all those weeds.
Hey Don you really should wear a mask when cutting that Hardy Board......
I know I wont be the only wise-acre to say this but my favorite breakfast is lunch.
Did you need a special type of blade in your saw for this 'cement' soffet material and for the screw holes for attaching 'said'material .?
Use a tile cutting blade like for a grinder and wear a mask
Greek Gods is the best yogurt!
Don don't use that kind of weed eater because it will break your back.
Use a push behind. It's a doomsday machine for weeds.
Also, when are you going to get a pet?
Wear a mask when cutting stuff, please. Not fair making us wait. With spring rains you get the weeds growing and they are a fire hazard. In Tucson you can be fined for not weeding. Good that you keep it short around your home.
I'd be willing to bet you have the string wound backwards on your weed wacker
Where is your PPE protection? You want to be healthy going forward to enjoy the fruits of your labors.
I don't get why you wait so long in between uploads ...
Don you can score hardee board also. It takes longer to cut, but doesn't leave to much dust in the air. Please use a face mask or respirator.
I do not see any Hatch green chilli!
Hatch not that far
From you
He doesn't have a clue what he's talking about, with the nonsense about soffit air vent holes allowing water drainage from rain.