Continuous Soffit Vent - Water Driving in - Newbuild. What can I do?

[snowyshoes]

Hi all, 

 

Currently embarking on a self build project. Currently wind and watertight and in the process of insulating. 
 

The house is very exposed and will continue to experience terrible weather. Likely the one of the worst places in the country for wind! 
 

I have a continuous fascia vent all around the house but I have noticed during bad storms that the rain literally drives in. So much so that there will be a puddle on the floor. 
 

Its a 1 and ¾ storey house. 
 

I have attached a picture and I shall try to explain….Rafters will have 50mm air gap then 170mm PIR. This will lead down to the eaves where it will meet the PIR heading ‘up’ the wall. The PIR on the wall will be flush with the OSB. 
 

My concern is the water driving in and lying there, with the ends of the rafters soaking it up, and may end up leaking down the wall PIR and rotting out (eventually) the OSB. 
 

Is this fine as the air gap will ensure it keeps drying out or do I have a legitimate concern? When the wind and rain drives in it puddles on the soffit boards. 
 

Is there anything I can / should do? 
 

[Roger440]

I think id be dropping the soffits on plastic spacers. And maybe some drain hls in it.

 

At least then any puddling water wont be in contact with the rafters.

 

[Nickfromwales]

A pic from outside would help. 

[snowyshoes]

3 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

A pic from outside would help. 

I’ll get some pictures tomorrow in the daylight and post them here. 

[snowyshoes]

3 hours ago, Roger440 said:

I think id be dropping the soffits on plastic spacers. And maybe some drain hls in it.

 

At least then any puddling water wont be in contact with the rafters.

 

I guess its a bit late for dropping soffits, roof is tiled and walls are bricked up. Outside is essentially finished. 

Edited February 10 by snowyshoes
Added more info

[snowyshoes]

Heres some photos of the vents from the outside. The red arrow / line is the edge of the vent and then in the other pictures you can see what it is
and the make up of it. 

[Nickfromwales]

Does any rain get into that gutter?! It’s not exactly out as far as most people’s… That looks like even slightly heavy rain will just shoot past that gutter. Very odd way to have done this and if it was my house I’d have not said I was happy with it. 
 

The roof should be able to take wind-driven rain all day long, and repel it robustly for the duration of its life. This is a non-starter, so alarm bells are ringing. 

 

I’d have expected to see more tile overhanging that vent, so does the manufacturer have an online installation guide you can link to? Doesn’t look right to me at all! 
 

Other roofing gurus will comment soon, but for me it looks very odd. 

[torre]

On 12/02/2026 at 08:14, Nickfromwales said:

The roof should be able to take wind-driven rain all day long, and repel it robustly for the duration of its life. This is a non-starter, so alarm bells are ringing. 

Absolutely! 

 

@snowyshoes do you know how and where your roof membrane finishes?

 

We also have over fascia ventilation but installed it with an eaves tray like this one, which as you'll see on that page fits under the roof membrane and over the fascia vent, finishing comfortably below the vent and lower than the gutter edge giving a lot of extra protection.

 

That's probably difficult to retrofit securely and correctly, without taking the tiles off but would be a big improvement.

 

Or tiles (slate) overhung more and our gutter was higher too, if you extend the line of the roof you want the outside gutter edge to be a bit higher to maximise catching heavy rain or about the same to avoid the risk that a lot of sliding snow weight might pull your gutter off.

[Mattg4321]

I'm no roofer either, but I agree with what Nick says. The eaves tray/whatever eaves protection strip has been used should touch the gutter imo. It looks like it stops 20-30mm short, leaving a gap for wind driven rain/splashback from the gutter. 

[snowyshoes]

It does have an eaves tray / protection strip but it does not extend 20-30mm further down. I would think that would rattle quite bad in the wind in any case! See the picture below. The arrow is pointed at the bottom edge of the eaves tray. It covers a good deal of the vent, such that if you were looking straight at it you’d see no vent. I have taken the picture up and under it. 
 

 

I would also add that all of this was supplied by Scotframe and the builders are well regarded locally who have done lots of Scotframe and new builds. 
 

I know the local builders have been complaining to Building Control and saying that these type of vents are too much for our location but its a national rule. 
 

The tiles are also solidly ‘into’ the gutter. I forget the actual measurement required but its all compliant. I agree it looks terrible in the picture but in reality its not actually like that. 
 

The gutters are also as high as possible, with as little run as possible so as to try and add more protection. The clips are hard up against the vent at some ends. So unfortunately I don't think raising them is possible. 
 

I dare say this set up is fine down South but when its blowing 60-70 knots here the water drives in horizontally. Perhaps when its all insulated it wont be so bad as there will be less ‘draw’ through the house sucking it in but I dont know.
 

You can see it here, membrane on top of eaves tray, with vent underneath the tray…

 

 
 

I dont think I have any opportunity to solve the problem outside as its all as it should be. I am concerned about water driving inside. It wont be very often but it will happen and then you wont be able to see it as its all behind the PIR. 
 

Anymore thoughts greatly appreciated!

 

 

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, snowyshoes said:

I would also add that all of this was supplied by Scotframe and the builders are well regarded locally who have done lots of Scotframe and new builds. 

 

1 hour ago, snowyshoes said:

Anymore thoughts greatly appreciated!

You roof leaks.

 

My thoughts are, that your well regarded builders have made you a house with an indoor irrigation system. That's a pile of shite.

 

Get them to come back and remove this optional extra, end of.

 

1 hour ago, snowyshoes said:

The gutters are also as high as possible, with as little run as possible so as to try and add more protection. The clips are hard up against the vent at some ends. So unfortunately I don't think raising them is possible. 

I was referring to them being further out, not further up. They are defo way too far 'in' as shown in your first pics.

 

Sorry, but it looks (and preforms) like shite. No dice.

[Gus Potter]

On 09/02/2026 at 21:09, snowyshoes said:

The house is very exposed and will continue to experience terrible weather. Likely the one of the worst places in the country for wind! 

 

1 hour ago, snowyshoes said:

I know the local builders have been complaining to Building Control and saying that these type of vents are too much for our location but its a national rule. 

The national rules also say that local topography has to be taken into account. Your builder is likely having a laugh with you, are you in Scotland?

 

Ok how do you fix this, or mitigate?

 

Starting point is.. where do you live in the country? Also, how is your house orientated, can you post some elevations of your house so we can take a guess on how the wind might be hitting it. Is the house built on a slope? the shape of the surrounding ground and any nearby buildings can also impact. This is a bit of detective work.. you try and rule stuff out first. 

 

This problem may be confined to one elevation? Once you get a handle on that then it may be a case of just adding an extra flashing on one side.. minimise disruption.

 

 

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Gus Potter said:

The national rules also say that local topography has to be taken into account

Every stroke of the 'pen' has been considered for my current client, a plot on the highest elevation in their locality, which includes mitigation of the noise of water dripping from the window heads on to the metal that forms the window sills below; nothing worse than the 'Chinese torture' of a single drop of water hitting a window ledge like an annoying metronome.

 

I've recommended installing sound-deadening 'killmat' to the underside of each of the sills before installation, to prevent such annoyance.

 

Folk just don't know what their next (albeit preventable) enemy is going to be. That's where I come in lol. 

 

One look at the section for the above roof, and I would have said "feck, no!". Simpler to solve when it's on paper or a screen, where the drill and hammer are the left and right clicks of a mouse.

[Mr Punter]

How it normally would be is over fascia vent nailed to the top of the fascia, plastic eaves protection tray on top, supporting the felt and taking water into the gutter.  Like this:

 

I don't think wind driven rain would go up the fascia and through the vent, but I guess it could happen in a storm.