How to Check if Your Soffit Ventilation Baffles are Working (from your attic)

Attic ventilation is extremely important.  Proper attic ventilation is what helps keep mold from growing in your attic, and also helps your attic to release heat on hot days.  Many attics have vents both at the bottom of the roof (intake) and also at the top of the roof (exhaust).  Intake vents are often in the form of soffit vents, but they can also be under-shingle vents.  With either of these, it is likely that you will have baffles attached to the underside of your roof.  

Baffles are often made of foam, plastic, or cardboard, and act as air channels that allow air to flow up into your attic from the outside.  It is important that these air channels be open, and in this video I show an easy way to check whether or not they are.  With traditional soffit vents you can almost always see daylight when looking down the soffit --- BUT your head or camera NEEDS to be directly against the roof to see this.  With under-shingle vents, you may not actually be able to see daylight, but can confirm they are working with a smoke test.