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Hey folks, looking for some advice because I don't know how to proceed.
This house came with vinyl siding and I noticed rot under it. The rot terminates up high behind where this soffit meets with the exterior wall. I need to get in here to figure out how water is getting in and then make necessary repairs, but the soffit is really in the way.
I've already removed the rot lower down - I had to remove vinyl siding, a layer of foam board, a layer of rotten OSB, the original rotten siding, and the original rotten sheathing. All of those layers are still present behind this soffit.
When I take the soffit vent off, there's a layer of OSB directly above it. Really don't know how to gain access here.
Any ideas?
I'm assuming there's a rafter tail above the OSB that's above the soffit panel. So even if you cut that OSB you'll have the rafter tail to deal with. How does the roof meet the exterior wall above there? Is there flashing? Could that be where the water is intruding? The sheathing and foam was installed before the siding trim and gutters were there so it's hard to imagine you getting any easy access unless you're willing to cut a lot of things off and re build them.
Good point on the rafter tail. I'll look in the attic in that area to confirm.
Yeah there's flashing above there and it's possible this is the source of the leak.
I'm afraid what I'm going to have to do is take all the siding off above here to expose the flashing and inspect it and repair. Then to remove and fix the rot I'm gonna have to take everything apart to get into that area behind the soffit - remove the gutter, fascia, etc to gain proper access
Sounds like you're probably have to start heading that direction and stop If you find out it's wrong.