What is net free area and why should I care?

It is the actual open area a panel gives you, measured in square inches per linear foot of eave. It matters because it is what decides how much air the attic can draw in. Two panels at the same price can differ by several times on this figure, and nothing on a quote shows it unless it is written down.

How much net free area do different panels give?

There is no honest answer by material, which is the point. Published soffit products run from under 2 square inches per linear foot to well over 20 depending on the perforation pattern and the vent design, and a continuous vent strip is normally well above a perforated panel of the same material. A solid panel gives none. Ask for the product name and its published figure.

Is a solid soffit panel wrong?

Not at all, in the right place. Solid panel is correct on a gable end and anywhere the eave is not meant to be feeding the attic. It is only wrong when it is run along an eave that the ventilation is relying on, which happens more often than it should.

How much intake does my attic need in total?

That is a calculation against the attic area and it is set out on the roof ventilation page rather than here. This page is about what a given panel delivers per foot. You need both numbers to know whether an eave is doing its job, and they are usually quoted by different people.

Vinyl, aluminium or fiber cement?

Vinyl is the value option and copes well with damp. Aluminium holds a long run straight and can give highest intake in a continuous vent with a screen. Fiber cement is the closest match to a painted timber soffit, which matters on an older house where the look of the eave is part of the elevation.

Can the vents be painted over?

They should not be. Paint closes perforations, so an eave that looks vented can end up delivering a fraction of the figure it was specified at. If a soffit has been painted at some point, it is worth checking the perforations are still open before assuming the intake is there.

Should I replace the whole soffit or just a run?

If a section has failed and the rest is sound, that is a repair and it is covered on the soffit repair page. A whole home replacement is quoted as an installation. The honest test is whether the panel either side is in good enough condition to match into.

Why does soffit fail around here?

Usually because of water arriving from above rather than the panel wearing out, and sustained humidity means the eave never really dries between storms. What specifically caused a given run to fail is the soffit repair page, and it is worth settling before new panel goes up, because the same thing will do the same to the new panel.

Does soffit work need a permit in Covington?

Replacing panel is not the re roofing that Act 239 of 2025 makes permitted and inspected, so panel work sits outside it. If the work turns structural behind the panel the position changes and we confirm it with the correct office. Which office covers the address depends on whether it sits inside the Covington city limits or in the unincorporated part of St. Tammany Parish.

Home/Service Areas/Louisiana/Covington/Soffit Installation

Soffit Installation in Covington, LA

Big Easy Roofing installs soffit across Covington and St. Tammany Parish. Two soffit quotes at the same price a foot can deliver completely different amounts of attic intake, because that depends on the panel rather than on the price. So the number to ask for is net free area.

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Service

City

$6 to $20 /lfEstimated installed

No permitFor panel work on the eave

Net free areaAsk for the product figure

Solid gives zeroRight on a gable end only

Covington soffit installation at a glance

Soffit installation is priced per linear foot of eave, estimated at $6 to $20 installed depending on the material. The number that matters more than the price is net free area, because the soffit is the intake half of the attic ventilation and it is the half easiest to undersize.

Estimated installed cost

$6 to $20 /lf

Measured along the eave. Vinyl sits at the lower end, aluminium at the upper end and fiber cement in between. Call Big Easy Roofing on (504) 800-8196 for a measured figure on your own eave.

Does it need a permit

Not for panel work

Replacing soffit panel is not the re roofing that the 2025 rule makes permitted and inspected. Where there is structural work behind the panel, that position changes and we confirm it with the correct office first.

The number to ask for

Net free area

Per linear foot, taken from the datasheet for the panel actually being fitted. Published products range from under 2 square inches a foot to well over 20, so the material name tells you very little and the product name tells you everything.

What a solid panel delivers

Zero

Nothing at all, which is exactly right on a gable end and wrong along an eave that is meant to be feeding the attic. Solid panel is not a fault, it is a choice that has to match the location.

Materials fitted

Vinyl, aluminium, fiber cement

Vented and solid panels in all three. Vinyl is the value option, aluminium holds its shape and fiber cement the closest match to a painted timber soffit.

What the soffit is doing

Two jobs at once

It closes the eave against birds, wasps and squirrels, and where it is vented it feeds the attic. Getting the first right and the second wrong leaves an attic that still overheats and nothing visible from the ground to show why.

Every figure on this page is an estimate, not a quote, and is subject to Big Easy Roofing sign off. Cost and timescale depend on size, pitch, access, weather, materials and whatever is found once work starts, so call Big Easy Roofing on (504) 800-8196 and we will come out and give you an estimate for your own roof.

Soffit is the underside of the eave, and on most houses it is doing two jobs at once. It closes the eave against wildlife and weather, and where it is vented it is the intake half of the attic ventilation. Those two jobs pull in opposite directions, which is why the panel choice matters more than it looks: the more open the panel, the better it feeds the attic and the more it depends on a decent insect screen to keep the eave closed.

The consequence is worth stating plainly, because it is where soffit money gets wasted. A ridge vent with nothing feeding it can end up drawing its make up air from inside the house rather than from the eave, which pulls conditioned air into the roof space and achieves the opposite of what it was fitted for. So a Big Easy Roofing soffit quote states the net free area per linear foot beside the price. How much intake the attic actually needs is a separate calculation and it is set out on the roof ventilation page.

What each panel actually delivers

Net free area is the open area a panel gives you per linear foot of eave, and it is the figure that decides whether the attic gets fed. These are the realistic ranges by panel type, and the spread between the top and the bottom of them is the whole argument for asking.

Panel type	Where it belongs	Net free area per foot	What to watch
Perforated panel	A vented eave where the look matters more than the airflow	From the datasheet	Usually the lowest of the vented options, and published figures for perforated panels vary widely between products
Continuous vent strip	A vented eave where intake matters	From the datasheet	Normally well above a perforated panel of the same material, but only the product figure tells you by how much
Solid panel	A gable end, or any eave not feeding the attic	Zero	Correct in the right place and completely wrong along a vented eave
Vented panel painted over	Nowhere. This is a defect rather than a product	Much less than stated	Paint closes perforations, so an eave that looks vented can be delivering a fraction of the figure it was specified at
Any panel, chosen by material name	Nowhere, and it is the common mistake	Unknowable	Published products run from under 2 square inches a foot to well over 20, so vinyl or aluminium on its own tells you nothing about intake

No range is given by material on purpose. Net free area is a property of the specific product and its perforation pattern, not of the material, and published figures for soffit products span more than a factor of ten. The highlighted row is normally the higher intake option, which does not automatically make it right for a given eave. How much intake the attic needs is on the roof ventilation page. Call (504) 800-8196 for a measured eave and the named product figure against it.

The permit position, and the intake half of the code

Panel work on an eave is not a reroof, so it sits outside the rule that makes re roofing permitted and inspected in Louisiana. What is worth knowing is that since 2025 a permitted reroof on a house is judged against the code chapter that ventilation lives in.

Who issues the permit

City or parish, by boundary

For an address inside the Covington city limits, the City of Covington Building Permits Office. For an address in the unincorporated part of St. Tammany Parish, the parish permits office. A Covington postal address does not tell you which, so the routing is settled by the address before anything is filed.

Panel replacement

Not a reroof

Replacing soffit panel is not a replacement of the roof covering, so it sits outside the permit and inspection requirement Act 239 of 2025 introduced. Where the work turns structural behind the panel, we put the position to the correct office rather than deciding it ourselves.

Why intake sits inside the code now

IRC chapters 8 and 9

Since 1 August 2025 a permitted reroof on a one or two family dwelling is judged against IRC chapters 8 and 9 with Louisiana amendments, and chapter 8 is the roof and ceiling chapter that attic ventilation requirements sit in.

The screen behind the vent

Keeps the eave closed

A vented panel is an opening, so the insect screen is what stops the intake becoming an entrance. It is worth confirming it is there and intact, because it is the difference between a ventilated eave and a wasp nest.

Why net free area belongs on the quote

Because it is the figure that says what the soffit will actually do. Two quotes at the same price per foot can deliver wildly different amounts of intake depending on the panel specified, and nothing on either quote makes that visible unless somebody writes it down.

Ask for the panel named and the net free area per linear foot stated beside it. It costs a bidder nothing and it turns two quotes that read alike into two quotes you can compare. How much your attic needs in total is the calculation on the roof ventilation page.

Intake and exhaust have to match

A soffit is half of a system. Exhaust at the ridge without intake at the eave does not simply underperform, it can pull its make up air from the house below through gaps in the ceiling, which moves conditioned air into the roof space.

So a soffit job is worth doing at the same time as any ventilation work rather than separately, and it is worth checking the intake is not blocked from the inside by insulation pushed into the eave. Baffles are what stop that, and they are covered on the roof ventilation page.

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What an eave here is actually up against

Three local conditions decide how long a soffit lasts here and how well it keeps doing its second job, and only one of them is about the panel itself. The other two are water arriving from above it and wildlife arriving from below it, and both are dealt with at the eave rather than in the panel choice.

Water arrives at the eave in volume

NOAA Atlas 14 records a 100 year recurrence 60 minute rainfall rate of 4.81 inches an hour for the Covington coordinates, and every bit of a heavy rainfall event leaves the roof across the eave. That is the load the edge is working under, which is why a new soffit is worth fitting at the same time as anything being done to the gutter or the fascia above it. Why a run failed in the first place is the soffit repair page.

Humidity keeps everything damp

Sustained humidity means an eave here rarely dries out completely, which is hard on timber and on any panel with a paint film doing the protecting. It is the main argument for vinyl or aluminium on a vented eave, and for keeping the ventilation working, because moving air is what dries a roof space.

The eave is a way in

A soffit is the boundary between the outside and the roof space, so any gap in it is an invitation to birds, wasps and squirrels. That is why the insect screen behind a vent matters, and why the ends of a run are worth closing properly rather than left open for something to move into.

Big Easy Roofing Process

Four steps, and the eave gets measured and the intake worked out before a panel is chosen, because the panel is what delivers the number.

New vented soffit panel being fitted under the eave of a Covington home

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Measure the eave and check what feeds it

The run is measured end to end, including the returns and the corners, because those are where a panel count taken from the ground usually goes wrong and where the intake is easiest to lose.

Work out the intake and pick the panel to suit

The panel is chosen for the net free area it delivers against what the attic needs, rather than the other way round, and solid panel is used where solid panel belongs.

Check nothing is blocking it from inside

Insulation pushed into the eave will defeat a perfectly good vented soffit, so the intake path is checked from the attic side while the eave is open.

Fit, screen and close the ends

Panels fitted with the vent running continuously where it is meant to, insect screen intact, and the ends of the run properly closed so the eave is sealed against wildlife.

Everything else we do in Covington

The rest of the Big Easy Roofing services available in Covington, each with its own page and written estimate. How much intake the attic actually needs is on the roof ventilation page. A failed run rather than a new one is soffit repair, and the board at the front of the eave is fascia board repair.

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