What is attic ventilation actually and why is it important? This is a question raised by many homeowners that are looking to learn and understand why investing in attic ventilation is important.
A quality attic ventilation system is one of the best ways to prevent future damages to your roof and home. Therefore, it is vital for homeowners to ensure that when installing vents, there is a good flow of air in your attic.
Here you will find guidelines that will ensure your home has the best attic ventilation. This way, you can save yourself from forking out money for an emergency roof repair.
What Is Attic Ventilation?
Attic ventilation is air circulation that functions to move hot and stale air out of the attic. Then, it replaces it with cool air, which is pulled into the attic from outside. This process is essential to protect your home from heat and moisture damage. It allows your home to breathe.
Attic ventilation systems have intake vents that sit at the bottom of the roof by the soffits. These allow outside air into the attic.
The air then flows through the attic and then exits through exhaust vents positioned at the top of the roof, usually near the ridge. This way, hot air in your attic is cooled and replaced by the incoming outside air. It is a process called passive ventilation.
The quantity of exhaust ventilation by the roof ridge must not exceed the amount of intake ventilation by the roof’s soffit. This is a common and successful way to achieve a balanced attic ventilation system.
Why Is It Important?
It can get incredibly hot inside an attic and if it’s not properly ventilated, it can cause moisture to form. In turn, this can cause damage to the structural support of the roof.
Temperatures can reach more than 160 degrees Fahrenheit, especially in summer, and therefore it is crucial to release that heat so that your home’s air conditioning system does not overheat.
In winter, the hot air in your attic along with the sun can heat your roof and melt the snow that piles upon it. That then turns to liquid water then refreezes as the temperature decreases.
This is not good because the ice forms little dams on the roof edges under the eaves and causes the water to work its way back up under your shingles, causing damage to the roof and resulting in leakage inside your house.
Attic Ventilation Reduces Moisture
Hot air is generated from activities in the home like showering and cooking and then rises. The rising heat gets into your attic and, when it meets a cool surface, condensation is formed.
As this continues daily, the build-up of condensation increases and gets to a point where it stimulates fungus and mold growth and leads to the deterioration of the wood.
This causes serious damage to the roof that, if ignored, can result in an expensive roof replacement. A damaged roof structure is dangerous as it’s a safety risk. In addition, mold damage could lead to health problems for everyone that lives in the house.
Attic Ventilation Helps You Save Money
Aside from proper attic ventilation preventing damage to your roof and house which saves you money, you can also save on energy costs.
Saving energy costs comes into play when overexerting cooling units such as the air-con. This usually gets put on full blast in summer because it’s too hot inside the house. It puts strain on the unit and causes your energy bill to skyrocket. But, this will not happen with proper attic ventilation.
Proper attic ventilation will improve air circulation in summer because the hot air is being released and not being trapped inside. With a cooler home, your air conditioning unit will be operating low-key, keeping your energy costs exactly where you want them: minimal.
Conclusion
It is clear that by lowering your attic temperature, you can extend the life of your roof and save on the cash outlay for repairs and replacement.
Now you know that having an attic ventilation system that works properly is crucial. If it doesn’t work properly, you can cause serious damage to your roof and face expensive costs to replace or repair it.