Hot Head: The Importance of Attic Ventilation
Adequate ventilation in your attic plays a critical role in a number of important ways. During the summer time, excessive accumulated high temperatures that directly affect energy efficiency by allowing radiant heat to enter the living space. This can also shorten the lifespan of your roof shingles by unnecessary overheating and void manufacturer warranties.
The most effective way to address this is with passive ventilation in the form of low incoming vents and high exit vents. The most efficient system will be the use of continuous soffit and ridge vents which allows cooler air to enter the attic and the hot rising air to exit the peak of the roof thereby lowering attic temperatures significantly.
A critical part of this system are ventilation baffles installed above the insulation and over the outside walls to allow incoming air from the soffit vents. Alternative methods using roof mounted power vents may need to be utilized depending on the roof layout and framing on some homes.
Additional benefits include the removal of excessive ambient moisture from the attic area. A critical component of attic ventilation is making sure that any kitchen and/or bathroom exhaust vents are properly vented to the outside of the building and not into the attic itself.
As well as inspections for buyers, Advanced Home Inspections also provides evaluation services to existing homeowners to both advise on current conditions and make recommendations on upgrades that will improve both comfort and energy efficiency.
