ATTIC VENTILATION

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Roof vents are installed to allow air to circulate in your attic space. Good air circulation will minimize moisture build up in your attic during winter and prevent heat build up in summer. The number of roof vents needed will vary depending on the size of your attic.

Air can leak from your house into the attic, and can bring water vapor with it. If your roof deck is cool enough to be at or below dew point, then condensation will form on the underside of the roof. Air movement from outside through the attic, helps remove moisture by diverting it out of the attic before it condenses.

Roof vents allow air to exhaust from your attic space.  But keep in mind, attic air circulation is accomplished with both intake and exhaust vents.

If you do not have adequate intake venting, and your ventilation system allows too much exhaust (high vents) and not enough intake (low vents), then your attic will create suction on living spaces below, pulling conditioned air into your attic, which impacts your utility costs and extends the burden on your heating and cooling systems. So always insure you have proper intake vents. 

Adding an attic fan to your attic, provided you have proper intake vents (low vents), can dramatically improve attic air circulation, year round.

Not sure what venting you have in your attic? Call us for a ventilation assessment today!

It may seem counter-intuitive to add insulation for warmth and then purposely allow cool air to enter the attic through vents, but this combination is the key to a durable and energy-efficient home.

In winter, allowing a natural flow of outdoor air to ventilate your attic helps keep it cool, which reduces the potential for moisture build up and ultimately ice damming (snow that melts off a roof from an attic that is too warm and then re-freezes at the gutters, causing an ice dam that can damage the roof).

Air intake and exhaust vents are used in ventilating steep-slope roof assemblies to provide a means of allowing outside air to enter and exit attics and ventilation spaces. Air intake vents are used to allow outside air to enter into attics and ventilation spaces. Intake vents should be located at or near soffits or eaves. Intake vents are best used with exhaust vents that are located higher up near the roof peak. This configuration of ventilation air intake along low points and exhaust at high points takes advantage of natural convection.

There are a variety of attic exhaust options, the most common include roof vents and attic fans or a combination of both depending on the size of the attic space.

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