Residential Roofing and Venting:
This article is a quick overview of what to look for
in venting your home’s attic when it come times to install a new roof
system.
This article is a quick overview of what to look for
in venting your home’s attic when it come times to install a new roof
system.
It used to be good enough when roofing your home to
just go back with what the original builder had specified for ventilation. Not anymore. With
the awareness and publicity of mold, along with more efficient
windows and siding, and ever air-tight homes, the roof has got to breathe.
There are two basic principles for roof venting: air
intake and air exhaust.Fresh air enters the home at the lower levels of the
roof and exits near the top of the roof.
Warm air rises, so even without fans, cool air will enter the lower sections of the attic and as it
warms, it rises. Ridge vents are built to go along the peak of the roof and
many are designed to draw air out of the attic using air flow over the external
vent baffles to create negative pressure and draw the inside attic air out.
Don’t forget about turbine vents, they use both the wind and warm air rising to
power themselves. Remember to talk to a roofing professional about each option
discussed above.
Another venting option is to install a mechanical
vent such as a powervent or solar powered vent. The benefit to electrically
powered vents is they can generally move more air than standard vents; but they
will require power
to be brought to the unit. This is of course the
advantages of a solar powered vent: no electrical. But they are generally not
as powerful and require sunlight to operate, so they may be lacking when a hot
roof attic is in need of turn over towards the evening hours.
If you and your roofing professional believe that
mold is a real possibility or it’s already a problem, then for most homes a
powervent with a thermostat and humidisat may work best. When the attic becomes
either hot or moist, or both, the unit will automatically kick on until the
conditions are corrected.
Venting is a big deal. This article provides just a
taste of what is out there. But hopefully it wetted your appetite to investigate
and learn more.