Roof Ventilation 101: Everything Homeowners Need to Know
Your roof ventilation has an important role to play in indoor comfort and roof protection. When it stops working, your home can become exceptionally hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. Proper ventilation is important but surprisingly it is an overlooked part related to the comfort and energy-efficiency of a home. This blog post provides you with insights into everything you need to know about roof ventilation systems.
Importance of an Effective Roof Ventilation System
The different benefits of an effective air ventilation roof system are as follows:
- Regulating Temperature: A properly ventilated roof enables the hot air accumulating in your attic in the summer to escape. This helps reduce the burden on the cooling system, leading to lowered energy bills.
- Better Moisture Control: When condensation builds up in your attic, it is often a result of poor roof ventilation. This increases the chance of mold and mildew growth, putting your family’s health and your home’s structure at risk.
- Preserving the Roofing Materials: When your roof is well-ventilated, it minimizes the deterioration of the roofing materials due to excessive heating and moisture.
- Preventing Ice Dams: By maintaining the attic temperature closer to the external temperatures, proper ventilation can prevent the formation of ice dams.
Thus, your air ventilation roof system offers many benefits. If you allow excessive moisture to build up in the attic, it can cause the nails to rust and break down. This can also cause the roof deck to rot. Thus, proper ventilation goes a long way in helping avoid costly repairs.
Now that you know why ventilation is so important, it is important to know about the different types of systems.
Types of Roof Ventilation Systems
When you know about the different types of roof ventilation systems, it can become easier to choose the right one for your home. The most popular options are as follows:
- Ridge Vents: These systems offer a continual venting system that enables hot air to escape from the attic. Since heat rises to the highest point, these systems are valued for their high efficiency.
- Gable Vents: These vents are located on the roof’s gable ends. While they improve air circulation within the attic, they have lesser efficiency than other alternatives.
- Soffit Vents: As the name suggests, these vents are fixed in the roof’s soffit. They work along with other ventilation systems by allowing cool air to enter and moving hot air out through higher vents.
Then, there are powered vents or attic fans that move hot air out of the attic. They are electric-powered but highly effective at keeping your attic cool during summer.
Roof Ventilation – Things to Know
It is recommended to keep the following points in mind to ensure your roof ventilation keeps working properly:
- If you want to bring down your energy bills, it is important to pair your ventilation with insulation. Even a well-ventilated roof cannot make a big difference in temperature control without proper insulation to support it.
- The vents are likely to get clogged by dirt, debris, insulation, and cobwebs. It is recommended to create a maintenance schedule for cleaning your vents. Usually, this cleaning can be performed along with gutter maintenance. Usually, a light-pressure air compressor can do the job.
- Your ventilation should be well-paired with your roofing shingles. Ensure regular roof inspection so that poor ventilation is not causing your shingles to fail. Ventilation helps prevent hot air from getting trapped in the attic. Such trapped air can cause damage to the shingles through prolonged exposure to moisture and high temperatures.
- There should be at least 1 sq.ft. of vent area for every 300 sq.ft. of attic floor.
If your roof ever gets damaged in a storm, chances are the ventilation system has also been damaged. A roofing system is made up of various components, including:
- Shingles
- Gutters
- Flashing
- Vents
Since vents are typically made of light materials, they are more susceptible to damage from storms. Whenever you have extreme weather conditions or hail storms, it is recommended to have your roof ventilation system checked by professionals. Whether you need new ventilation or roof repair, you can rely on Bininng Roofing for quality services.
