What about ventilation?

This question is among the most important you could ask or wonder about. Proper ventilation has numerous benefits and solves multiple problems. It saves you money on your heating and cooling bills, extends the life of your roofing, and even protects your health by preventing mold that would otherwise form in your attic and under your shingles.

Let’s start with the heat factor. A 90° summer day does not equal a 90° attic but a 140° attic without proper ventilation. This doesn’t just escalate your cooling bills, imagine the stress placed on your asphalt roofing shingles which will buckle and fail prematurely. Proper ventilation is your solution to this problem.

Just like the excessive heat creates problems, so does the cold without good ventilation. The interaction between the cold outside and the heating inside your home creates the perfect formula for condensation unless proper ventilation is used to cancel out this issue.

Condensation creates two major problems: first, it swells your roof decking to create a wavy roof surface and degrade the shingles; second, it creates the perfect breeding ground for mold.

Every roofing job we do addresses the ventilation issue because it is so important. When we assess your roof, you will be advised of any issues and how we will correct them. If you are reading this outside of our service area, be sure that your roofer is discussing both intake and exhaust to deal with proper ventilation.

You should have soffit vents underneath your overhangs. Fresh air from these vents pushes hot air to the top of your roof space where it is exhausted or expelled through box vents or ridge vents on your roof. We’ll discuss the difference between these two vents and which you should be using in the next post.

For most people, shoring up the energy gaps in your home begins and ends with insulation. Interestingly, roof ventilation can be even more important in helping to decrease the energy usage of your home, protecting your home’s structural integrity, and maintaining the right level of comfort for you and your family.

How Roof Ventilation Works

If you have been up in your attic during the summer months, you have most likely experienced furnace-like temperatures. The average temps in a residential attic can reach upwards of 150 humid degrees. If not properly ventilated, it can wreak havoc on your roofing system.

The intense heat takes a toll anything stored in your attic, the moisture build-up can lead to mold, and your home cannot properly dispense of heat. Your home cooling system must work that much harder to maintain a comfortable atmosphere.

What’s more, the degradation that heat and humidity can cause to the beams and joists in your attic, as well as your Canton roofing, can eventually lead to expensive repairs.

Proper Roof Ventilation

A properly ventilated roof prevents damage to the structural elements of your home, and maintain comfortable temperatures.

The exact amount of ventilation is essential.

Too little, and you run the risk of moisture build-up, which can lead to all kinds of problems, including mold.

Too much ventilation lets in precipitation, destructive pests, and can interfere with the efficiency of your heating and cooling system.

By controlling the release of heat,and the humidity through attic ventilation, you help to prolong the life of your roof.

Working with the Canton roofing experts at Victors Home Solutions will give you confidence that your roof will be ideally ventilated.