Roof Vents
Learn about the importance of roof vents.
ROOFING
Venting a Roof: A Guide for Homeowners
What are roof vents?
Welcome to our blog! At Goad Construction, we understand that the roofing components of your home play a crucial role in maintaining its overall health and efficiency. Today, we're diving into the topic of roof vents—an often-overlooked feature that can make a significant impact on your home's comfort and longevity.
Roof vents are openings installed on the roof of a building to allow air to escape from the attic. They come in various shapes and sizes and are designed to facilitate proper airflow throughout the attic space. This airflow is essential in maintaining a balanced and healthy environment within your home.
They are cylindrical vents with fins that spin as wind passes over them. This spinning motion creates a suction effect, drawing hot air out of the attic space and promoting ventilation.
Soffit Vents
Ridge Vents
These vents are installed along the eaves or soffits of the roof, which are the underside of the roof overhang. They allow fresh air to enter the attic space from outside.
Turbine Vents
These vents run the entire length of the ridge and provide continuous exhaust ventilation. They're very much a passive vent, and don't need any type of motor or power to make them work.
Trapped hot air leads to trouble all year round, including roof ice dams in winter and overworked HVAC systems in summer. Proper ventilation helps prevent home repairs and protects your roof investment. That's why it's so important to recognize the warning signs.
What Happens to a Home That's Poorly Ventilated?
The Importance of Proper Airflow & Roofing Ventilation
Proper ventilation in your home, particularly in the attic, is crucial for a multitude of reasons. Not only does it prolong the life of your roof system, but it also helps in reducing energy costs and protecting your family's health. Let’s explore the warning signs of poor ventilation and why maintaining a well-ventilated home can be beneficial.
Poor attic ventilation negatively impacts your home and can ultimately cost you money. But what makes for a good ventilation system? Ideally, a well-balanced roof ventilation system will efficiently draw cool exterior air into the attic through intake vents and push hot interior air out through exhaust vents. This helps maintain your attic's temperature so that it's similar to the ambient outdoor temperature. When an attic doesn't have proper ventilation, or the ventilation system is blocked by paint, debris, or insulation, hot air gets trapped in your attic's highest points.
How Do You Know If You Have Poor Attic Ventilation?
1. Excessive Heat in the Attic
Icicles around your roof's perimeter may look magical, but don't be deceived. They can be a sign of ice dams caused by poor attic ventilation.
2. Visible Moisture on Plywood
A hot attic may feel cozy, but it's one of the warning signs of poor ventilation in a house. Perhaps counterintuitively, your ideal winter attic temperature is similar to ambient outdoor temperatures. With poor ventilation in house, the hot air concentrated at your attic's highest points stays trapped. This, in turn, can lead to uneven roof temperatures (ice dams), an overtaxed HVAC (higher energy bills), and other costly headaches.
3. Mold or Mildew
Wet wood in your attic is not a good sign. When warm, moist air from your home is trapped against your attic ceiling, condensation can occur. Any sign of visible moisture on plywood is a red flag.
Look for beaded water, condensation on hard surfaces, water stains, rusted nails, or rust stains around nail heads. It's important to address visible moisture quickly because trapped, warm, and wet air is a breeding ground for mold and mildew.
4. Cracked or Curling Shingles
If left untreated, mold and mildew can negatively impact you and your family's respiratory health, and deteriorate plywood, drywall, and other building materials.
Discolored patches, including white, orange, pink, green-black, gray, or black colors, can be indicators of mold. An active leak or damp area is a possible indicator that mold or mildew is also present. A musty or unpleasant damp smell is another sign. If you're concerned about mold or mildew in your attic, contact a professional.
5. Ice Dams
Poor ventilation can damage shingles by causing extreme roof temperatures, water damage to roof decking, and more. That's why it's important to be alert to the state of your roof's exterior. A regular roof inspection (performed safely from the ground with binoculars) can help you keep tabs on the situation. Warning signs of shingle damage caused by poor ventilation can include blistering on the shingles, granule loss, and curled, cracked, or brittle shingles. If you notice these warning signs, contact a certified roofing contractor.
When ice dams are not removed, the built-up ice and water can infiltrate your roofing system, leading to shingle damage, roof leaks, and even structural home damage.
The excess warm air that results from poor ventilation gets trapped within the steeper parts of your roof. This can then melt the snow on the roof exterior above it. The melted snow then drips down and refreezes on lower, cooler areas. This freeze-thaw cycle can create built-up ice dams around the base of your roof that just get larger over time.
What Are the Health Problems Caused by Poor Ventilation?
The right attic ventilation can hopefully save you money on home repairs and medical care, while helping maintain the health of your family and home. Ready to get started on your attic ventilation project today? Contact Goad Construction.
As mentioned, property damage isn't the only negative consequence of improper attic ventilation. Changes in your family's health can also, unfortunately, be a warning sign. In fact, mold in the home can cause "sore throats, stuffy noses, coughing or wheezing, burning eyes, or skin rash," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Asthma and allergies can be triggered by mold and immunocompromised folks are at a higher risk for lung infection.
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