Top Tips For Improving Your Attic Ventilation

When was the last time you headed up to check your attic? If you are like common homeowners, you rarely visit the attic. While there is a trend to convert the attic into a useful and practical space, we should not forget that they already serve a very crucial function. They are the most critical stop in the natural journey of airflow in your house.

Why Is Attic Ventilation Important?

Everyone knows that the hot air rises. Proper attic and roof ventilation ensure that the hot air is not trapped in the house, creating stifling heat. Without proper ventilation, you will find yourself spending more to keep your home warm in winter and cool in summer.

At first, many homeowners are skeptical of whether they need attic ventilation or not. As there are myths that letting the cold outside air in your home will decrease your home’s energy efficiency. However, the truth is quite the opposite; proper attic ventilation actually improves your home’s energy efficiency.

This is because the attic is actually sealed off from the rest of your house. The inhabited area of your house is fully insulated, creating a barrier between the house and the attic. However, if the attic gets too moist, or hot due to poor ventilation, it can also start affecting your living space. Moreover, an overheated attic can bake the shingles over time, creating structural damage.

Fortunately, you don’t need a whole new roof to improve your natural thermal cycle and air circulation in your house. A few targeted changes and improvements in the roof vents and other parts can give you the required results.

The article below provides some of the practical solutions to improve your attic ventilation, helping you to stay away from the impacts of poor attic ventilation.

Assess Your Needs

Before going for any changes, it is important to assess whether your attic needs extra ventilation, and if so, how much. Inspecting your attic ventilation efficiency depends on the season you are in

Summer Time Inspection

If it is summer, simply touch your attic with your bare hands. If it is abnormally hot compared to the temperature outside, this shows your attic is holding trapped hot air and needs more ventilation.

Winter Time Inspection

In winter, look around your eaves; if you see some ice build-up, it means your attic is poorly ventilated. The trapped warm air from the attic causes the snow to melt and refreeze around the eaves, causing build-up.

Moreover, you can inspect the roof from the inside as well; if there is trapped air, it contains moisture, and you will see condensation or frost formation on the attic’s ceiling, especially if it is extremely cold.

A well-ventilated attic will have an equal inflow and outflow of the air. Ventilation should be placed in a manner that air enters through the eaves and escapes from the roof peak.

Insert Roof Vents

Generally, roof vents are placed at the roof peak, where the attic’s air naturally rises. However, adding vents to your attic area can ensure the proper escape of warm and moist air from the area. This will prevent any condensation, frost formation and prevent heat build-up as well.

Secondly, you should periodically check your roof vents to ensure they are debris-free.

Add Soffit Vents

Soffits are the planks that connect and support your roof with the inner walls of your house. But if properly vented, soffits can play an important role in attic ventilation as well.

Soffit vents, when placed, allow the air to enter your attic from below. Paired with roof vents, soffit vents ensure smooth airflow into, up, and out of the attic.

Install Gable Vents

In some cases, attic ventilation does not reach its maximum efficiency with only roof and soffit vents installed. In this scenario, installing the gable vents can fill the gap and provide extra needed ventilation. These vents are placed at the gable ends of the roof. They are usually controllable openings intended to drive the trapped air outside the attic.

Some homes only have gable vents, but they alone are never enough to perform proper ventilation. Therefore, if you have gable vents but not other roof or soffit vents, you need to add other ventilation sources.

Use Fans To Improve Ventilation

If you live in an extremely hot and humid climate, the passive ventilation of the hot air rising up will never be enough. Fans provide the required supplementary ventilation for these situations.

An electric fan powered by solar panels or grid electricity can be used to draw air out of the attic. You can install a manually operated fan or the one connected to the thermostat for attic ventilation.

Conclusion

Getting maximum and optimized attic ventilation helps you in lowering your energy bills, increasing your roof’s lifespan, and preventing mold and moisture damage. In this way, you will save a lot on roof repairs and can spend on other useful home improvements.

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