Why Does Attic Need Ventilation

A balanced attic ventilation system that consists of intake at the eaves soffits or fascias of the roof and exhaust at or near your roof ridge serves two important functions.

Why does attic need ventilation.

While we have an active process most homes have a passive venting system which requires a balance between the intakes and outlets. Roof ventilation works by allowing air to flow through the attic which prevents it from becoming overheated and causing moisture. Areas with hot summers and cold winters can suffer the effects of both. Proper ventilation in your attic helps address excess heat and moisture that can otherwise wreak havoc on your home.

Requires a power source. That said air resistance and interference such as vent grates reduces the area of true ventilation. In the winter allowing a natural flow of outdoor air to ventilate the attic helps keep it cold which reduces the potential for ice damming snow that melts off a roof from an attic that is too warm and then re freezes at the gutters causing an ice dam that can damage the roof. There are two primary methods to create air flow within an attic.

We need to breathe to get fresh air in and out of our bodies. First it allows cool fresh air to enter into the attic. This prevents hot air from seeping into your home and driving up the temperature in the living space which reduces the load on your air conditioner. Second it allows hot moist air to escape.

Attic ventilation works on the principle that heated air naturally rises primarily utilizing two types of vents. Intake vents located at the lowest part of the roof under the eaves allow cool. Why adequate roof ventilation is important. For similar reasons your attic needs to breathe also.

Heat and moisture buildup in an attic cause predictable but different problems in hot and cold climates. Effective ventilation provides year round benefits creating a cooler attic in the summer and a drier attic in the winter. Ventilation only works when air flows. Attic ventilation fans help cool air your attic by pushing out the stifling hot air from inside the attic and bringing in cool air from outside.

In cold climates the primary purpose of attic or roof ventilation is to maintain a cold roof temperature to control ice dams created by melting snow and to vent moisture that moves from the conditioned space to the attic ventilation acts to bypass the vapour barrier created by most roof membranes. Attic ventilation is an intake and exhaust system that creates airflow designed to decrease the difference in temperature between the outdoor air and the air inside the attic. In other words the entire vent opening doesn t count as vented space.