Your Roofologist: Hole in the Roof & Poor Ventilation
So what are the dangers of janky ventilation in your home? What can you do to ensure your home is properly ventilated?
Consider ventilation as the lungs of your attic. As air travels through your attic by vents in your home's soffits (the underside of your roof’s overhang) warm damp air is released through vents in your roof which are designed to keep your attic healthy cool and dry.
In today’s video, Your Roofologist is in Highland Park on a call where a tree fell through the homeowner's pool-house roof. Thankfully it wasn't their home because what you will see is how poor ventilation ruins your day. What should have been a simple repair job will become a complete roof replacement.
Today's construction practices have homes sealed up tighter than a tick on a dog's butt. Plastic house wraps, triple sealed windows, and magnetically sealed entrance doors have added energy efficiency but have reduced your homes ability to breath. The outcome is that attics today can hold more heat and moisture than ever before. Build-up of heat and moisture allow for the growth and spread of mold in your attic. When left unattended attic mold can spread quickly endangering your family's health and creating the need for serious measures including but no limited to the complete demolition of your home. Warm moist air trapped in your attic dampens insulation. Wet insulation simply cannot do its job. Homes without proper insulation can have up to 20-25% moisture in their insulation which has the effect of increasing heating and cooling bills.
So, is your attic effectively ventilated? Is your insulation soaking in too much moisture? Is mold creeping through your ceiling heading for the walls? If you don’t know it's important to get a licensed roofing contractor with the right equipment into your attic ASAP. Guessing could prove disastrous. The results of a professional inspection may conclude excessive moisture in areas such as bathroom ventilation, holes in your ceiling due to recess lighting or exposed gable vents caused by wildlife. Addressing these issues can make a big difference in the moisture levels in your attic.
Remember the dangers of poor attic insulation are heat and moisture build up. Moisture also promotes mold growth which can endanger the health of the people living in the home and eventually lead to tens of thousands of dollars in extensive repairs.
Take these steps to ensure your home has a healthy attic:
Have your attic inspected by a licensed contractor like Your Roofologist to who will for a mold infestation and proper ventilation.
Ask about adequate air flow devices such as high performance ridge vents, turbines, and ventilators.
If you are concerned about the air in your home don’t wait. Proper adequate ventilation is the key to a comfier home.
Lastly, ventilating your attic space efficiently isn’t done by just arbitrarily adding more roof vents. Your roof can only exhaust the volume of air that it is able to take in by way of the soffit vents around the eaves of your home or other roof-mounted intakes, so those variables together need to be taken into account.
Hire a professional, and avoid some #JankyRoofer making your house look like it was invaded by UFOs.
