Ever gone into your attic and wondered if the items you are storing up there like Christmas decorations or family mementos might be damaged by the intense heat? You may not realize it but roof ventilation is particularly important in Central Texas in order to keep your home more comfortable, extend the life of your shingles, insulation and HVAC system, and save money.
The Benefits of Roof Ventilation
During the summer months, heat on your roof can get trapped inside your attic, making it feel like an oven that heats the rest of your home. Furthermore, that attic heat can seep into your home, making your rooms less comfortable and causing your air conditioning system to run non-stop. Proper ventilation can help break the cycle, remove that oven effect and work towards making every room evenly comfortable.
Here are some other benefits of proper ventilation in your roof:
- Energy efficiency is increased because the temperature of the attic is lower, and therefore hot air isn't permeating into you home.
- Proper ventilation keeps your air conditioner from having to work as hard, as long and as often. This not only reduces energy costs, but also means your heating and cooling system will last longer.
- Ventilation can help to keep every room in your home at the same, even temperature so that you don't have to turn up the air conditioner to keep particular rooms comfortable.
- Having the proper ventilation in place saves your shingles and extends the life of your original roof, or roof replacement.
- Proper ventilation also preserves your insulation by preventing dripping from condensation caused by trapped vapors from home appliances.
- Lastly, well-placed ventilation in your home prevents trapped moisture, which can come into contact with, and damage, your home's wood framing.
How Does Ventilation Work?
Roof vents use the wind, solar, electrical energy or natural convection to move air out of the attic area. In the cold, ventilation can vent moisture from a home and prevent ice dams. In the heat, ventilation can remove hot air, keeping energy costs down and both your home and attic at a comfortable temperature.
Roof Ventilation Options
There are a wide variety of roof vents which can all work well in different situations:
- Static vents and soffit vents -- Static vents use the wind or natural convection to transfer cooler air into the attic and hotter air out. They work in conjunction with soffit vents which are positioned under the eaves of the house in the soffits. They come in a wide variety of styles including ridge vents, air hawks, turtle vents, or mushroom vents.
- Ridge vents -- These vents are placed along the ridge of your roof. Ridge vents let the hot air rise out of the roof. Placed in conjunction with under-eave soffit venting, this system can be very efficient because it vents the whole of the roof evenly.
- Power vents -- These vents use solar or electric power to run motors to drive the air out of the attic. Some have adjustable thermostats to trigger them to run when the attic reaches a particular temperature or humidity.
- Turtle vents, Air Hawks, and Mushroom Vents -- These vents are placed along the ridge of the roof with even spacing, and allow air to come out. These are primarily used when there is not enough ridge to support adequate ventilation with ridge vents.
Which Ventilation Types are Right for Your Home?
Each home has a different airflow and roof design, and therefore the right type of vent depends on your situation. Determining the best type of roof vents for a home for efficient and effective roof ventilation takes considerable expertise. Longhorn Roofing experts all have over 20 years of experience in evaluating roofing needs in the Austin area. They can evaluate your old or new roof to determine what type of vents will work best for your home.
