If you’re not currently ventilating your attic in the winter time, you may be doing your home a disservice. Attic ventilation not only helps your home stay comfortable throughout the cold months, but it also helps protect your home from damaging moisture that can be caused by roof structures.
Attic Ventilation Tips
As the snow begins or continues to fall, your roof acts as a huge bucket collecting snow.
As the heat rises in your home this winter and your attic pools that heat inside while it’s bombarded with inches or feet of snow outside, this creates a huge breeding ground for moisture to become trapped.
Moisture can deteriorate your roof shingles faster, cause mold growth inside your home, and rot the wood your home’s structure is made of.
By ventilating your attic, you’re releasing your home from these issues.
How do you create attic ventilation?
Attic ventilation can be created with minimal effort. By installing a room vent you give the heat a way to escape and the cold air to seep in. Once completed properly, this eliminates moisture from forming.
While this may sound counterproductive for your homes heating bill, the ventilation will not be enough to make a difference to your downstairs should you use proper ventilation practices.
The rule of thumb for proper attic ventilation is for every 300 cubic feet of space, you should have one square foot of ventilation.
Types of ventilation fans:
- Intake Vents
o Rafter vent – Installed along the attic rafters, rafter vents work with an under-eave vent to give a clear alleyway for air to circulate and escape.
o Gable vent – This vent can work as both an intake and exhaust vent for your home. Gable vents are the most common type of intake vent given that they come in many shapes and styles, so it matches your homes décor.
o Under-eave vent – This is installed exactly as the name suggests – under the eave of your home.
- Exhaust Vents
o Turbine vent – A turbine vent is similar to the turbines you see outside – the ventilation happens with the fan turns from the wind.
o Ridge vent – As the name suggests, these vents are installed along the roof ridge of your home. This makes them very easy to hide in between shingles so your exterior look is not compromised.
Now that you’ve nicely ventilated your attic, it’s important you have your HVAC serviced so your home is properly being ventilated as well. At BMC Clower, they have HVAC technicians who are ready to help you protect your home year-round. Contact them today by calling 866-904-9946 or filling out an intake form here.