Your attic is much more than a storage space or an extra room in your home — it serves an important function in ventilating the rest of the house. In short, allowing fresh air to properly move through your attic allows your house to breathe.

Unfortunately, not having the right ventilation can be quite costly in terms of home energy efficiency and can even shorten your roof’s lifespan. If the air in your attic cannot move freely in the summer months, heat can build up significantly throughout the house and force your home’s cooling bills to skyrocket. It may also burn up your roof, causing deterioration in the decking adhesives and causing your roof’s shingles to crack or curl.

Meanwhile, attic ventilation in winter protects your roof structures from damaging moisture. In winter, heat and moisture from inside your home will collect in your cold attic, causing condensation. Without ventilation, this condensation can wreak havoc on your roof’s decking, causing it to swell and become wavy.

It can also lead to mold and poor air quality inside your home. For all these reasons, you must ensure you have proper attic ventilation to keep your home’s roof in good condition, as well as maintain good energy efficiency and indoor air quality.

Attic Vent Calculations

Whether you are refinishing your attic space or having the home assessed, you may need to run attic vent calculations to ensure an optimal exchange of warm and cool air in your attic space.
There are two main types of vents that should be located throughout the attic to ventilate your home
naturally, also called passive ventilation.

Intake vents allow cool air to enter the attic and may be found at the low parts of the roof as shingled intake vents or under the eaves. On the other hand, exhaust vents enable hot air to escape the attic and are typically found at the roof’s peak.

Typically, it is best to install at least 1 square foot of vent for every 300 square feet of attic floor.
However, local building codes can vary. Having a roofing contractor assess your attic can ensure optimal attic ventilation and your attic is up to code in your area.

Powell’s has helped residents throughout New Jersey with attic ventilation issues since 1999. Our team can perform an assessment to ensure your attic is properly ventilated and your roof’s lifespan is maximized.

For attic ventilation calculations, assessments or roofing questions, contact Powell’s today.