Proper roofing ventilation plays a crucial role in ensuring a roofing system lasts longer and assists in preventing many expensive issues down the road. There are many moisture related deficiencies that proper ventilation can assist in minimizing — several different activities that homeowners do daily that emit moisture into our homes. Just existing alone places moisture into the air. But more specifically, cooking, moisture in the basement or crawl spaces, showering, you name it, all of these things create moisture in the air every single day. Even in some cases, the HVAC system is designed in such a way that it includes a Humidistat, which actually adds moisture through the home’s heating system. The warm moist air then rises into your attic, and when it hits cold plywood, it will condensate and moisture droplets will form on the bottom of your plywood. If it’s cold enough, it can even create ice, mold, rotten plywood etc. This is what proper ventilation assists in preventing.

There are several different ways of ventilating a roofing system, some better than others, but today we will chat about five advantages of proper roofing ventilation:

 

1) Temperature Moderation 

 Ventilation helps to moderate the temperatures in your attic, and this may also help to moderate the temperature in the rest of your home. More importantly, adequate ventilation will reduce the ill effects of vapor migration. Vapor migration is the transfer of moisture through the warm air. Think of it this way; warm air carries moisture. 

 

2) Reduces Damage due to Moisture

 Proper attic ventilation helps minimizes the moisture build-up in your attic and other places in your home, which during the colder months, can help prevent condensation issues that can affect the materials in the attic space.

 

3) Save Energy

 By preventing excess heat build-up, proper ventilation promotes energy efficiency in the home, so your heating costs may be lower. Heat build-up in that attic comes at a price—a home’s air conditioning has to work harder to cool down the house, especially the living space below the attic.

 

4) Prevents Damage to Roofing Shingles

 Proper ventilation also helps protect the life of roofing materials. Condensation is a leading cause of damage to roofing materials, such as asphalt roofing shingles. Excessive heat in your attic can take a toll on your shingles and will bake the shingle and cause them to age prematurely. Most major shingle manufacturers strongly recommend proper attic ventilation on asphalt shingle installations.

 

5) Minimization of Ice Damming

 Without proper roof ventilation, snow on the roof is melted because a poorly insulated attic space warms the roof surface. Water from melting snow will run between the snow and the warm surface of the roof. Water freezes and turns to ice once it gets past the exterior wall and hits an unheated roof edge or gutter. As this cycle continues, the ice dam will continue to grow as the snowpack continues to melt. Water will continue to flow down the roof surface, and when the flowing water hits the ice, the ice dam in returns continues to get larger. With a properly vented attic, you can help to minimize this ice damming process. GAF stated in a recent blog article, that “Unfortunately, most homes in North America are improperly ventilated, which can result in mold, wasted energy, ice dams, premature roof system degradation, rotting decks, peeling paint, and ceiling stains.”

At Duane Mainardi Builders, we check both the intake and outtake. Occasionally the soffits are on top of plywood, and the air is not getting through there. If we find that ventilation is inadequate, we will offer the opportunity to remedy this issue at the time of your installation.   

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For more information about ventilation in South Jersey, call 609-923-4548 or contact us online. Don’t forget about our FREE roofing estimate!
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