Ventilation systems for your roof

All roofs require a proper ventilation system to keep your attic cool, which will also affect the rest of your home. If you are replacing the roof of your home, it would be best to ask your contractor about the different options you have for ventilating your attic and your home. The contractor should be able to offer you different ventilation products that can help you, always making sure that they contain a balanced system of intake and exhaust vents.

When you need to replace your roof, you should be prepared to discuss the different ventilation options, and it would be ideal if you know the types of vents that are best suited to your roof to create the ideal ventilation system for your home.

Attic and roof ventilation products can be classified as intake vents, exhaust vents, or combination vents, which include both intake and exhaust vents in a single duct.

Why do I need intake and exhaust vents for my attic?

Any ventilation system installed in an attic must have a combination of properly placed intake and exhaust vents. Roof vents and attic fans operate year-round, and serve a variety of functions. From removing warm, moist air, reducing condensation and keeping the attic dry and free of moisture, to allowing warm, unusable air from being directed into conditioned spaces.

The key to ideal ventilation is having the right amount of both types. Having only one or an uneven amount of one type of ventilation can lead to pressurization problems. You might think that the attic is the least important part of your home, but the truth is that, depending on the roof shape you have installed on your home and the architecture of your home, a large section, or even your entire home, may be covered by attics, which are often considered unconditioned spaces.

And this is true in many homes, especially homes that have attics with rafters, and taking into account that many attics are nothing more than small, unused gaps between the ceiling and the deck of your roof. Be that as it may, any roof, regardless of size, requires a mechanism to help it filter and manage the moisture and heat within it. Failure to do so could cause moisture, mold, mildew, and other damage that can even become structural damage to pass through to the interior of your home.

Intake Vents

Intake vents do what their name implies: they draw in air from outside. This fresh air enters the attic and replaces the air coming out of the exhaust vents, helping to ensure a balanced airflow. Intake louvers are usually placed under the eaves of the roof. They help the attic vents do their job more efficiently and help control energy costs.

There are two types of intake vents: soffit vents and roof-mounted intake vents.

Soffit vents are the most common type of roof-mounted intake vents, and are typically placed under the eaves of the roof, along the entire length of the house, or between the rafters. If you do not have soffit in your home, or no or exposed rafters under the eaves, a roof-mounted intake vent can be used to provide adequate air intake. These vents have a low profile that blends into the roof line.

Exhaust vents

Exhaust vents allow air to escape from the attic to the outside. Attic vents and ridge vents are two examples of exhaust vents, and these are typically placed at the top of the roof, often on the highest slope, where warm air tends to collect.

Ridge vents, as the name implies, are placed at the top of the roof, at the ridge, usually where the two sloping parts of the roof meet. Their location is ideal for catching the wind blowing over the roof, which helps to expel moisture and warm air from the attic.

You can also find static roof vents or roof vents. These allow air to escape from the attic and are placed flat on the roof and evenly distributed near the ridge.

An excellent ventilation option can be wind or rooftop turbines, which have built-in blades or vanes. The wind spins these blades, creating a rotating vacuum that helps draw warm, moist air out of the attic.

In addition, it is important to mention attic fans. These are usually located on a wall inside the attic. Their function is to draw air out of the attic and vent as much as possible to the outside. Attic fans can move large amounts of warm or moist air out of an attic, which can help keep heating and cooling costs under control. Having an attic fan can help you gain greater control over ventilation by turning attic fans on and off as needed.

You can also find a different option for ventilation, even though it is a little bit more expensive: motorized vents. These can be configured to run on electric or solar power. The added mechanical power behind these vents can significantly increase air circulation, potentially saving you some money in the long run.

How should a balanced attic ventilation works

You already know now what are the different types of ventilation that you could choose for your house. Knowing this, it would be useful to understand exactly how the ventilation for your attic works when it is balanced. And we can do this with a simple example.

Picture this: a normal summer day, and you need to go out for a minute, since you’re bringing groceries from your car. As you do this, you leave the front door open, to ease the process of bringing in the bags from your car to your house. While you’re doing this, not only your front door is open but also your windows, and there’s a small breeze blowing out. You turn back to your car to grab more bags and suddenly you hear the door slamming shut.

How could this happen?

Well, the front door of your house was serving as a ventilation: it sucked in air while replacing the hot air that was inside of your home and going out through the windows. And this is exactly what happens in your attic when you have balanced attic ventilation. In the first place, air exits the attic to the outside through the exhaust vents, creating a vacuum. Next, fresh air from outside re-enters through the intake vents, filling the vacuum. It’s as easy as that, and this is what makes your house and your attic fresh. If you don’t have this, you create a deposit of hot air and humidity that could cause you bigger problems.