Why is it so important to have a good vents system?

In a house, ventilation must be constantly monitored to avoid air tightness. The comfort and well-being of the people who live there will always depend on having fresh, renewed air every day. Poor ventilation can cause temperature problems, energy loss, uncontrolled drafts, humidity and even overheating.

Becareful with a bad vent system

A bad vent system can also produce a lack of oxygen that is not usually severe, but that causes discomfort and some damage to the health of the family. Many times the steam that is caused by the use of bathrooms, cooking, stoves or showers can contribute to these problems.

This is the reason why it is important to count on an excellent ventilation system. And, no, we’re not talking only about the windows. Every day it is necessary to renew the air at least once a day by opening the windows and avoiding air condensation in the house. It is important to ventilate the rooms early in the morning, to eliminate the humidity produced at night by breathing, for about 30 minutes.

But doing our own manual ventilation doesn’t eliminate the obligation to have a good vent in your roof. Bad environmental odors can affect our health if we do not have good insulation.  It is important to know the physical effects and the diseases they cause as well as the best ways to combat them, including ventilation, to prevent them from affecting our daily lives.

Roof Vents

An important aspect of keeping a home in good condition, and completing the roofing system, is the roof vents.

Installing vents is a crucial part of the roof design because it allows for proper attic ventilation, which can help prevent condensation and premature aging of roofing materials.

Advantages of proper roof ventilation

While there are several types of roof vents to choose from, making sure you have the right amount of ventilation inlets and outlets is a central part of roof design. Proper attic ventilation provides numerous advantages to the homeowner:

Ventilation helps regulate the temperature of the attic; it can also help regulate the temperature of the rest of the home. It is amazing because it helps prevent moisture buildup in the attic and, in colder months, this in turn helps prevent condensation problems that can affect the materials in the attic space. When you start by preventing excessive heat buildup, proper ventilation promotes the energy efficiency of the home; therefore, heating costs can be lower.

Proper ventilation on your roof helps you to protect the life of roofing materials (condensation is a major cause of damage to roofing materials, such as asphalt shingles). It is also enormously beneficial for complying with most local building codes, which often require adequate attic ventilation in the home.

How to Calculate the Amount of Ventilation Needed

The key to proper roof and attic ventilation is balance: the amount of space you devote to air intake should be equal to the amount of space you leave for exhaust, and both should be calculated based on the size of the attic and the slope of the roof.

To calculate attic ventilation requirements, you can determine the square footage of the attic floor (width times length) and compare that figure to the total required “net free area” (NFA). Vents are rated according to their ALN, i.e., the amount of space for air intake or exhaust. This makes it easy to calculate how many vents you need for your attic once you have determined your requirements.

For the attic

If the attic floor has a vapor barrier, you will need one square foot of ALN for every 300 square feet of attic floor area (half of that will be used for intake and half for exhaust). If there is no vapor barrier, you will need to double the amount; that is, you will need one square foot of ALN for every 150 square feet of attic floor space (half for entry and half for exit). These are general guidelines; be sure to check your local building code.

In addition, the ALN will be calculated differently if your roof slope is greater than average. If your roof slope is greater than 6:12, you will need a greater amount of ventilation to reflect the additional volume of attic space: calculate 20% more for slopes between 7:12 and 10:12, and 30% more for slopes of 11:12 or greater.

Style and Type of Vents

After you’ve done all of this, you can begin to choose the style and type of vents you prefer for your home. It’s important to remember that it’s always better to have too much air intake than too little, and many homes underestimate the air intake needed. Don’t worry so much about having too much intake ventilation; it’s better to err on the side of overdoing it.

The most popular way to ventilate an attic is to take advantage of buoyancy, or the natural tendency of warm, moist air to rise, especially when pushed up by the cool air below. Homes are naturally filled with warm, moist air on a daily basis thanks to human physiology and activities such as cooking and bathing.

To take full advantage of this effect, home ventilation inlets are generally installed at the lowest part of the roof (near the eaves), while ventilation outlets are located higher up (near the peak) to allow cool air to push warm air out more easily.

You can not comfortably live in a place that has no good ventilation. Not only the windows will do this for you. The air flow is surely something that can be improved with the windows, but nothing will do as much as ventilating your attic. That old attic smell is not only a little bit disgusting, but it will also be the root of many health and structural problems that you’ll surely want to avoid at all costs. So, make the best investment and buy some vents in which you can truly rely and you’ll see how easy your life gets.