Why Do You Need Ventilation In The Attic

Before we explore how to ventilate an attic space it is prudent to understand how much ventilation is needed.

Why do you need ventilation in the attic.

Rarely will you find a building practice that works everywhere. Effective ventilation provides year round benefits creating a cooler attic in the summer and a drier attic in the winter. Attic fans are intended to cool hot attics by drawing in cooler outside air from attic vents soffit and gable and pushing hot air to the outside. Good insulation reduces fan effectiveness.

How you can improve your attic ventilation. However if your attic has blocked soffit vents and is not well sealed from the rest of the house attic fans will suck cool conditioned air up out of the house and into the. The downside of attic ventilation fans. For instance attic ventilation is used widely in cold climates to evacuate the warm moist air that escapes from the living space below.

Ventilation of attic spaces is required by most building codes as well as by roofing material manufacturers and the national roofing contractors association nrca. What does attic ventilation do for my home. Throughout the balance of this digest the terms attic and roof will and can be used interchangeably. It s typically the minimum recommended standard that should be used for ventilating attics.

Federal housing administration recommends a minimum of at least one square foot of attic ventilation split evenly between intake and exhaust for every 300 square feet of attic floor space. That said air resistance and interference such as vent grates reduces the area of true ventilation. All you need to know about attic ventilation understand the pieces and parts that contribute to quality attic ventilation so that you can better cool down the space and prevent roof damage all. One reason for the lack of agreement over attic ventilation is the tremendous variation in climate across north america.

Attic ventilation fans whether hard wired or powered by their own solar panels seem like a low cost and effective way to help keep your house cool. This 1 300 rule is general and may not apply to all buildings. Generally speaking you need a ratio of 1 300 where for every 300 square feet of ceiling space you need 1 square foot of attic ventilation. Attic ventilation is an intake and exhaust system that creates airflow designed to decrease the difference in temperature between the outdoor air and the air inside the attic.

In other words the entire vent opening doesn t count as vented space. How much venting do you need. Ventilation can be accomplished using various products and techniques. The commonly accepted calculation for sizing vents is 1 square foot of vent opening to 175 square foot of attic area.