Is Your Roof Well Ventilated? Here's How To Tell

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Is Your Roof Well Ventilated? Here's How To Tell

Most homes have attics. An attic is essentially the space within the roof. While attics do not usually serve much purpose other than sometimes being used for storage, it is important for them to be well-ventilated. If your roof and attic are not properly ventilated, the attic space can become too warm, and this can lead to problems such as ice dams and premature roof decay. So, how can you tell whether your roof is properly ventilated? Start by following these two steps.

Note what kind of vents your roof has.

There are different types of vents and several ways to place or lay them out for adequate ventilation. However, the most common layout is to have several soffit vents and a ridge vent. The ridge vent is located along the peak of the roof, and the soffit vents are located under the eaves. In this setup, the hot air rises and flows out of the ridge vent. The soffit vents allow cool air to flow in closer to the base of the roof. 

Look to see whether you have soffit vents and a ridge vent on your roof. If you do, there is a very good chance your roof is well-ventilated. There's still a small chance that you could use a few more soffit vents or a longer ridge vent, but at least if both types are there, you are at a good starting point.

Go into your attic during different weather conditions.

Another good way to tell whether your roof is properly vented is to venture up into your attic. When you do, pay attention to whether the space feels overly moist or humid, as these are both signs of lacking ventilation. Take repeat trips into the attic during different weather. Go up there when it's really hot out, moderate, and cold. Go up during a storm, too. 

A properly ventilated roof keeps the attic cool and dry during all types of weather. So even if you only notice a problem on certain types of days, it is worth contacting your roofer and having them assess your vent system.

If you have any reason to believe your roof could benefit from more vents, you're probably right. Many roofs do not have as many vents as they truly need. Adding a few more will help your roof last longer, and it may also prevent mold growth in the attic. For more information on a roof inspection, contact a company near you.



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Roofing the Day Away Can you imagine hammering away at shingles from dawn until dusk? If this sounds like fun, then you may have a future in the roofing industry. If this does not sound fun at all, then you're going to be someone who calls a roofing company and leave the work to the professionals. There's nothing wrong with that. Roofing is hard and dangerous; it's definitely not for everyone. In fact, we don't climb up on the roof ourselves. We do, however, write about roofing on this blog. We consider that to be a small service we can do for homeowners who are interested in roofing and want to know more.

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