Okay, let’s get down to the nuts and bolts of what a proper attic needs. It has to be able to breathe. A lot of humidity gets into an attic, and a lot of heat is generated there as well. If the attic can't breathe properly, the heat can cook your roof and raise your air conditioning costs. If your attic can't get rid of the heat and the humidity, it can also be a perfect place for mold to grow.
So, how does an attic breathe, and how does that prevent these problems? A well-ventilated attic breathes just like you and I do, it inhales and exhales, but it does these things together, and it does them continuously. Hot attic air rises through natural convection, and it will escape if it can find a way out. The metal box vents (roof louver vents), turbine vents, and preferably a ridge vent are all exhaust vent openings through the upper portion of a roof that allow the hot air to escape. But, that can't happen unless it can be replenished with cooler air through some kind of intake system. The ideal method for this is through soffit vents, those perforated panels that you see under the eaves of your house.
As the hot air rises and escapes through the exhaust vents, and is replenished by cooler air coming in the intake vents, the humidity is flushed out as well, and the temperature in the attic gets cooler.A lot of older homes don’t have eaves or soffits, and they’re more difficult to ventilate, but most of the really old homes I see during my St. Louis and Jefferson County home inspections leak enough air in the fascia area that it results in a somewhat effective air intake system anyway.
A fairly effective system for smaller homes is gable vents; these are the small vents that you see up high on the end walls, near the roof peaks on gable roof homes. These vents rely on exterior air movement to blow cooler air into one end of the attic, and the hot air out the other end. They are most effective when there is some sort of breeze blowing outside, but even in still air conditions, a little bit of hot air rising convection type ventilation is probably going on.
So what do you look for as you're taking your cooler weather tour of your attic, and what improvements can you make that will help to prevent mold, get rid of the heat and humidity (lower your bills), and help your roof achieve its longest possible life? That’s what we’re going to explore next in our continuation of this blog thread. Keep an eye out for next week’s Part 2!
AUTHOR:
Michael Chambers
St. Louis Area Home Inspector
BrickKicker Home Inspections
Email: Michaelc@brickkicker.com
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-BrickKicker-of-St-Louis/86559727720
Twitter: https://twitter.com/stlbrkkickr
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