As many of you may know, our company is very dedicated to proper venting on the home. In the course of our work we experience many interesting venting problems and enjoy solving and correcting home owner problems.
Attic ventilation is often misunderstood. Sure, it expels hot air during warm months and keeps attics cool, which in turn lowers your air conditioning bill.
What about winter? In the colder months venting reduces moisture build up to keep attics dry. During the course of the day, we introduce 1 to 2 gallons of moisture into our home, mostly through washing clothes, washing dishes, cooking and bathing. This moisture needs to be expelled from the home or it will build up inside and rot out home. Proper venting helps prevent ice dams by keeping roof temperatures cool, preventing snow from melting and moisture backing up under the shingles.
In a perfect world, our venting is a system of 50% cool air coming in and 50% hot air being expelled.
All homes need intake. Without intake there cannot be a system of air flow in your attic. Your home attic is staving for cool air intake and they will take air from any other opening they can find. Such as: Pulling from other vents on the roof (this will bring in rain, snow and anything else that may be floating around outside), pulling from outside opening on the home or pulling air from the interior of the home.
Many people know it is proper to add venting to your roof to expel the hot air but what about the cool air intake. Where does the cool air come from?
The intake vents on the house can come in many forms. The most popular are soffit vents. These are placed under the eaves. Most are aluminum and plastic mesh louvered panels that come in a variety of sizes and styles. The sizes range from 1 inch to 4 inch mini louvered circle and varied sizes of louvered ovals, continence louvered soffit panels, rectangle 16 x4, 16 x6 & 16 x 8 screens and, of course, aluminum perforated soffit panels, just to name a few.
Can’t cut into your soffit? No overhang on your home? Don’t worry we now have intake that is installed on top of the roofs edge. ”The Edge” is a great idea, it is made of durable plastic and easy to install when you install your new roof. Another product is vented drip edge; the same idea put the intake on top of the roof.
Install the second half of your venting system today. Cool air intake is so important. Call a certified expert to help you prevent expensive intake damages to your home.