Roof ventilation is a relatively recent discovery and is a very cost efficient way of improving roof life, it reduces overall heat, moisture and other roof related problems.
Roof ventilation works in all climates - cold, mixed and hot, but it can also be implemented inadequately resulting in unnecessarily energy losses or insufficient ventilation.
Ventilation can be done:
- Naturally: intake vents at the bottom of the roof let cold air to enter the roof while exhaust vents at the top, let the hot air (which rises) to escape.
- Mechanically - powered turbines draw the hot air from the top of the roof. Those can be powered by wind or solar.
Advantages of a well vented roof:
Summer
Ventilation allows hot air and moisture to escape during the summer, reducing temperature and improving overall comfort when is hot. This can also help reduce air conditioning usage.
Winter
Without a flow of air, the warm air from the living areas below, will rise and meet the cold roof structures and form condensation which can produce mold mildew and wood rot resulting in structural damage to your roof over time.
Without a flow of air, warm air rises at the top of the roof during the winter and melts the snow at the top of the roof, letting it accumulate and freeze again at the bottom of the roof, creating ice dams. This produces an uneven weight distribution of snow and ice which in turn can result in structural damage to your roof.
If the roof is well ventilated, the hot air circulates on the entire roof surface allowing the snow to melt evenly on the roof.
A dry and well ventilated roof extends the life span of the roof covering materials - shingles or other roofing materials.
Comments:
#