Proper Attic Ventilation Keeps You Cool
As the summer heat starts to arrive, this is a good time to have a professional roofing company examine your attic’s ventilation system. Extreme heat that arises during the summer months is a sure-fired way of increasing your electric bills even if you keep your thermostat on 78’-80’. Most of us living at the beach get to enjoy somewhat of a moderate sea breeze during the late afternoon, but as temperatures soar outside so do those temperatures increase in the attics of homes and many commercial buildings.
The US Department of Energy recommends keeping your home’s temperature at 78’ during the day. This keeps the stress off the local power grid and allows most of us to enjoy a relatively comfortable environment inside while the scorching temperatures outside rise.
But what is the most efficient way of keeping your houses temperature down inside besides running your homes HVAC systems? Proper Attic Ventilation
How Hot Should Your Attic Be?
Most homeowners don’t have any idea how hot an attic should be and also how that temperature affects the rest of the house. With the right attic ventilation, most attics should never get more than 20-25’ degrees hotter than the outside temperature. But many improperly ventilated attics, might have temperatures reaching 150’ or more during the heat of a sunny day here in Florida and that can cause havoc on your cooling systems as well as the roofing materials like asphalt tile designed to protect the homes temperature. Also, attics that are improperly ventilated and overheated, create mold and moisture problems.
Attics are designed for a specific reason, besides making available storage space for all those articles seasonally used. An attic is a protective barrier designed to keep the heat and humidity outside and to regulate your roof’s temperature from within.
True Function of Having an Attic Besides Saving on Your Electric Bill
Almost everyone knows that hot air rises and the hot air and subsequent heat that rises in your home collects in your attic. Properly ventilated attics, with the vent placed strategically on the side wall and top of the attic ceiling, allow fresh cooler air to enter into the attic and allows the hot air trapped to vent, into the outside air. But if the vents are improperly installed or are not working correctly, the resulting issues are excessive heat buildup in the attic and there lies the problem.
This system of moving air, hot air rising out and fresh cooler air entering in, actually regulates the temperature in your homes attic keeping it from overheating. Extemely hot attics not only make your whole house hotter but can actually cause damage to the roofing materials used to protect the shell of your home.
Popular asphalt shingles during the summer months can heatup to an extreme temperature due to the suns rays, and the excessive heat below can cause shingles to overheat and melt. The resulting problem is a damaged shingle, making it less protective from water and wind loosing your main defense against the elements.
The Best Defense is a Strong Offense
At Sunrise Roofing, we see improperly vented attics every day causing many roofing materials to decay before their planned life-expectancy. Here at Sunrise Roofing, there is nothing more important to us than your home. We have over 25 years-experience in commercial and residential construction and roofing. We only use the highest quality materials and take pride in doing the job right the first time.
Providing worry-free solutions to problems like poor attic ventilation can only be assessed and remediated by a professional. We have repaired and installed hundreds of roofs and our references and reviews prove our continued success.
If you are looking for a roofing company in Jacksonville Beach, FL with the experience to solve any roofing problem, look no further.
If you need help determining if your attic has the proper ventilation to protect your home or office, or are in need of a roofing assessment to determine if the roof requires repairs or replacement, give us a call today.
At Sunrise Roofing we repair and install asphalt shingle, metal and our specialty, ceramic tile roofs. Give us a call today at 904-323-1929 for a free, no-obligation roofing consultation and written estimate.
