Best Way To Vent Your Attic

Intake vents located at the lowest part of the roof under the eaves allow cool air to enter the attic.

Best way to vent your attic.

In other words the entire vent opening doesn t count as vented space. Powered attic ventilators are the worst way to try to keep your attic cool. Hot air exhaust vents located at the peak of the roof allow hot air to escape. The best form of attic ventilation for your home is a balanced system where the intake vents are separate from the exhaust vents.

Start with the attic floor. If two different types of exhaust vents are combined for example a ridge vent and a gable louver the primary path of air becomes the distance between the two types of exhaust vents. As the sun shines on the top of your house the heat is absorbed by your roof. These thermostatically controlled fans are supposed to push out the upper attic hot air and draw in cooler outside air usually through the soffit vents.

If you see dampness or frost you need better roof ventilation and some attic vents. Generally speaking you need a ratio of 1 300 where for every 300 square feet of ceiling space you need 1 square foot of attic ventilation. Vents come in various styles. But if the floor is covered in plywood you can t stuff enough insulation beneath it to do the job sufficiently not even in warm climates.

The soffit vents allow convective air movement from the soffits of the residence to the ridge vent. That path is supposed to be from low in the attic intake vents to the highest possible exit point in the attic exhaust vents. Air flows in through the soffit vents and out through the roof vents. In addition insulation baffles must be installed at the point where the attic floor meets the roofline to prevent the attic insulation from migrating into the cavities and restricting the airflow from the soffit vents.

Stop using your attic for storage. For the best results place roof ventilation near the roof s peak and soffit vents in the eaves. That said air resistance and interference such as vent grates reduces the area of true ventilation. Reflective materials keep things cooler.

This will then make the attic hot. For this kind of system you need soffit vents and ridge vents. Because the simplest and cheapest way to insulate an attic is to add material to the floor.