Ventilation Matter?
Proper ventilation is one of the most important aspects of your roof in North Texas and one the most overlooked aspects by most North Texas roofing companies. The majority of homes in North Texas don’t have balanced ventilation.
It starts from lazy home builders that just randomly put ventilation on a house with no rhyme or reason and then followed behind roofing contractors who either don’t care or uneducated on ventilation.
The problem is it can wreak havoc on your house in several ways and it’s not a very hard thing to fix when you’re putting a new roof on.
Intake Vents
To properly vent your attic your home needs both intake and exhaust vents. The vast majority of homes in North Texas have a type of exhaust vent although a large majority of them are done incorrectly.
A very large number of homes in North Texas are also completely lacking intake vents or have an inadequate amount. AirVent is one of the gurus of the most overlooked aspects of roofing and here’s a very simple video explaining why intake vents are so important.
With no intake vents or not enough the hot humid air just sits in the attic instead of being vented out the exhaust vents. When you have proper intake vents air pulls in from outside and pushes the hot air in the attic out of the exhaust vents on top of the roof.
Exhaust Vents
Several different type of exhaust vents are available such as ridge vents, power vents or static vents. The problem is when you contractors don’t use these correctly it doesn’t properly ventilate the attic. One of the common mistakes Texas roofers make is mixing different types of exhaust ventilation. You need to pick one and stick to that.
Ridge vents are the best exhaust vent for Texas roofers to use but many houses aren’t suitable for ridge vent. Most homes don’t have enough ridge length to use ridge vents. For a home with 2,200 sq ft of attic floor space you need a minimum of 30 feet of ridge, but 60 feet of ridge will vent it better.
You also need the lowest ridge vent to be within 3 feet of height from the tallest ridge vent and that’s typically most houses in North Texas don’t make this possible. The exception is if it’s a separate attic space from the rest of the attic.
A lot of Texas roofing contractors will put ridge vent in small areas and then mix it with static vents. If ridge vents aren’t useable then it’s best to use power vents or static vents. Driving around North Texas though you’ll see the vents randomly placed on the roof. They should all be at the highest points possible close to the ridges. Not placed in the middle of a roof. Placing in the middle of the roof messes up the ventilation of the attic space.
A vast majority of the homes have not nearly enough exhaust vents for their home. Getting the intake and exhaust vents balanced is crucial to keep the air flowing through the attic and keeping the stress off your A/C unit.
This picture is from a roof in North Texas where the static vent is in the middle of the roof. It should be several feet higher towards the ridge. This is a very common mistake Texas roofers make that is totally preventable.
There are several problems going on with this house. It has both ridge vents and static vents. You need to go with one or the other. Since the bottom ridge is more than 3 feet from the top ridge this would be a house that would be best to close the ridge and just use static or power vents.
Why Does it Matter?
Bad ventilation can do a number of things to your home. One of the obvious ones especially in Texas is causing stress on your A/C system trying to cool the house as the attic is extremely hot.
Having a hot and humid attic can also be extremely bad for people with allergies. It tends to be a breeding ground for mold when not properly vented.
It can also cause your shingles to boil from the inside and cause blistering. Blistering looks a lot like hail damage but it’s your shingles getting too hot from the attic space, and you lose granules. Can shorten the lifespan of your roofing system.
Can also mess with the warranty of your shingle manufacture as most manfactures have requirements for proper ventilation and if your intake or exhaust vents aren’t done properly it could void the warranty.
This is the perfect video describing the problem a lot of North Texas roofs have that have no intake vents and mixed exhaust vents.
Need Help?
If you have questions and need help, please feel free to reach out. Even if you decide you want to go with another contractor, we will be happy to answer questions. Ventilation is one of the most overlooked aspects of roofing and it’s a very easy fix when replacing your roof.