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Improve Attic Ventilation

Improve attic ventilation to prevent ice dams and more.

By Sam Satterwhite

From The Family Handyman

Images from this article

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Introduction

Click image to enlarge.
A Well-Ventilated Attic Offers Four Benefits:

1. It prevents mildew growth and rot on your roof’s framing and sheathing by reducing moisture buildup.

2. It helps prevent ice dams in winter by keeping your roof colder.

3. It extends the life of your shingles by keeping the roof cooler in hot weather. (The manufacturer’s shingle warranty requires ventilation.)

4. It reduces cooling costs in the warm season. The savings will be slight if you have a well-insulated attic space; greater if you have little insulation.

In this article, we’ll tell you when you need additional ventilation, how to install several types of passive roof vents and soffit (eave) vents, and how to keep your ventilation system working. We won’t cover fan-powered ventilation, since this type is usually not necessary.

As you will see, improving attic ventilation isn’t expensive, time-consuming or difficult, even for the novice. You only need basic hand and power tools. However, when you climb up on your roof, be sure to follow safety precautions. If your roof is steep or you don’t feel confident up there, hire a pro. (Look under “Roofing” in your Yellow Pages.)

Does Your House Need More Vents?
Before you go out and start poking holes in your roof and soffits, check to see if you have the type of problem that attic ventilation can solve.

One common problem is caused by ice buildup along the edges of a roof. These ice dams form when warm attic air melts the snow on the roof and the water refreezes along the colder edge of the roof. The ice traps water behind it, allowing the water to seep back under the shingles and leak through the roof. Increased ventilation will make the entire roof cold and reduce or eliminate ice dams.

Five Common Causes of Poor Attic Venting
Problem 1
Insulation often clogs the space between the rafters, blocking air from traveling to and from the soffit area.
Solution: Install air chutes or clear them if they’re clogged (Photo 1).

Problem 2
Aluminum or vinyl soffits (eaves) installed over plywood soffits that don’t have venting holes.
Solution: Cut holes in plywood soffits as needed.

Problem 3
Gaps to the attic around plumbing pipes, ducting and electrical boxes. Many experts consider plugging these holes to be more important than ventilation.
Solution: See Photo 2.

Problem 4
Rectangular roof vents installed on one side of the roof only. Rectangular roof vents work best when the wind blows over the top of them, rather than into them.
Solution: Install rectangular roof vents on both sides of the roof.

Problem 5
Kitchen and bath fans vented into the attic.
Solution: Vent these fans through the roof or soffit.

Another common problem is moisture buildup. After cold weather arrives, grab a flashlight and inspect your attic. Cover all your skin to protect it from the itchy insulation, and wear a dust mask. If your attic doesn’t have a walkway, take two small (2 x 4 ft.) sheets of 1/2-in. plywood to move around on.

Here are the signs to look for:

1. Frost on the underside of the roof or rafters. Warm, moist air trapped in the attic condenses and freezes on the wood.

2. Water-stained or blackened wood. A sign of mildew or rot. You can also spot this in the summer.

3. Heavily rusted nails. A sign that condensation is forming on metal surfaces.

4. Matted-down insulation. A sign of roof leaks from ice damming or other causes.

If you have either ice dams or moisture buildup, improve your attic ventilation. Begin by making sure your existing system works (Photos 1 and 3), plugging major air leaks into the attic (Photo 2) and correcting any other of the “Five Common Causes of Poor Attic Venting,” above. If those steps don’t solve the problem, add more vents, following the techniques we show in Photos 4–17. For help figuring how much venting you need, see “Minimum Venting Requirements,” below.

Even if you aren’t having problems, bring your attic venting up to code when (1) you install new shingles and (2) you add attic insulation.

Minimum Venting Requirements
Most building codes require 1 sq. ft. of venting (technically, “net free vent area,” or NFVA) for each 150 sq. ft. of attic. In some circumstances you can have less, but we recommend the 1:150 ratio. So a house with a 1,500-sq.-ft. attic will need 10 sq. ft. of venting, ideally about half placed high on the roof and half in the soffits. Look for the NFVA of each vent you buy stamped somewhere on the metal. See pp. 62 and 63 for more details about vents.

Add Soffit Vents First
You can gain the most airflow with the least amount of trouble by installing soffit vents. The two most common are rectangular vents (Photo 9) and continuous strip vents (Photo 7). Continuous strip vents allow perfectly even ventilation along the eaves (Photos 7 and 8), but they’re difficult to retrofit in an existing soffit. (See “3 Specialty Vents,” below, for other solutions.)

Rectangular vents are the easiest to install (Photos 4–6). In our project, we replaced all our 4 x 16-in. vents (28 sq. in. of net free vent area, or NFVA) with 8 x 16-in. vents (56 sq. in. NFVA) and added more. This increased our soffit ventilation almost five times. An 8 x 16-in. vent costs less than $2 and takes less than 10 minutes to install.

How to Choose Roof Vents
We recommend two types of roof vents: heavy-gauge rectangular metal vents (Photo 13) and plastic shingle-over ridge vents with baffles (Photo 16).

Ridge vents with baffles have several advantages: Their low profile and shingle cover make them blend into the roof, and they distribute ventilation evenly along the ridge. You’re also less likely to damage the shingles when you install them.

Ridge vents cost about $10 per 4-ft. section and are available from roofing dealers and many home centers. Follow Photos 14–17 for installation tips.

Rectangular metal roof vents work best on hip or pyramid roofs that have a short ridge line. Look for galvanized steel vents. (They cost $6 to $10 and are available at roofing supply stores and some home centers.) Follow Photos 9–13 for installation tips. Consult a roofing supply store for special installation instructions if you have a metal, slate, cedar or tile roof.

FIG. A

Starter vent. If your house doesn’t have soffits or overhangs and the roof stops at the wall, you can vent the lower edge of your roof with a “starter” vent (also called “drip edge vent”). To install it, remove the first few rows of shingles and cut away the leading edge of your roof sheathing and the top edge of your fascia. Available from roofing supply stores.

FIG. B

Circular vents. These vents, available in 2-, 3- and 4-in. diameters, are ideal if you have eaves but no soffits. Install them by cutting holes into the blocking between the exposed rafter tails and pressing the vents into the holes. Make sure the airflow has a clear pathway through the insulation. Available at roofing supply stores and well-stocked home centers.

FIG. C

Flash filter vent. This vent works where a roof meets a wall. Available from roofing supply stores at about $4 per foot. (Note: Rectangular roof vents often work in these situations as well.)

• Sometimes these specialty items are difficult to find. One brand is Air Vent at (800) AIR-VENT or www.airvent.com.

Roof Safety Tips
Tip 1: Use a safety harness (see Photo 9), especially if your roof has a slope steeper than 6:12.

Tip 2: Work only when the roof is dry. Wet shingles can be slippery.

Tip 3: Keep your shoe soles flat on the roof, rather than digging in with the edges.

Tip 4: After making cuts with your circular saw, sweep away the sawdust to avoid slipping. Tip 5: Don’t step on power cords or ropes. They’ll roll under your feet and cause a fall.

Reader Caution
Recently, asbestos has been found in some types of vermiculite insulation. Vermiculite, a lightweight material resembling gravel, was used as attic insulation in perhaps as many as a million homes. If you have vermiculite in your attic, don’t disturb it unless you have a sample checked by an accredited laboratory. Disturbing it can release the asbestos fibers, which, once airborne, can enter your lungs and eventually cause lung disease. For a list of accredited testing labs, call your local department of public health. For more vermiculite details, go to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1 Web site (www.epa.gov.region01) or call your regional EPA office.

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