Attic ventilation and insulation go hand-in-hand. You cannot do one without the other or major problems will occur in your home. If someone insulates an attic but covers the soffit vents (intake vent) for your home with insulation it will cause all sorts of problems like moisture, mold, and it will bake your shingles like an oven from underneath because the attic will get extremely hot in the summer without that fresh air coming in from the outside. It may also cause ice dams which can damage your home resulting in costly repairs and can also be costing you hundreds more dollars for heating and cooling your home.
That is why a block and baffle system is necessary before adding insulation. These baffles need to be added wherever there is a soffit vent and will ensure a proper airflow channel into your attic. The block system is equally important as they will prevent the soffit vents from filling up with insulation and stopping airflow. When an attic is properly insulated and ventilated it should be within a few degrees of the outside temperature. So the best way to check if your attic is properly ventilated is to go into your attic in the summer on a warm day and check the temperature. If it is way hotter in your attic then the outside ambient temperature, it means you are not properly ventilated which causes air quality issues in your home, mold, moisture, and prematurely ages your shingles.
Save Money
The average homeowner will save approximately $600 each year on their heating bill by increasing the attic insulation from R-11 to R-49 in their attic. The best thing about attic ventilation and insulation is that it is a great investment and will pay you back in savings!
A quick way to see if you are under insulated is to poke your head in the attic. If you can the wood joists on the attic floor, it means you are severely under insulated and probably have r-11 or less. Energy experts recommend anywhere between R-49 to R-60 for our region.
Prevent Ice Dams, Water Leaks, & Roof Damage
Unfortunately many of the calls we receive are after someone has ice damming which resulted in a roof leak inside the home. Ice dams are created by hot attics in the winter which melt the snow on the roof from underneath. The water then trickles down the roof and when the water hits the gutter it freezes. More snow continues to melt from the hot attic and then refreezes and works its way up the roof. It then lifts the shingles and allows water to get inside the home as more snow and ice melt. This can cause damage to your gutters, shingles, decking, insulation, drywall, and more if it is really severe! Roof repairs and roof replacements are sometimes needed after bad ice dams as they will break the seals in the shingles.
Prevent Mold & Mildew Growth
If your attic is not properly ventilated, your attic may be a living petri dish because of stagnant and humid air. This can cause all sorts of health problems for you and your family because it will cause poor air quality for the rest of the home. We have been in some attics where the plywood is black from mold. This is because they did not have the proper air intake (none in some cases) or proper exhaust on the roof. We have also been in many homes that look like they have vented aluminum soffits but they never cut the holes in the wood to allow the vented soffits to even work. Many soffits look like they are vented but they are actually not. Another common issue is that the home may have soffits but not enough. Additionally many of the homes we look at do not have a block and baffle system so the insulation blocks the soffits from bringing in fresh air.
We Can Help with All Your Attic Insulation & Ventilation Issues!
Most insulation companies cannot do anything if you do not have enough intake through your soffits outside the home or enough exhaust through the roof. We address and fix all of the following issues that you may have
- Soffit Ventilation (We can add soffit vents on the outside of the home)
- Block and Baffles (We can add a block and baffle system to bring the fresh air from the soffits into your attic)
- Insulation (On average we can save you $600 annually on your heating and cooling bill)
- Exhaust Ventilation (We can add roof vents or ridge vent to match the soffit ventilation for a balanced system)