Remove Any Roof Heat Sources From Your Attic

It s hot and all that heat is seeping through your roof and into your attic or crawlspace.

Remove any roof heat sources from your attic. Radiant barriers are fine but why not just stop the heat on the side of the roof where it first enters. Attic venting fans attic fans serve a different function removing the hot and moist air from the attic and leaving the space below the attic floor alone. Ventilation is key to releasing heat trapped in your roof and by installing ridge and soffit vents along the peak of your roof at the tops of your sidewalls and on the underside of your roof overhangs you can cut the temperature by as much as 10 degrees. Ridge and soffit vents are also helpful for venting hot air and keeping an attic cool but you ll need a little extra help as this method alone probably won t remove enough heat to keep the space comfortable enough to live in.

This increases the burden on your air conditioner making it work harder and making it more expensive to keep your house cool fortunately there are a number of steps you can take to reduce attic heat and lower your power bills at the same time. But still the heat is already in the roof. Most roofs have shingles that are made of asphalt with ceramic granules to help repel the sun s damaging uv rays but asphalt absorbs a lot of heat and this heat will transfer into your attic through the shingles the roof deck and into the attic space. They have thermostats that turn the fan on at a recommended preset temperature of 100 110 degrees.

When it s summer in florida that means one thing. And the extra heat is not just a summer concern come winter hot attic air can melt snow on the roof during the day only to refreeze when temperatures drop overnight creating ice dams that lead. Proper ventilation reduces heat build up caused by solar radiation from the sun. Powered attic ventilators are the worst way to try to keep your attic cool.

It comes in a roll and is stapled to the underside of your roof rafters or as a metallic paint. A radiant barrier is an aluminum foil material which prevents 95 percent of the heat that radiates from your roof from reaching the insulation on your attic floor. Ridge vents are a small opening in the ridge of the roof and a soffit vent is a small vent installed under the roof eaves. Install electric ventilators and attic fans which remove hot air from an attic.

In cold climates the best radiant barriers are installed on the floor of the attic so that they can redirect radiant heat from the home back into your living spaces. A radiant barrier can help by reducing the amount of that heat that radiates downward. Alternatively install passive vents such as gable soffit and ridge vents which are openings in the roof that allow hot air to escape.