What Exactly Are Those Vents on Your Roof Doing? Learn More About Roof Ventilation
When most people think of a roof, they’ll typically picture the shingles on the outside and maybe envision the rafters and beams holding everything up. For many, roof vents and ventilation won’t even cross their mind—but when it comes to the overall functioning of your roof, ventilation couldn’t be more important.
At Anchor Roofing, we often work with homeowners who were facing roof ventilation issues but never knew this could be a problem at all. Unfortunately, poor ventilation is all too common, as many roofers won’t take the time to plan and carefully design a ventilation system that will perform as needed.
The good news? Our team can often diagnose, fix, and install roof vents during a roof replacement to ensure your home is getting the airflow it needs. Let’s take a look at some common roof vents, how they work, and how we can help troubleshoot ventilation issues.
Why Do Roofs Need Vents?
Before getting started, let’s address why roofs need ventilation in the first place. While it may seem like your roof should be impervious to any air, this would be a major problem for your home.
As you likely know, warm air tends to travel upward. Warmer air often carries moisture as it travels, and by moving upward, it will eventually wind up in the attic of your home—just under your roof.
If this warm, moist air has nowhere to go, it will collect in your attic, which can create a variety of problems. For one, your attic becomes a sauna and is very unpleasant to be in. That moist air will also collect against the ceiling and form condensation, creating mold, mildew, and even issues with rot.
In order to give that air somewhere to go, roofs need ventilation—just the right amount of it—to help regulate the temperature of your home and avoid major moisture issues in your attic that could jeopardize the health of your roof.
Types of Roof Vents
Various types of roof vents serve to provide needed airflow for your roof. Some of the most common vents you’ll typically see on a roof include:
- Box vents – The most common type of vent, box vents provide air in your attic with a place to go.
- Ridge vents – Vents along the ridge of your roof will typically perform the same job more effectively than box vents but at a higher cost.
- Turbine vents – Wind-powered vents, called turbine vents, are also an option for attic ventilation, relying on air pressure differences to pull warm, moist air from the attic.
- Baffle vents – These vents serve a specific purpose, namely to provide an outlet for bathroom vents that are operated intermittently. Our team most commonly works with Broan bathroom and baffle vents.
Common Ventilation Issues
Roof vents require careful planning to perform their role effectively. Unfortunately, there are several ways that ventilation issues can arise. Here are some of the most common ventilation issues our team has encountered over the years.
Too little ventilation
As mentioned earlier, lack of ventilation can lead to issues with accumulating moisture and hot air in your attic. This most often occurs when roofers fail to install adequate ventilation, though malfunctioning vents can cause this issue as well.
Inadequate air intake
Vents must balance air intake with exhaust. If there isn’t sufficient intake, exhaust vents will pull from each other instead of from the intake vents. This will cause improper ventilation and may even pull in snow during the winter.
Improper installation
There are many ways that roof vents may be improperly installed. For example, bathrooms must have ventilation fans to remove warm, humid air—but when not fully connected to a baffle that leads out of the home, that humid air will create mildew or mold wherever it accumulates. Homeowners in this situation may encounter orange mold around their bathroom vents, especially during the winter.
Anchor Roofing: Building Complete Roofing Systems
As leading Omaha roofing experts, our team at Anchor Roofing has years of experience designing and installing complete roofing systems. That includes always planning for roof ventilation and installing the right amount of the right kind of vents—the right way.
In completing roof replacements, we often encounter issues with ventilation, and we never leave these issues unresolved. Our team has a knack for problem-solving and will fix your roof vents during the replacement process, ensuring your roof performs as it should for decades to come.
If you’re faced with roof ventilation issues, Anchor Roofing can help! Reach out to our team today to schedule an initial inspection.