Here are four signs of an unventilated or under ventilated attic.
Attic too small get soffit vents.
Of vent space for every 150 sq.
Talk to your local home improvement store or a professional contractor and get to improving your attic ventilation as soon as possible.
I live in north carolina.
Generally speaking you need a ratio of 1 300 where for every 300 square feet of ceiling space you need 1 square foot of attic ventilation.
Butt a cardboard template against the fascia and mark your soffit hole locations to begin.
Building codes vary.
If the attic ventilation system is not a balanced combination of intake vents installed in the soffit under eave or at the roof s bottom edge and exhaust vents installed at or near the roof s peak the attic ventilation system will not be efficient and effective.
This is called passive ventilation.
This is one home improvement task that is well worth undertaking.
That said air resistance and interference such as vent grates reduces the area of true ventilation.
Is this too much ventilation.
Of vent for every 300 sq.
Touch your ceiling on a warm sunny day.
If you re lacking good attic ventilation installing a soffit vent where needed is a no brainer.
My house has soffit vents on the eaves gable vents on each end of the house and a ridge vent.
If you don t see any attic vents on the roof or in the eaves you need to add some.
Look at your eaves and roof.
These vents allow outside air to enter the attic at the lowest point of the roof along the underside of the eave.
In order to facilitate this exchange of warm and cool air the general rule of thumb suggests installing at least 1 sq.
This creates a natural air flow by drawing in the air from outside pushing it up and out through the vent at the top of the house.
They re most effective when used in conjunction with a continuous ridge vent.
A well ventilated attic offers four benefits.
Ft you divide that by 150 to get 10 sq.
The most common way to add ventilation to an attic is by installing air intakes in the soffits and putting an outlet at the gable of the house.
In other words the entire vent opening doesn t count as vented space.
Soffit vents come in several sizes and styles including small round discs and rectangular grilles.
Add soffit venting first.
So if your attic is 1 500 sq.
If your home is fitted solely with small gable end vents or a ventilator high in the roof you might want to consider adding soffit vents to increase airflow.
A hot ceiling tells you that the attic is acting like a solar oven.
It prevents mildew growth and rot on your roof s framing and sheathing by.