Poor Ventilation Can Damage Your Roof

The move toward more energy-efficient homes, while good for the environment and the utility bill, is having an impact on the integrity and lifespan of our roofs. Energy-efficient homes seek to create an air-tight interior that can lock in moisture leading to condensation on your windows, mold problems and roof failures.

That’s why proper ventilation is a major concern to anyone who is contemplating having their home re-roofed.

HomeAdvisor.com reports it is common for the average household to produce from four to five pounds of water vapor per day. To illustrate how much water that is, go to your kitchen sink, fill an empty one-gallon container with water, and pour that on the floor. In poorly ventilated homes, this moisture has nowhere to go. So it forms condensation on the underside of the plywood sheeting of the roof, causing the plywood to expand, buckle, and delaminate.

Naturally, this degrading plywood has a detrimental effect on the roofing, including reduced nail holding power, wind damage due to an uneven deck, and stress cracks due to unstable decking materials. This is why turbine ventilators should never be covered up in the winter.

There are challenges in summer as well. During the summer, when temperatures can soar above 100 degrees, your attic is 145 degrees and the temperature on your new roof is nearly 180 degrees. This makes a total roof ventilation system more important than ever.

GO WITH GARRETT.  KNOXVILLE’S HAAG-CERTIFIED ROOFING EXPERTS.

When it comes to ventilation, more is always better. Proper attic ventilation in your new roof may be the difference between a long-lived roof and failure in a shorter period of time. Considering the cost of re-roofing the average home, a few hundred dollars for additional attic ventilation can be a very wise investment.

Let the roofing experts at Garrett Construction and Roofing inspect your roof for FREE to determine whether your attic ventilation is working properly. Our Haag-Certified inspectors will also determine if the roofing product is failing in any way.  Make an appointment today!

 

GARRETT CONSTRUCTION AND ROOFING.  Contact Knoxville’s Construction and Roofing Professionals!