Does Your Home Need Roof Ventilation

As providers of the best roofing in Bethlehem, PA, we know how to ensure maximum service life for your roof. Ventilation is crucial to maintaining your roof's health and longevity. Although you'll pay extra for a ventilation system, you'll reap the benefits many times over.

The Benefits of Roof Ventilation

Ventilation moderates temperature fluctuations inside your attic. It won't get as sweltering in summer and stays closer to ambient temperatures in winter, resulting in the following benefits.

Humidity Regulation

Warm air holds more moisture, and if it stays in your attic, the warm, humid conditions lead to mold and rot problems in the trusses and the walls.

Reduced Energy Bills

As experienced roofers in Bethlehem, PA, we advise insulating to avoid heat loss in your home to the attic in winter. With that caveat, maintaining steady temperatures under your roof lowers your HVAC energy bills.

Protect the Integrity of Shingles

We install the best roofing in Bethlehem, PA. But even so, extreme summer heat in the attic will make them deteriorate and crack without proper ventilation.

Don't shell out for premature roof repair in Bethlehem, PA; protect your shingles and extend their service life with a top-tier ventilation system.

Ice Dams

A roof that stays too warm in winter causes snow to melt and run down to the colder gutters and eaves, where it refreezes. Ice dams form, blocking the gutters and backing up under the roof, causing moisture to penetrate your walls.

The Two Types of Roof Vents

Warm air rises, so your roofing contractor in Bethlehem, PA, should install exhaust vents high on your roof to let it out. However, the departing warm air would leave a vacuum without cooler air moving in from below. To counter this, your roof needs intake vents.

How Much Venting Does Your Roof Need?

As a roofing contractor in Bethlehem, PA, we adhere strictly to the IRC code requiring the ventilating area to be at least 1/150th of the roof's area or 1/300th if vapor retarders are installed on the south-facing (warm in winter) areas of roofing.

Options for Roof Ventilation

Exhaust vents come in various types. The classic whirlybirds are quiet and effective but need wind to work. Off-ridge and box vents are the options of choice on hipped roofs, but you need several for them to be effective. Cupola vents look stylish but are pricy and more suited to barns than houses.

Roofers in Bethlehem, PA, recommend ridge vents overlaid with ridge shingles. Sitting right atop the roof, they are in the best position to let warm air out.

Intake vents come in three main types: fascia vents, drip edge vents, and soffit vents.

Combining soffit vents to let cool air in and ridge vents to allow warm air out is the best way to ventilate a roof. Moreover, it looks good and isn't expensive.

When in Doubt, Air It Out

When you think "attic," do you think "hot and stuffy?" If so, it's time to call your roofer. Proper ventilation can mean the difference between a premature roof replacement and long-lasting shingles that look great and protect your home from the elements.