Ottawa Roofing Contractors Vent Your Home

Get an Ottawa Roofing Company to Inspect Your Vents Sooner Rather than Later

Is your roof properly ventilated? Ottawa roofing contractors warn that without the right ventilation, your roof and attic could be causing a lot of problems for your home—especially in humid climates, where moisture can easily become trapped under your shingles, not only causing rot but voiding the manufacturer’s warranty as well. Another potential issue is an ice dam. This occurs during the cold winter months, where warm air in the attic rises to the top, melting snow and ice at the roof’s apex, which then refreezes near the bottom, trapping moisture and burdening the roof further.

Fortunately, these problems and more can often be prevented by contacting a reputable Ottawa roofing company and having them inspect your ventilation to determine how much is needed, how much you have, and how to make the numbers add up.

The Golden Ratio

While there are always variables that can change things, most of Ottawa’s roofing contractors will suggest the same ratio—1:150. This means that for every 150 square feet of floor space in your attic, you should have at least 1 square foot of ventilation. For example, if your attic measures 30 feet by 33 feet, you’ll have a little less than 1000 square feet of floor space. Dividing that by 150, you’ll get 6.67—meaning that for best results, you’ll want at least that much square footage in ventilation.

The Right Balance

So now that you know how much venting you need, you can just call up one of Ottawa’s roofing companies and have them install 6.67 square feet of soffit vents along the edges of your roof and call it a day, right? Well, not quite. See, ventilation only works well if there is a crossflow—i.e. the air that comes in has somewhere to exit again. This way, fresh air is constantly cycled in, preventing staleness or poor air quality, and effectively regulating temperature.

A common configuration is soffit vents along the bottom of the roof, with a channel leading up to the peak, where a ridge vent acts as an exhaust. Certain roofers will prefer a different balance of intake to exhaust. Some prescribe to a fifty-fifty split between the two. Others suggest something closer to sixty-forty in favour of the soffits. The reason for this is that with more intake than exhaust, you create a pressurized atmosphere, which is less likely to steal conditioned air from your home. Of course, to supplement this effort, you should have the Ottawa roofing company responsible for updating your vents ensure that the attic is properly sealed and insulated from the rest of the home.

If you suspect that your roof is not getting the right amount ventilation, contact a roofing contractor in Ottawa today for an inspection—you could be preventing a disaster down the line.