07/05/2019
Here in SW Florida, roof venting moves the heat that the sun produces out of the attic, or out from under the roof. A key benefit of ventilation in a warm-weather climate is to keep your home’s cooling system from overworking.
Another benefit of ventilation is that it prevents the damage that extreme heat and humidity can do to your roof. Therefore, it’s important to know what types of damage can occur and what a roofing contractor can do to help you.
The Damage Heat Causes
Heat shrinks shingles, causing the nails that hold the shingles in place to pop up. Nails that pop up from below can cause blisters in the shingles, and possibly cause leaks. If you have a roofer check your roof and they find that nails have popped and the shingles are raised, it may be time to repair/replace the roof.
Heat from the sun isn’t your roof’s only enemy. If your home has an attic or overhead crawl space, heat rising up from below can cause blisters and cracks in asphalt roofing shingles. When attic areas are poorly ventilated, excessive heat can cause blisters to form, especially on newer roofs. While blisters doesnt always cause roof leaks, you may need to replace the roof sooner than you expected.
The Damage Moisture Causes
Warm air holds moisture, and moisture can damage the wood materials used in the structure of your home’s rooftop. High humidity levels may not only damage roof decking but also roofing shingles. When shingles become damaged or worn, strong wind gusts can lift loose shingles and tear them off the roof.
Moisture trapped in an attic or crawl space is another problem that can lead to mold forming on roof rafters, roofing joists and attic floor joists. Both mold and moisture weaken plywood sheathing. If the problem is so severe that the sheathing needs to be replaced, then the roofing shingles must be removed and replaced as well.
Mold Damage
Excess moisture trapped in your roof can lead to wood rot, which deteriorates a timber roof structure if the problem isn’t fixed early on. Depending on the extent of damage, roof rafters that show signs of decay caused by mold growth may need to be repaired or replaced.
If mold has caused only minor damage to sheathing, and roof rafters . A professional roofer may recommend spraying the wood and then painting it with an alcohol-based primer. While this usually kills the mold spores and seals the surface to prevent the mold spores from spreading.
How Roofing Ventilation Helps
Proper ventilation helps protect your roof from the detrimental effects of heat and humidity. Air circulation keeps heat and condensation from building up on the underside of the roof sheathing. Your cooling system will also work more efficiently when hot air can escape through a vented roof.
Adequate roof ventilation is especially important in newer, energy-efficient homes. Since newer homes are built to be more air-tight, condensation is more likely to occur. Ridge vents, soffit vents and gable vents are different forms of roof vents. A roofing contractor can recommend the type of roofing ventilation system that will work best for your home based on the climate where you live and the design of your home’s roof.
Exhaust vents, such as ridge vents, allow hot air to escape from your home. Intake vents allow outside air to enter the attic or overhead crawl space. The intake vents then force hot air on the inside out through the ridge vents.
