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Attic ventilation
Posted on 8/6/19 at 10:02 pm
Posted on 8/6/19 at 10:02 pm
How can I tell if my attic has enough ventilation? Can an A/C person tell me? Measure it?
6
Posted on 8/6/19 at 11:26 pm to BengalBlood81
I’ve been flirting with installing an automatic vent fan in my attic... just haven’t because I’m not sure it’ll do any good. 
I do know it gets hot as balls up there at times.
I do know it gets hot as balls up there at times.
Posted on 8/6/19 at 11:50 pm to BengalBlood81
Do you have ridge vents? There are attic ventilation calculators on line, based on 1 sq ft of ventilation area per either 150 square feet of attic area (preferred) to 300 square feet of attic area (minimum I think).
Your soffit vent area (intake) should ideally equal ridge vent area (exhaust). I’ve calculated it on own my own house which is easy to do, but I have ridge vents, and I met the 1:150 ventilation area criteria. If you have whirlybird vents (wind driven exhaust vents) or power vents to exhaust the air then you’ll need different calculations at least on the exhaust side.
Your soffit vent area (intake) should ideally equal ridge vent area (exhaust). I’ve calculated it on own my own house which is easy to do, but I have ridge vents, and I met the 1:150 ventilation area criteria. If you have whirlybird vents (wind driven exhaust vents) or power vents to exhaust the air then you’ll need different calculations at least on the exhaust side.
Posted on 8/7/19 at 12:02 am to BengalBlood81
Current residential code (2015 IRC) states the minimum attic ventilation requirements are 150/1. This means that if you have a 1500 sq. ft. attic then you would need at least 10 sq. ft. of ventilation. This is area, not volume. You should try to have this split evenly between the soffit and ridge. A perforated soffit has about 5 in.² of free area per linear foot. A ridge vent is about 18 in.² per linear foot and a dome “mushroom” vent has about 144 in.² of free area. There are a bunch of different types of vents. You can look online and probably find the free area of whatever particular vents you have. Calculate your free area in square inches then convert to square feet.
From what I’ve seen, most homes don’t have enough attic ventilation. And I’m wary of ventilators. If your ceiling has cracks (attic stair, can lights), the fan will draw conditioned air into the attic. If this happens, your house could have negative pressure and draw in outside air. That’s what I’ve been told and it makes sense.
That’s all I got. Which is more than I ever wanted to know about it.
From what I’ve seen, most homes don’t have enough attic ventilation. And I’m wary of ventilators. If your ceiling has cracks (attic stair, can lights), the fan will draw conditioned air into the attic. If this happens, your house could have negative pressure and draw in outside air. That’s what I’ve been told and it makes sense.
That’s all I got. Which is more than I ever wanted to know about it.
Posted on 8/7/19 at 7:01 am to BengalBlood81
The proper amount of quality turbine do the best at removing heat from the attic. People just done like the look. Ridge vents suck
Posted on 8/7/19 at 9:15 am to BengalBlood81
I have ridge vents on my house. I do not like them.
Wind turbines are used in the new construction and are preferrable.
Wind turbines are used in the new construction and are preferrable.
Posted on 8/8/19 at 6:42 am to BengalBlood81
Yes. I’m looking into an attic fan and encapsulating part of my walk in storage area as well. Probably wait until fall so it’s cooler to work in. I’ve got huge roof pitch (12/12 main, 14/12 gables) so it’s going to be pita but needs to be done.
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