Many people only view their attics as a place where they store a lot of holiday decorations and old things that have no other place in the house. But attics have a higher purpose and are engineered to help your home with its ventilation and airflow. They provide an extra level of insulation that can keep heat in or cold out, depending on your preference and the current season. Here is a list of reasons why proper attic ventilation is important.
Keeps the Mold and Moisture Away From Your Home
If your attic is functioning properly, you’ll notice that your home stays comfortable year-round. This is because the purpose behind an attic isn’t to let it collect dust or to fill it full of junk. It’s a space that’s designed to help regulate the rest of your home from heat and cold in response to the time of year. It also helps keep moisture moving outside the home.
Improves Energy Efficiency
When your home is well-ventilated, the excess heat that is normally trapped in high places can exit naturally, as it needs to. This will help regulate the home’s temperatures to a moderate level that rarely fluctuates. Keeping your vents and ducts clean and debris-free is essential to maintaining a functioning attic.
Improves the Lifespan of Your Roof
If your attic is doing its job, you won’t have excess heat building up on your roof. Most of the time, if a homeowner has a non-functioning attic, they may only know it once they notice their energy bills going up during the hotter summer months, which doesn’t align with what they had anticipated. When you have less heat building up in your attic, you’ll have a roof that lasts much longer. The wood won’t warp, and the shingles will rarely fall off, making for a roof with maximum longevity.
Prevents Ice Dams From Occurring
If your attic is well-ventilated, you’ll even notice that your home won’t develop ice dams during winter storms, whereas other homes and buildings will. If your home isn’t ventilating as it should, the attic will consistently remain warm, allowing snow and ice on the roof to melt, forming ice dams on the edge of your roof. The attic is a common place for air leaks in your home, so you may need to have your home tested for these issues if you notice that ice dams are a common occurrence.
It's easy to see why proper attic ventilation is important within the home. Without it, you would be up to your neck in problems of all kinds.
