Attic insulation can seem like a tiny consideration when compared to other more major home improvement costs such as replacing all the shingles on your roof. Did you know that roof insulation is an important component, like attic ventilation, to ensure that your roof functions and lasts for years exactly the way it should?
Still, in the year 2016, so many home owners only look at their home's insulation when a problem happens or when a home inspector informs of an urgent "issue" that needs to be addressed.
The fantastic news is this: It does much more than just "insulate" your attic. It provides a constant environment that allows your attic ventilation to work at its highest potential. Without proper ventilation, your attic insulation will suffer in a major way.
Every attic needs to be free of trapped heat and moisture. Proper attic ventilation goes a long way but the attic insulation makes all the difference. A constant free flow of fresh air moving from the bottom and out the top of your attic is the absolute key to promoting the effectiveness of your home's roof insulation. Without sound ventilation the insulation will become damp and lose most of its insulating properties.
This air moving from bottom to top through your attic can work to the fullest by implementing 50% soffit and 50% ridge ventilation. In other words, 50 percent INTAKE and 50 percent EXHAUST.
This even ratio of air flow will optimize the condition of your attic and help the roof insulation do its job to the max. We're talking moisture and heat levels. The roof insulation helps to keep the attic safe from intruding elements. What are these elements?
Let's start with kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry rooms.
I saw a freakish situation a few years ago. While inspecting an attic, I noticed that the vent from the cloths dryer was vented in to the attic. A constant stream of hot moist air being blown in to the attic and seriously damaging the attic insulation. To make matters worse, the roof ventilation was almost non-existent. It was no wonder that my client's house was beginning to rot.
The roof deck was buckling, the attic insulation was literal soaked, the shingles were deteriorating 10 years before their time – the list of damage went on and on. My client originally phoned me because of an "offensive odor". Yes, it was a REALLY offensive odor because of the accumulation of dampness over the years collecting and manifesting in the attic.
I could easily detail a list of 20 specific damage points through their house simply because of the moisture trapped in their attic and how this destroyed the insulation. Moisture finding its way in to the attic, whether from shower steam, cooking moisture on the stove, laundry dryers, the damage is insane. And it ALWAYS affects the roof insulation.
Is it worth the cost to protect yourself and your house from these damaging effects to your roof insulation? In my opinion, I must shout out YES !!!!
