Remove Any Roof Heat Sources From Your Attic

When it s summer in florida that means one thing.

Remove any roof heat sources from your attic.

And the extra heat is not just a summer concern come winter hot attic air can melt snow on the roof during the day only to refreeze when temperatures drop overnight creating ice dams that lead. A radiant barrier is an aluminum foil material which prevents 95 percent of the heat that radiates from your roof from reaching the insulation on your attic floor. It s hot and all that heat is seeping through your roof and into your attic or crawlspace. Radiant barriers are fine but why not just stop the heat on the side of the roof where it first enters.

Install electric ventilators and attic fans which remove hot air from an attic. Install a radiant barrier between your roof and your attic insulation. For hot climates where most of the radiant heat hitting the attic comes from sunlight radiant barriers should be draped from the attic ceiling or installed between the roof beams. Powered attic ventilators are the worst way to try to keep your attic cool.

Ridge vents are a small opening in the ridge of the roof and a soffit vent is a small vent installed under the roof eaves. In cold climates the best radiant barriers are installed on the floor of the attic so that they can redirect radiant heat from the home back into your living spaces. Proper ventilation reduces heat build up caused by solar radiation from the sun. This increases the burden on your air conditioner making it work harder and making it more expensive to keep your house cool fortunately there are a number of steps you can take to reduce attic heat and lower your power bills at the same time.

It comes in a roll and is stapled to the underside of your roof rafters or as a metallic paint. But still the heat is already in the roof. Most roofs have shingles that are made of asphalt with ceramic granules to help repel the sun s damaging uv rays but asphalt absorbs a lot of heat and this heat will transfer into your attic through the shingles the roof deck and into the attic space. They have thermostats that turn the fan on at a recommended preset temperature of 100 110 degrees.

Alternatively install passive vents such as gable soffit and ridge vents which are openings in the roof that allow hot air to escape. Attic venting fans attic fans serve a different function removing the hot and moist air from the attic and leaving the space below the attic floor alone. A radiant barrier can help by reducing the amount of that heat that radiates downward.