On 6 Jun 2006 07:10:41 -0700, "
wrote:

I have a colonial house in the Boston area. After some measurements, my
attic temperature can be 40F higher than the outside temperature on a
warm day. This is in spite of ridge and soffit vents. There is 10-12"
of attic floor insulation and an air handler for the A/C in the attic.

I have questioned if I have enough venting area. My attic is about 1500
sq. feet, I believe I should have a total of 1500 sq inches of venting
(750sq in. for soffits and 750sq in. for ridge). According to my
calculations, I have about 900 sq inches of ridge vent and 1200+ sq
inches of holes for the soffit vents (many 7/64" holes in the vinyl
soffit). BTW, the attic volume is about 5300 cu. ft. in a ~ 5 pitch
roof.

The soffits appear to be clear (I can see daylight in the attic near
the soffits), but it still gets very hot. Also, in the winter the
hunidity is very high in the attic.

So, I am told it is a bad thing to install a gable vent when you have a
ridge vent.

Some suggestions I have had:
1) One contractor suggested stapling heavy aluminum foil across the
rafters to within 18" of the soffits and ridge to create a channel for
the rising air.
2) Install a solar powered roof fan near the center of the ridge (down
12-18")

Is there any way to measure the draft (maybe smoke, etc)? Has anyone
had this problems?
Any comments?
thanks, Jack


Good questions, I have a ridge/soffit vent system, and measured the
hotest temp in my attic at the attic door level. 140F on a 90+ degree
day. Hot.

Before I tackled taking on a new diy project, I had to find out was it
really a problem. I found high attic temps only do two bad things,
cost more cooling, and prematurely wear roof shingles. I previously
added R-30 on top of blown in orginal R-30 insulation(it compressed so
might have been only R-20). I found with a R-50-R60, not much heat is
being transfered into the house, but I was concerned about the
roofing.

I talked to a contractor, and found I did anything other than improve
the natural circ, I would have to block the ridge vents. If I put in
gabled end fans, I could draw cool air in and out through the vents,
dead airing the hot space. Also, increase my electric costs, and add
a new project intial costs. I was told that my high temps in
Pennsylvania was nothing compared to Florida, and shingle last there
too, so stop worrying, and start another DIY project.

So, I sound out that in the priorities of things, if you attic is
insulated and the ventulation isn't blocked, there are other places to
spend your money.

Good luck,

tom @ www.MedJobSite.com