Andrew Barss wrote:
I'm looking for advice and ideas for improving energy efficiency in my house,
especially heat from the roof and attic.

I own an older house in Tucson, and we are trying to do what we can to
decrease our electricity (mostly air conditioning) bills. The house has
a peaked roof, with a low attic that has minimal access. The attic has some
blown-in loose insulation between the ceiling joists, and nothing on the
underside of the roof itself (and putting anything there is essentially
impossible). We have some degree of venting -- there are small
vents on the two end walls near the peak, and two passive vents (rotary
type) on the roof, about four feet down from the peak.

I've heard various things, some conflicting, about how to better
the situation:

a) blow in a lot more insulation.
b) increase airflow using soffet vents (aka birdboard).
c) do both
d) do both, but with some sort of a channel up from the soffet
vents to above the insulation.

e) tear the roof off, put a lot of money into a high-tech roof
treatment. The curent roof is light-colored shingles,
and in quite good condition.


Anyone living in the Southwest have advice on what the best move is?


Thanks,

Andy Barss

For energy efficiency I would recommend more insulation above the
ceiling rafters.

Roof venting will lower the temperature in the attic crawl space but the
main advantage of proper roof venting is that it extends the life of the
roof. If you do vent the roof at the ridge you should also add soffit
venting at least equal in area to that of the ridge vent for proper air
flow. See:

http://www.roofhelp.com/ventilation_main.htm

http://www.cor-a-vent.com/pdf/balancedventilation.pdf

and

http://www.energysavers.gov/your_hom.../mytopic=11390

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA