'nuther Bob wrote:

On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 04:37:34 GMT, "George E. Cawthon"
wrote:

What you really need (especially in a cold climate) is
enough venting to get rid of the moisture but not so much
that you have to have an unreasonable amount of insulation.
An attic getting warm from sunshine during a cold day is
much preferable to an attic that stays cold because of
excessive ventilation.

Actually, without considering ridiculous amounts of insulation,
you will have heat escaping into the attic in cold climates. This
heat will warm the attic enough to cause ice dams when outside temps
are down low and the snow cover is insulting the lower levels of
snow. Unless you get ridiculous with the venting, you can't have too
much with this in mind.

Bob

True, so it all depends on the climate. Some places are
cold but with little snow so ice dams don't form. I've seen
icicles on some of our houses that were essentially
continous along the eave and maybe 10 feet long. Thank god
there were no damaging ice dams. But it was a clear
indication that lots of heat was going into the attic,
especially near the eave. The real solution, however, is
more insulation, not more venting.