Attic ventilation
A Chico attic in August runs 130 to 150 degrees, and that heat cooks the shingles from underneath and the bedrooms from above. Boe Roofing sizes and installs ridge and soffit vents that keep air moving through the attic, and swaps old vents for the ember-resistant kind the fire code asks for.
How an attic breathes
Air comes in low, at the soffit vents under the eave, and leaves high, at the ridge. The code asks for one square foot of vent per 150 square feet of attic, or per 300 with the vents split between high and low, and most older houses here have half that: a few soffit vents painted shut and two turtle vents in the middle of the slope. A continuous ridge vent with open soffits is the simplest system that works, and it has no motor to fail.
The payoff is a cooler house, a drier attic in winter, and shingles that last closer to their rated life. Manufacturers write ventilation into the warranty for a reason.
Vents and embers
In the fire hazard zones, every vent has to be listed as ember resistant or screened with mesh between a sixteenth and an eighth of an inch. The old quarter-inch screen lets embers straight into the attic. We install listed ridge, gable and soffit vents, and the swap can be done on its own if the roof is otherwise fine.
Common questions
Yes. A slot is cut along the ridge, the vent goes on, and new cap shingles cover it. It takes a day. It needs working soffit vents to draw from, so we check those first.
Usually not, if the passive vents are sized right. A powered fan on an attic with too little intake pulls conditioned air out of the house through the ceiling, which costs more than it saves.
Get a bid: attic ventilation
Say what the roof is doing, what kind of roof it is if you know, and which town you are in. We call back to talk it through and set a time to look at it. If water is coming in right now, skip the form and call.