In this video I'm going to talk about the #1 attic ventilation problem that most people
don't even know they have.
At AtticFoil.com we help customers every day with questions about installing radiant barrier
foil and fixing attic ventilation problems.
People call and they want to know why is my attic so hot and what can I do to fix it?
So we start asking them questions to get more information and we commonly ask, "When was
the last time you cleaned your soffit vents?"
Usually there is one of two answers: I've never cleaned my soffit vents OR what is a
soffit vent?
Attic ventilation is really pretty simple.
You've got holes in the top of the attic and holes in the bottom of the attic.
Air comes IN the bottom of the attic and it travels through the attic and OUT the top,
and it heats up as it goes along.
It's actually a cooling mechanism; heat is being extracted off the roof and that's why
the air gets hot.
If you've got clogged or dirty soffit vents, no air can come into the attic!
You've got to have a method of cleaning those soffit vents to allow the attic to breathe
and for the air to go through the attic.
Now, why do we want attic ventilation?
In the summer we want to take out heat and in the winter we want to take out moisture.
The way air comes in to an attic is through the soffit vents.
Now the soffit vents are usually rectangular vents in the eaves of the attic/roof that
have louvers with a wire mesh behind them.
The louvers usually face the wall, so just by looking at them from down below (outside),
sometimes you can't tell that they are dirty.
You've got to get up and look in the louvers; it's a lot like the lint trap on a dryer:
eventually stuff will get in to the mesh behind the vent and completely clog the soffit vent.
Once you clean them, you'll have amazing results.
I've seen many times where you clean the soffit vents and within 15-20 minutes, the air temperature
in the attic drops by 15-20 degrees and the wind turbines that people thought were broken,
now they are spinning like the day that they installed them.
Soffit vents get dirty or clogged for several reasons.
One, stuff floating by and especially on older homes they get painted over two or three times,
they get clogged with paint, there is a lot of different things that can cause a soffit
vent to be clogged.
Now the way to clean these is really simple.
You want to get a nylon brush, kinda like the brush you use to clean the tires on a
car, and just brush it really good, side to side and tap it a few times and you'll see
all the "stuff" fall down and then come through with a leaf blower, stick the nozzle up under
the louvers, put that leaf blower on and blow from the bottom.
It'll kick off anything that's in the attic sitting on the wire mesh, whether it be attic
insulation or construction debris, it'll kick it to the side and allow air to go through
the soffit.
Now, you never want to use water, you don't want to spray water into your attic and an
air compressor really won't do a lot to clean them.
Once you brush it real good and you blow it with a leaf blower it should clear it up pretty
open.
Here is another issue on soffit vents most people don't know about, especially on new
construction: you may have a brand new soffit vent, like this one pictured here, but if
you look closely, where the little red box is, that's the actual hole behind the soffit
vent!
Here is a picture with the vent pulled down (a similar vent) and you can see how the hole
is just small.
What you've gotta do is pull the vent cover down, cut a new hole and put up a new vent.
Here's an example of the extreme where all they did was take a hammer and just bang a
couple of holes in the bottom of this vent and that's an 8"x16" soffit vent and the hole
is probably the size of the palm of your hand.
No air is going to get through that soffit vent!
Attic ventilation is important, but if you're really trying to make your attic more comfortable
and drop the temperature in your home to make it more efficient, you want to install a radiant
barrier.
The description is kinda like a car: if you park it in the sun, it's gonna be hot; if
you crack the windows, it's gonna help some, but really if you want to make a big impact,
you want to park that car in the shade.
Attic ventilation is kinda like cracking the windows in a car parked in the sun, and parking
a car under a tree (or in the shade) is like radiant barrier.
A radiant barrier will make a far bigger impact than ANY ventilation can.
So by stapling up the radiant barrier, the roof gets hot and normally that heat radiates
across the attic - you can have great ventilation and the attic air temperature may be close
to ambient temperature, but the top surface temperature of the insulation still may be
120 to 130 degrees.
When you put a radiant barrier in, you block that path, you reflect the heat back and you
keep the attic contents cooler and more comfortable.
Consider installing a radiant barrier along with good ventilation and your home will be
more comfortable and energy efficient.
For more information, visit AtticFoil.com.
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