Why you should talk to an insulation professional when considering a new roof.

When the time comes to consider getting a new roof, one person to engage in the process should be your local insulation professional. This could be an opportune time to add ventilation to help control the temperature of your attic as well as avoid making modifications with deleterious effects on your attic’s ventilation.

An experienced insulation professional can help determine if the current ventilation should be enhanced or not, which can be easily done during your roof renovations. Roof vents should be adequate in number and position to allow proper air flow out of your attic. All too often, they are either placed too low on the roof line, inadequate in number or improperly distributed on the roof area.

Many homes were built with gable vents and the traditional turbine vents.

If this is true for your home, your roofer might recommend changing to a soffit/ridge vent system. The premise is that this system delivers cooler air from under your eaves and moves it up your attic space to the roof’s ridge, which should keep your attic cooler and enhance the ventilation in that space. An insulator’s opinion on that is yes… and no.

If you did not initially have soffit vents - even if you already had turbine vents on your roof deck - your insulation may be packed all the way up to the edge of the soffits in your attic. For a soffit/ridge vent system to work, baffles MUST be installed at the soffits inside your attic to allow air to pass up the roof deck to the venting on the roof’s ridge. If this is not done, the insulation will not allow air to pass and the soffit and ridge vent system will not perform as intended. You can retrofit this in your attic, but this step is all too often overlooked. If it is overlooked, your attic gets hotter and your energy bills go up in the warmer months.

Thermal Pro Insulators, LLC recommends consulting with a local insulation professional for guidance on a re-roofing project regarding any impacts it may have on your attic’s insulation. They should be able to discuss plans with your roofer and possibly enhance or maintain your attic’s ventilation performance in the process.