Power vents and turbines are not a good idea in northern climate attics. (search keyword "attic" for the title " CONFUSION: POWER ATTIC VENTILATORS ARE NOT RECOMMENDED FOR WINTER USE. WHY?")That leaves gravity vents, vents that allow warm air in the attic to rise and escape out the top of t...
The main reason for not recommending power vents in the attic is that the attic is usually not well sealed, and the power vent, in sucking air out of the attic, creates a negative pressure in the attic. This negative pressure sucks warm air and humidity through the ceiling leaks into the att...
Yes. The attic absorbs a great deal of heat from the sun during the summer and becomes much hotter than the rest of the house. The better your attic is insulated, the less this heat build-up will affect the temperature of the house. Venting the attic replaces this heated attic air with air...
Frost in the attic is no different than anywhere else. It is caused by warm moist air coming into contact with cold surfaces and dropping its moisture. The problem in attics is primarily one of quantity; in one house frost accumulations of up to fifteen hundred pounds were discovered one co...
Air leaks account for the greatest loss of heating dollars from Canadian homes. These are easily solved by sealing. The greatest conductive heat losses occur through the basement. Canadian basements typically lose more heat than ceilings because attics usually have a little insulation (eve...
Blocking the eve vents with the insulation is one of the most common causes of moisture problems in attics. The insulation should extend over the top of the outer wall and stop short of the vents, not touching the roof in such a way as to block air passages from the vents into the attic.Batt...
Any insulation will work in an attic.It is easy to insulate an open attic, so expensive specialized insulations are not necessary -- anyway, it is supposed to be dry up there. My preference is loose-fill cellulose to the top of the joists (if your ceiling is sturdy enough to hold the weight) ...
One of our viewers asks the question for a friend of hers, how do you get squirrels out of the attic?First you must prepare to keep them out, even if they are already well nested in your warm comfortable attic. That means installing solid screen mesh over every possible entry -- some of the mo...
Rick is complaining that the attic he lives in is too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer.It is hard to get good insulation, and proper roof space ventilation, when you are trying to keep as much space as possible available for a living space under the roof. The key is to insulate heavi...
There are many things to consider when installing a bathroom fan, but when we went to install one in a viewer's home, we were stopped short when we discovered that the old one had no duct at all attached to it. It just shot right into the attic. You must get that hot moist air beyond the at...
