Cape Cod House Attic Ventilation

Old school roof vents which look like rectangles on the roof work pretty well too.

Cape cod house attic ventilation.

Outside air needs to be able to come in through the soffit vents and travel along the underside of the roof sheathing so there can t be blockages up to and out the ridge vent. Every attic is different but a few established norms and practices will guide your renovation. When you allow the air from the outside to enter your attic you need to make sure that the cold or hot air which gets generated by your house exits the attic. Ventilating knee wall attics is challenging.

The existing attic insulation is left in place when a cool vent roofing system is installed. They are vented by small vents down low used as intake vents 2 on east end of house and 2 on west end of house and a couple of rectangle vents up close to the peak used as exhaust vents. Special venting or packed hot roof problems for cape cod roofs. Venting prolongs the life of the roof.

Intake vents located at the lowest part of the roof under the eaves allow cool. Account for codes and safety photo by casey dunn. Roofers use a circular saw to cut a long slot along the roof ridge if there isn t one then cover it with a plastic flap as shown or a flexible vinyl matrix. Whether you envision your house s top floor as an away from it all master suite a quiet home office or a hangout spot for the kids read these 14 tips to help you finish your attic remodel.

It s good that you have an air barrier on the attic side of the knee walls over the insulation. The best way is to use ridge vent on the peak ridge of your roof. How to heat cool a cape cod style house 1. While the house should be tight the attic should breathe to allow excess heat and moisture out of the house.

Attic ventilation works on the principle that heated air naturally rises primarily utilizing two types of vents. Openings along the sides allow air out of the attic cooling the space and lowering your air conditioning bill. The slopes are vented by the air gap between insulation and roof sheathing. Usually the issue with cape cod style homes lies in the fact that warm air gets caught in the corners of low ceilings.

What we do we create 1 opening on both sides of the ridge cutting the roof boards plywood on the very peak. The cool vent nailbase system is installed over the old roof deck after the shingles are removed. Check our ventilation page for more info. The thickness of the polyiso foam is customized on each project and can increase the existing r value from anywhere between r 6 to r 25.

Cape cod roofs present a special problem in that in the usual cape design there is a lower attic knee wall enclosing what amounts to a low attic followed by the equivalent of a cathedral ceiling over the middle section of the roof often penetrated by dormers when the second floor of the cape cod is designed to be occupied followed again by an attic design for the upper third of the roof.