You likely don’t think about it too often, but your roof and attic are critically important elements in ensuring that you stay comfortable in your home. Sure, your AC unit or heater can blast air around your house to keep you cool or toasty, but that system is only as good as the materials around it. That’s why it’s so important to have quality materials and the right hardware for your specific environment in your attic and on your roof.
Let’s take a look at a few things that can help your HVAC system and keep some cash in your wallet.
Airflow
Your house breathes in the same way that you do. As higher pressure builds outside, it moves into your home; the opposite is true if there’s lower pressure outside, like in the cold weather. The air tends to move out from your home. As these pressures change air must be allowed to move through your home. Most homeowners think that they want their home buttoned up tight and sealed – while this is true for water, it’s exactly the opposite of what you want for air. It’s important that your home, to a certain extent, can release and exchange air with the outside.
The Roof
It goes without saying, but if your roof is falling apart, your HVAC system is suffering because of it. A cracked or broken roof can cause air to escape through it. You do want some airflow, but not at the expense of efficiency.
The Attic
The attic is one of the most important areas of your home in regards to your HVAC system. Take a hot summer’s day as example. Your AC is pumping away, but you do not have anything in your attic to move around that hot air. Your house is essentially wearing a big wool hat!
Your attic needs to have either eves or an attic fan, or better yet, both! Eves allow hot air to escape through specially designed openings in your roof. An attic fan pushes the area through the space and outside. They can be automatically set to kick on at a certain temperature and are essential to ensuring that your home HVAC is operating as well as it could be.
The Crawlspace
Not quite as important as the attic, but still important. If you’ve got stale air sitting down there that never moves, you’ll end up with mold and moisture. Make sure your home has vents or grates that allow air to exchange from under your home to outside.
Your local HVAC professional can come to your home and help you decide which systems you need and do not in your specific environment. Best of all, installing or repairing attic fans are fairly inexpensive!
