Why ventilate roof space

WindMaster DTC. EcoFan powered by Air iQ. Sewer Vent. Vehicle Vent. Ventilation solutions for your roof space. Roof ventilation is an easy and cost effective way to reduce temperature build up and the impact of moisture in your roof space. Airomatic A powerful, mechanically driven ventilator that continuously and reliably improves the comfort and health of your home all year round. Turbobeam A wind powered ventilator with a clear acrylic head designed to both exhaust heat and moisture, and provide natural light to the roof space and storage areas.

General Purpose Vent A compact, impact resistant, wind driven ventilator for a range of vehicles such as vans, trailers, caravans and boats. TurboVentura A roof mounted, wind driven turbine ventilator, ideal for ventilating small areas where the removal of moisture laden air is required.

Roof Valve A low profile static roof ventilator that allows nominal ventilation of hot or moist air from the roof space, without the need of wind or power assistance.

Whirlymate Ceiling Grille Controllable ventilation of the air within living areas. We have answers. Contact us. Free quote. Solar Star combines value, functionality and innovation to create a product that simply does its job better and more efficiently than anything else out there.

But, why do you need mechanical roof ventilation? These days, roof cavities are built to minimise the infiltration of air from the house below and provide plenty of insulation at roof cavity level. The humid air comes up through the roof hatch, through the pot lights and through electrical and mechanical penetrations.

Once the air gets past the insulation during the winter, it is in a colder environment. It will rise up to the roof structure and condense into liquid water, eventually rotting the timber if the underside of the roof stays damp. In addition, if the condensation drips onto the roof insulation, that will greatly reduce its effectiveness; wet insulation is close to useless. Roof vents allow the warm, moist air from the living areas to escape from your roof cavity rather than condensing and causing problems.

In the summer, ventilation will keep your roof cavity from getting too hot. A cooler roof cavity, where hot air can escape to the exterior, will reduce the need for air conditioning in the house and save you money on energy.

When you have a metal roof or a dark coloured roof, the roof cavity is especially likely to absorb heat and radiate it into the rest of the house. Ideally, heat loss from your roof is not a problem. So we insulate the walls and loft and reduce the draughts through the fabric of our home by fitting modern windows and doors etc. These measures may be great for reducing the running costs of our house and helping it stay warmer for longer.

However all this extra insulation means the loft area above the insulation is now cooler as the heat is trapped in the rooms below. Plus we typically just roll out insulation in our lofts without fitting a vapour barrier , sealing around wires for lights and our roof hatches are often ill-fitting. These small gaps will allow water vapour to get up into your freshly insulated loft area, where it can come into contact with lots of cold surfaces. Any water vapour that does get into your loft is now at greater risk of condensing on the underside of your roof cover or any other cold surfaces it comes into contact with.

To reduce the chances of condensation you need to increase the ventilation in your loft to try and get rid of any water vapour that may be present, before it manages to condense.

Loft ventilation comes in many forms but the most common in the UK and Ireland are eaves vents and tile vents. The main types as as follows:. So make sure you fit vents to opposite sides to make sure that the wind draught has an entrance point and a separate exit point.

If you live in a modern house and can't see any evidence of ventilation don't panic, it's there Building Control insists it's installed but you may not be able to see it, as it's likely hidden behind your gutters. But before you go down the route of providing more ventilation check to see if you just need to uncover existing ventilation that has been covered when your insulation was added. Go outside an look up at the underside of your eaves.

If they installed eaves vents, and I appreciate this sounds silly, but make sure they actually fitted the vents correctly. Try to establish where the water vapour is coming from and if you can stop it from getting into the loft great.

Existing or Older Properties.