Cold Climate Attic Venting

Use rigid metal ducting aluminum or galvanized steel with lengthwise seams facing up and joints sealed with foil tape or duct mastic or rigid plastic pipe.

Cold climate attic venting.

Unventing roof assemblies in most cold climates decreases the heating load by about 10. Our field measurements and computer modeling show that without attic venting the temperature of the underside of the roof sheathing increases by 10 f 20 f. In cold climates attic ventilation is necessary for maintaining a warmer roof temperature which is essential for venting condensation and preventing ice dams. If you vent through a soffit where attic vents are often located the moisture will get sucked back up into the attic or roof venting.

In cold climates this is an advantage. In hot climates ventilation is just as important for the opposite reason. Ventilation is all about temperature control and consistency. A whole house fan is a fan that exhausts air from the home into the attic and out the attic vents.