If you're unfamiliar with the idea of soffits, you probably don't see much reason to control the temperature of your attic. If you look a little deeper, though, you'll find that the airflow of your attic is actually essential to a number of important things in your home.
We're going to talk about why attic soffit vents are so important in this article, giving you some insight into why you should install them and where. Let's get started:
Why Attic Soffit Vents are So Important
We'll break the importance down into a couple of factors. On the one hand, soffits can save you loads of money on electricity bills and improve the comfortability of your home. On the other, they can save you tens of thousands of dollars in roof repairs.
Heat and Electricity Bills
Because heat rises, attics tend to get a lot of warmth from the household below. This is typically not a big deal to people at first because we rarely tend to go in attics. That said, heat in the attic can linger and reverse back into your home and throw your cooling systems out of wack.
This leads to more cooling costs and higher bills. Soffits are vents that allow hot air to exit the attic and provide cool air an opportunity to move through it. That means that the heat which comes up through your house will be swiftly kicked out of your attic.
The transfer of hot air from your attic in the summer also protects your shingles and prevents moisture from building up in your attic and its structure.
Roof Protection
Arguably the most important function of soffits is to control the temperature of an attic in the winter. When the heat from your home moves up and transfers to the attic, it then raises the temperature of the outer layer of the roof.
When snow falls and rests on the roof, that additional heat can melt the snow, forcing it to run down near your gutters and build up. That water then freezes and creates a dam that collects all other water that melts from your attic heat.
Ice dams, when left untended, can build to sizes that are unsustainable for your roof. That means that collapses could happen, or leaks could spring and require extremely high repair costs.
Soffits release the hot air and cool air streams through. There are a number of soffits available to suit different homes and different needs. Older homes may not be equipped with soffits, but newer homes usually are.
It's always a good idea to examine your attic and your roof to see if there are any issues that need to be tended to.
Interested in Finding Out More?
Understanding attic soffit vents and how to install them can be tricky at first. We're here to help move you forward, though.
Explore our site for more information on soffits and what they can do for you.
