Roof Ventilation Montreal
Home & Business Ventilation System Services In Montreal
Proper ventilation helps to regulate the temperature in your home. This will keep your home cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter, prevent condensation, frost, mold and damming. All while reducing your heating and cooling costs.
At Belgrave Roofing , we can help improve your homes roof ventilation system in Montreal or surrounding areas. We can suggest and supply the best system and vent configuration to improve your roof’s ventilation.
The Process
Trapped heat and moisture can raise energy costs, cause ice dams, and damage roof system components as well as structural and personal items located inside the attic where temperatures can easily reach 65°C. Condensation is often caused by the use of washing machines, dishwashers, bath tubs, showers, exhaust fans and tumble dryers that are not properly ventilated through the roof. In some cases, the condensation can be bad enough to be mistaken for a roof leak.
There are many types of attic vents available today. There are static vents, power vents, ridge vents, turbine vents, soffit/cornice vents and gable vents. These all come in a wide variety of sizes, styles and shapes. Some will ventilate better than others depending on the roof configuration, attic size, climate, etc. Each unique roof must be verified prior to offering ventilation repairs or corrections.
When visually inspecting a roof and/or providing estimates, we can only see so much. During warmer months, condensation problems may not be evident on the exterior or interior of the roof structure. It is important to let your roofing specialist know about any reoccurring condensation problems or ice dams that have occurred in the past. It must be remembered that a roof membrane itself is not the cause of condensation. The roof is the envelope being affected and not the origin of the problem.
Ventilation Versus Insulation
It is unfortunate however when researching condensation or ice damming issues, people general fall into the insulation or lack thereof category. While insulation is important, the majority of these issues are directly related to or caused by improper amounts or placement of your ventilation. Over 90% of the time we can rectify your ventilation problems, condensation and ice damming with vent corrections. Insulation companies will always try and push insulation on you which in most cases offers no improvement and often worsens the situation.
If you require dependable roof ventilation services in Montreal, please get in touch with us.
Here are some problems associated with ventilation in Montreal (in homes and businesses)
- Sumps between rafters (deck deflection) can happen because after a few years, a plywood roof deck can warp or deteriorate and become spongy and dangerous to walk on. This occurs because one side of plywood decking needs be able to “breathe” by being exposed to circulating air. The adhesives used in the plywood can deteriorate or dry rot can occur because of condensation.
- Water vapour will condense first on anything metal inside the attic; this will eventually cause the metal to rust. Heads can rust off nails, metal plumbing straps or straps holding HVAC ducting can rust in two, causing the ducting to crash down on top of the ceiling joists or through a suspended ceiling.
- In colder climates, generally where the average January temperature is 0°C or colder, high inside humidity (40% or greater) combined with low outside temperatures can cause frost to form on the bottom of the roof deck resulting in eventual dry rot and mold.
- Insulation can trap moisture which will reduce the R-value of the insulation and create a nice environment for the propagation of mould, spores and fungi, which will also cause problems.
- Mildew is damaging and can cause health problems.
- The roof system itself will deteriorate prematurely.
- Ice dams will form.
