“Why in the world do you need to look inside my attic before you install my roof? None of the other roofing contractors did that.”
We get this a lot. And our response is always, “They didn’t!?”
An attic inspection is one of the most important steps prior to re-roofing. We need to understand the health of your home and the state of your ventilation before building your roof. Poor ventilation could lead to premature roof failure, as well as many other issues along the way.
Bathroom vent going into the attic and not outside!
Bathroom Ventilation
You flip on your bathroom fan and assume it’s taking all that moist, warm air out of your bathroom and sending it outside. Time and time again, we get into the attic and find a pipe from the bathroom that doesn’t make it to the roof. It goes maybe two or four inches from the roof deck and vents the shower steam right into your attic. You don’t want that.
The other thing we see is a huge, steep attic that has a bathroom fan connected to a vent by a forty-foot line. There’s no way that little bathroom fan is blowing the air that far. It’s not strong enough.
Kitchen Ventilation
Most of us have a vent over our oven. It is designed to get heat, moisture, and grease out of our homes. When you turn that fan on, it’s supposed to go outside. Recently, I was in a home that had a pipe that came out of the roof deck and didn’t go anywhere. All that cooking grease, for years and years, was going into the attic and insulation. It was nasty. And, more importantly, it was a fire hazard.
Why do we need to look inside your attic? The health of your roof and home depends on it. Most roofers who tear a roof off and install another without an attic inspection don’t address any of these issues, because they never know about them in the first place.
Before you schedule a re-roof you must make sure your roofing contractor understands the importance of healthy ventilation. Stay tuned for Part Two of my re-roofing series.