I have a house in Albuquerque, built about 1981. It has what is probably the bare minimum attic ventilation to meet code and I'm trying to figure out how to improve the ventilation so that we extend the life of the roof, make the house more comfortable, and reduce our cooling bills.
The house is a U-shaped ranch, with a pitched, shingled roof. There is a main ridge running from side to side, with two shorter ridges running out the legs of the U. There are gable vents on each of the two ends of the house but not on the gables on the legs of the U so the attic space in the legs is fairly stagnant. One of the gable vents was converted to a thermostatically controlled fan by a previous owner. There are 11 soffit vents around the perimeter.
The rooms in the legs of the U get too warm, I suspect because they get insufficient attic ventilation. I've read a ton of material on the web and concluded that I would improve matters greatly by increasing the soffit vent area by about 3X, installing ridge vents along all 3 ridges, and boarding up the gable vents. However, when I started calling around, I was told that ridge vents are no good because you can't seal them up in the winter! "Gotta keep that attic sealed up tight so you don't lose heat" was the message, along with offers to supply gable vents, powered fans, and wind turbines, all of which can be covered easier than ridge vents.
So, are the contractors I spoke to ignorant, or does the dry climate of Albuquerque change things and we really do need attic ventilation that we can shut off in the winter?
Thanks for any insight.
Rick
The house is a U-shaped ranch, with a pitched, shingled roof. There is a main ridge running from side to side, with two shorter ridges running out the legs of the U. There are gable vents on each of the two ends of the house but not on the gables on the legs of the U so the attic space in the legs is fairly stagnant. One of the gable vents was converted to a thermostatically controlled fan by a previous owner. There are 11 soffit vents around the perimeter.
The rooms in the legs of the U get too warm, I suspect because they get insufficient attic ventilation. I've read a ton of material on the web and concluded that I would improve matters greatly by increasing the soffit vent area by about 3X, installing ridge vents along all 3 ridges, and boarding up the gable vents. However, when I started calling around, I was told that ridge vents are no good because you can't seal them up in the winter! "Gotta keep that attic sealed up tight so you don't lose heat" was the message, along with offers to supply gable vents, powered fans, and wind turbines, all of which can be covered easier than ridge vents.
So, are the contractors I spoke to ignorant, or does the dry climate of Albuquerque change things and we really do need attic ventilation that we can shut off in the winter?
Thanks for any insight.
Rick