The Roof Vent Project
The Start ….
The objective of this project is to find out if adding one or more roof vents to our house will reduce the extent to which the house heats up in summer. If I find that a roof vent is likely to be useful, then I will review what is available and proceed to have the most appropriate one installed.
The is not doubt that the roof space in our house gets very, very hot in summer. As a result of the government program some years ago, to install insulation above people’s ceilings in their roof spaces, we know that people can die from being in a roof space during hot weather.
I have one friend with a tin roof who is delighted with the difference roof vents have made to the inside of her house in summer. I don’t know if she has ceiling insulation as well, but if she doesn’t then it is not surprising that the vent made a difference. I must find out. I have another friend who has a solar-powered roof vent on her cement tiled roof. She definitely has ceiling insulation. She is not certain that the roof vent makes much difference. I have another friend who was given a couple of second-hand roof vents which he is considering installing on his tin roof. He is not sure if it will be worth the effort as he has to refurbish the vents before installing and with the amount of ceiling insulation he has, then the house is pretty cool in summer anyway.
On a recent trip to northern Australia, I noticed that most houses have roof vents.
The questions I have about roof vents, other than the one above posed by my handyman friend, are:
- what happens in winter when we need all the insulating warmth we can get?
- why are some vents installed at a strange angle to the roof line?
- what are the benefits of solar-powered roof vents?
- how do I work out how much benefit I will get?
To Be Continued ….