Talk to an Expert (504) 226-7070
Talk to an Expert (504) 226-7070
If you fix one thing on a New Orleans roof, fix the ventilation.
In a dry climate, attic ventilation is about summer heat. Here it is about heat and moisture at the same time, all year. An unventilated attic in this city holds hot, humid air against the underside of the roof deck for months, and that quietly destroys roofs that look perfectly fine from the street.
Condensation on the decking. Warm moist air meets a cooler surface and water forms on the underside of the roof deck. The roof is not leaking. The decking is getting wet anyway, and in this humidity it does not dry.
Rot from underneath. Wet decking rots. By the time it shows inside, the damage is structural rather than cosmetic.
Mold and mildew. A damp, dark, warm attic is close to ideal for it. This is also where the musty smell in upstairs rooms usually comes from.
Shingles cooked from both sides. Sun above, trapped heat below. Shingles age visibly faster over a hot attic, and manufacturers may treat inadequate ventilation as grounds to decline a materials warranty claim.
Higher cooling costs. A superheated attic pushes heat down into the house through the whole New Orleans summer.
When selecting a roof ventilation system, first check your attic for signs of moisture or mold, as these can indicate poor ventilation. Your roof’s type and size matter since different roofs require specific vents for effective airflow. TurnKey Roofer can help you find a system that balances intake and exhaust for optimal ventilation.
Your roof’s design is important in choosing the best ventilation. Steep roofs often benefit from active systems that increase airflow, while flatter roofs generally perform better with passive systems that rely on natural air movement.
Select a ventilation system that fits your climate. In humid areas, choose one that controls moisture to prevent mold. For hot, dry climates, focus on exhaust systems that help reduce indoor temperatures, lowering cooling costs.
Effective ventilation balances temperatures, easing the load on heating and cooling systems. This not only helps prevent issues like ice dams in winter but also lowers energy bills year-round, making your home comfortable.
Ventilation works as a pair. Air comes in low at the eaves and leaves high at the ridge. One without the other does almost nothing, and the most common fault we find here is plenty of exhaust and not enough intake.
Ridge vents with soffit intake. The default recommendation for most sloped New Orleans roofs. Continuous, quiet, no moving parts to fail, and it works with the natural airflow.
Soffit vents. The intake half, and the half that gets forgotten. They also get blocked by insulation pushed too far into the eaves, or painted shut during exterior work. Worth checking on any older home here.
Powered attic fans. They move a lot of air. In a humid climate they can also pull conditioned air out of the house if the intake is inadequate, which raises cooling costs. Fix the intake before adding power.
Turbine vents. Common on older New Orleans homes. They work, and they have moving parts that seize and bearings that fail in salt air. Check them.
Low-slope and flat sections cannot use ridge vents and need a different approach. Anyone quoting ridge vents for a flat roof has not looked at the building.
It is one of the cheapest things to fix and one of the most expensive things to ignore in this climate. We check intake and exhaust, and we go into the attic.
New Orleans, Metairie, Kenner, Slidell, Covington, Mandeville, Gretna, Harahan, LaPlace, River Ridge, St. Rose, Madisonville, Hammond and Baton Rouge. Louisiana Residential License #890459. Commercial License #3667.
Call (504) 226-7070.
Because the air is humid year round. Trapped humid air condenses on the roof deck and rots it from underneath, with no leak involved at all.
A very hot attic, a musty smell upstairs, visible dampness or staining on the underside of the decking, or shingles that are ageing faster than they should.
It reduces attic heat, which reduces the load on your air conditioning through a long New Orleans summer. It also extends the life of the roof, which is usually the bigger saving.
There are standard ratios based on attic floor area, and your roofer should calculate it rather than estimate. What matters as much as the total is the balance: roughly half the ventilation as intake at the eaves, half as exhaust at the ridge.
No. The instinct is understandable and it causes damage. Ventilation is managing moisture year round in this climate, not just summer heat. Closing vents in winter traps humid air against a cooler roof deck, which is when condensation is worst.
By Admin 
Nov 3, 2024 
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