Are you looking to design your attic ventilation? If so, you then know how challenging this process is, and doing it incorrectly leads to the growth of mold in the attic. Therefore, in this article, you will be taken through some of the common causes of mold in the attic, the causes of bad ventilation, and how to achieve proper ventilation.
What Causes Attic Mold?
Lack of proper ventilation is among the most common reasons for attic mold. If your attic lacks enough circulation of air, moisture will start to accumulate, and this continued buildup creates a dark and damp environment that facilitates the growth of mold. Furthermore, this issue is further worsened by the lack of appropriate ventilation. Therefore, if your dryer vent, bathroom vent, and other vents lapse into your attic, this means it is often filled with moist air each time you take a shower or use a dryer.
The Top Causes Of Attic Mold Include;
- Leaking of the roof
- Open plumbing vents
- Uninsulated air ducts
- Insufficient air ventilation
- Incorrect insulation of attic floor, ceiling penetration, access panels, or skylights
- Poorly installed water heaters or furnaces
- Bathrooms and vented appliances that are poorly vented
How To Achieve Proper Attic Ventilation?
Appropriate Insulation Installation: With proper insulation in place, you prevent the flow of warmer air into the cooler attic, thereby causing the accumulation of moisture and, subsequently, condensation. Therefore, you inspect whether there is proper insulation on the;
- Surrounding heat ducts
- Around the skylight chases
- Surrounding and on the access panel
- In the empty wall spaces between other parts of your house and the attic
- Either between the attic floor and the ceiling’s living quarter or on the attic floor
Correct Roof Installation
It would be best if you inspected for areas where the roof is leaking as this is another reason for the accumulation of moisture in the attic, thereby resulting in lousy ventilation. To do this, you should examine whether there is water damage on the attic’s ceiling. Likewise, check other related areas for the presence of shingles or any other similar issue that could comprise the ventilation.
Proper Installation Of Appliances
If you have installed a water heater or furnace in the attic, it needs to be placed separately from the open attic. You can also put in place extra measures in that region that insist all vent pipes from water heaters or furnaces entering the attic need to be double-wall pipes. Moreover, go over the code requirements to make sure the water heater or furnace has been correctly installed as well as to prevent condensation.
Proper Ventilation
Properly venting the attic ventilation is often a challenging task, and it entails two processes. The first is the air entering through the circular soffit vents that incorporate a wire mesh referred to as “bird blocks.” Moreover, there are other popular soffit vent styles, including perforated lots or panels below the soffit. Consequently, the air is then sucked via these soffits and through the suction rather than flowing on its own.
With the air now inside the soffits, it keeps moving below the roof sheathing, and as it does this, misery gets drawn from it. Thanks to this, condensation is prevented, meaning that the growth of mold in your attic is thwarted. Once the airflow reaches the top, it exits via the ridge vents or upper roof.
Each vent and appliance must have a dedicated port through which hot air is transported outside. Likewise, it is recommended that you occasionally clean the dryer vents to easily access the pipes inside and get rid of any accumulation of lin.
Main Reasons That Cause Bad Ventilation
Crushed Baffles In The Soffits: When installed correctly, insulation baffles usually built from delicate cardboard do an excellent job. Once successfully in place, they do a great job of ensuring the soffits are kept away from blown-in insulation. Nevertheless, they lack the adequate strength to resist the expansion force associated with the compressed fiberglass batt. Usually, batts look great right after installation, but after several days and weeks, the insulation force may eventually crush the batts and block the soffits.
Insulation Batts Blocking Soffits
Whereas the proper ventilation of the attic is challenging, some issues can be solved quickly. One of these problems is the padding of the soffit vents that are filled with insulation. Thus, unless your roof comes with an extremely steep pitch, you should make sure the fiberglass is shaped downwards to reach the soffit venting. Likewise, this venting issue can be addressed by pulling batts from the edge. However, this usually exposes a dead spot where mold starts to grow in the room underneath the sheetrock corner.
Poor Design Of Your Roof
Properly designing your roof is vital if you are looking to avoid the growth of mold. This is especially the case when dealing with hip roofs, as this design typically reduces the space available to install venting on the upper roof. Ideally, since the roof’s shape is pyramid-looking, the ratio of the lower roof space to that of the upper roof space is limited, hence resulting in hugely disproportional ventilation. This further worsens if the hips are constructed using a tall rafter that runs along the ridge length.
Unfortunately, the attic is one of the most likely places within the home that may suffer from abnormal mold growth. Improper ventilation, insufficient insulation, as well as a leaking roof are just a few examples.
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