House Roof Venting Problem

[iceman_1347]

I need some advice from any house builder gurus out there on an issue with a finished attic having major heat issues in the summer and cold in the winter.

The house is probably 30x40 and the upstairs is a finished attack built around the 1950's. The stairway going up is open to the first floor, is drywalled, carpeted, etc. This upstairs is kind of built like a cathedral ceiling in that there is just a small cavity between the ceiling and the roof from the soffit (this house does not have any though) of the roof to the peak. There are no gable vents, no ridge vent, no soffit (because the roof basically butts right up to the outer walls) and there are 4 vents on the face of the roof which are just open to the air with a cover on top of it. This attic is heated and cooled with separate unit in the bedroom up there because there is no duct work going from the basement to the attaic. The attaic has been insulated with blow in material, but I'm not sure how great of job was because they didn't remove much or any of the drywall to get to a lot of it. In the summer time this upstairs bedroom gets so hot you would melt if you stayed up there and in the winter time it's very cold. My first thought was improper venting of the roof system because of having no eve soffit and no ridge vent so all the air is just sitting up there and baking the whole area.

Has anyone delt with this type of issue in a remodel or on a new build and if so what possible solutions are out there and would they be crazy expensive?

Thanks for any help or advice.

 

[RVR RNR]

I do installed insulation for a living. Sounds like you have two problems; ventilation and lack of adequate insulation. You should have a minimum of R-30[10"] in the roof cavity and continuous venting [proper vents] from the soffit area all the way up to the peak w/intakes at soffits and exhaust vents at ridge. I'm sure there isn't enough room between the ceiling and roof to install 10" of fiberglass, so to do this properly you would have to remove the drywall from ceiling and fir-out the rafters to allow room for insulation/ventilation. Good luck.

 

[mjkaliszak]

I do installed insulation for a living. Sounds like you have two problems; ventilation and lack of adequate insulation. You should have a minimum of R-30[10"] in the roof cavity and continuous venting [proper vents] from the soffit area all the way up to the peak w/intakes at soffits and exhaust vents at ridge. I'm sure there isn't enough room between the ceiling and roof to install 10" of fiberglass, so to do this properly you would have to remove the drywall from ceiling and fir-out the rafters to allow room for insulation/ventilation. Good luck.

I agree with this whole heartedly. I have had some heat issues in my newer house and have a bonus room over the garage that suffers from a similar issue. However I do have continous soffit, baffles in the rafters and a ridge vent . I additionally had more insulation installed in my vaulted areas and then added power roof vents on both ends of my peaks. I believe your kind of stuck unless you want to tear down drywall ( like siad above ).

 

[chevyman]

if you end up tearing the drywall off you could also spray foam the entire underside of the roof area therefore no need for venting our insulation guy said this works great could be kinda pricey though

 

[garyl62]

The temps in the room are more related to the insulation issue rather than the venting issue. While both contribute the actual air temp in the room is more effected by the lack of insulation. From what I've been able to learn from your description it sounds like you have drywall applied directly to the underside of your roof rafters which in that era were probably only 2x6 or 2x8's. Any insulation you have would be R-19 at best which would fill the entire space in that cavity. In reality you would be lucky if you had a R-11 based on age and normal practices of how you described your insulation. Just because they didn't remove much drywall though doesn't mean it didn't get blown all over. As long as they drilled a hole in each rafter cavity they could blow it full if it was done correctly.

Sorry to say everyone is right about expanding the space for your insulation by installing fir strips on the bottom of the rafters to gain space for more insulation. You'd also want enough space for some air movement between the roof and the top of the insulation and a continuius ridge vent. You'd still have the soffitt problem but if you have enough room at the inside peak you could put a flat ceiling in at the very center of the room about 3 or 4' wide which would allow air to flow across the rafters, then put a gable vent at each end so air can enter and exit the ridge.

Sorry for the long answer, but in reality its a hard problem to solve. Not sure what your willing to spend but it could get pricey. You may want to consider two heat/cool units like motels have with one at each end tied together with one thermostat and if you have room a ceiling fan or two. That will not solve the cause of your problem, but may solve the problem by a different method.

 

[whitedust]

I agree with this whole heartedly. I have had some heat issues in my newer house and have a bonus room over the garage that suffers from a similar issue. However I do have continous soffit, baffles in the rafters and a ridge vent . I additionally had more insulation installed in my vaulted areas and then added power roof vents on both ends of my peaks. I believe your kind of stuck unless you want to tear down drywall ( like siad above ).

Can bats & other critters get thru power roof vents?

 

[mjkaliszak]

I would think so. I screened my opening in with steel mesh & rivets so specifically bee's can't get in. I have the round dome type that are wired to a switch in my garage. That way I can shut them off later in the season. They have hi/low settings that are enabled by a specific temperature set point . If I remember correctly.

 

[98panther]

I agree with the others but -
There is one option if you are sure the insulation is decent and dont want ot gut it from the inside.
It's still alot of work. Take the roofing off, and strip the top of the sheathing with 2x2's.
Add new sheathing, reroof and re do the fascias "wider" working in the vents. and add a continuous ridge vent over the new layer.

It worked great for a house I had, interior was all redone and insulated but it still had issues from bad ventilation, so we did this.

 

[arcticgeorge]

A lot of good advice here already i would just recap on making sure you have airflow form the eve to the ridge, dont just stuff insulation in the entire rafter area. I had a problem over my upstaris bathroom. The warm moist air would melt the snow like mad over the bathroom and it would run down and make a huge ice dam. I gutted the ceiling made a one inch gap with spacers then cut 2 inch blueboard for inbetween the rafters then another 3/4 blue foam board over that. Plastic vapor barier to stop any air flow and it works awesome. The snow doesnt melt at all where i did this now. And the gap allows air to flow from the eve all the way up to the ridge vent. Or like the other guy said you could rip the whole roof off add blueboard inbetween the rafters, add 2x2's then plywood and shingles. Whatever is cheaper or the least labor.