Attic Vents Closed In Winter

Although air should circulate year round through the attic your house will probably be more comfortable if you cover the foundation vents in the winter.

Attic vents closed in winter.

When the attic becomes part of the home to be heated and cooled open wall gable vents and roof vents are no longer feasible but the underside of the roof the sheathing and rafters can still get. In extreme cold the lack of warm air in your duct work may cause freezing to occur. Poor insulation is usually the culprit although if you enter the attic on sunny winter day your attic space can be warmed by the sun more than your furnace. They need to be open in the summer.

When the attic becomes too warm due to closed vents snow and ice on the roof readily melts. In the winter the vents will cause the attic to become cold but this should not damage your home or increase the energy use of your home so covering the roof vents is not necessary. Don t shorten the life of your hvac system unnecessarily by closing off your vents. Just remember to remove the plugs when the weather turns mild in the spring.

So in a way the idea of closing those vents during the winter also makes sense because theoretically this would help prevent heat from escaping your home during the winter when you re trying to keep it in. Unless your roofing system has insulation on the roofing deck and is designed without ventilation your furnace should not be heating your attic. According to the guy who writes the home improvement column in the local paper if you add a ridge vent you should close off the gable vents. After all one of the purposes of attic vents is to help release some of the heat from the attic and prevent it from becoming super heated.

You probably already know that attic vents are important both to your roof s longevity and to keeping your energy bills down during the summer. Blocking the vents can even harm your home by trapping moisture inside the attic. If not the air pathway through the attic will be short circuited flowing only from the gable vents to the ridge vent and not ventilating the lower part of the attic. Hitting uneven roof temperatures caused by blocked vents leads to the refreezing that is troubling.

According to tom silva the simplest way to close foundation vents for the winter is to plug them from the outside with foam blocks made specifically for this purpose. Remove the grate from the attic fan. This causes free flowing water to run between shingles and down to the gutters. How to close an attic vent during the winter.

Set the grate aside. Turn off the electricity to attic fan by unplugging or by disconnecting the hard wire from the junction box. You probably won t notice a temperature difference but your system will be happier without the closed vents and you will be saving money. Roof vents allow air to circulate through your attic and exit your home.

Measure the height and width of the.