Best Way To Lower Attic Temperature In Summer

When reroofing use white or pale gray shingles instead of dark ones.

Best way to lower attic temperature in summer.

If you re designing and building a new home keeping an unconditioned attic cooler in summer is pretty much irrelevant. A ridge and soffit ventilation system an extra 200 during reroofing will reduce attic temperature to around 100 degrees. Use a thermostatically controlled roof mounted ventilator. Dropping the temperature from 120 150 degrees to roughly the same as the outside temperature will save you enough on your power bill to offset the purchase and installation charge.

It will help to keep the attic much cooler in the summertime. Gable vents around 25 each plus 75 per vent for labor can lower attic temperatures about 10 degrees. Install electric ventilators and attic fans which remove hot air from an attic. You could achieve lower attic temps by putting radiant barrier on the rafters but unless you have uninsulated air handlers and ducts up there it wouldn t be economic in a denver climate increasing the heating season energy use more than is offset in cooling costs.

Just make sure the ceiling is airtight and fully insulated and the temperature in the attic doesn t matter much. You want to avoid ice buildup or condensation that could lead to structural problems in your attic. To head off these problems consider these options for bringing your attic s temperature down. Calculations indicate that on a july day in texas a ventilation rate of one air change per minute for a typical attic using 95 degree f air will lower the peak attic temperature to about 101 degrees f.

As a general rule the lower the outdoor temperature the lower the recommended humidity setting. These keep the attic cooler than dark shingles. Providing half air change per minute will lower the temperature to about 106 degrees f. Installing attic vents if you don t already have them is another way to assist in the movement of hot and cold air out of your attic.