Cold weather and extreme temps in the Kansas City metro can cause a few challenges to any roof. It’s important to understand the problems you’re dealing with. In winter, it’s often humidity and condensation that become quite evident with prolonged, extreme cold temperatures.
As an experienced roofer in the area, we’re here to help you understand where the problem starts and what you can do about it.
Whole House Humidifiers
The vast majority of homes in the Kansas City metro have a whole house humidifier mounted on the furnace. Unfortunately, we find that most homeowners do not know the humidifier must be turned down substantially when extreme cold weather conditions are present for a prolonged period of time.
Bathroom Vents Cause More Problems
Until 2012, homes in the Kansas City metro were built with bathroom vents pushing additional moisture into the attic cavity. This is another source of excess humidity that needs to be evacuated out of the home and attic area.
Signs to Look For Inside Your Home
Do you have frost in your attic?
When a home experiences too much humidity, heat & humidity will rise into your attic space. If the home is lacking proper airflow in the attic from soffit vents and/or intake vents and roofing exhaust vents, humidity will condensate inside the attic. Most commonly it can be found on the north and east facing slopes inside the attic cavity. When it’s really extreme, moisture will be found on all roof surfaces of the inside of the attic. So much so that it is not uncommon to see frost on the underside of the roof sheathing and accumulating on the nails penetrating through that sheathing holding on your shingles. If the pointed part of the nails are wet, covered in frost or rusted, it is a solid indicator that you have a humidity and/or moisture issue in your home.
Do you have stains on interior ceilings?
As heat loss from the home enters your attic and rises, the frost can melt and drip, causing stains on the interior ceilings. This often happens when there is no snow, ice, or moisture on the outer roof surface. After the conditions warm, evidence that the issue is present can still be found because of the rust on the nails and rusty water spots on the insulation.
Installing Additional Intake or Exhaust Ventilation
Oftentimes this can be resolved by installing additional intake and/or exhaust ventilation while controlling moisture levels in the home by turning down the humidifier on the furnace. Last, you’ll need to correct bathroom vents that are forcing additional moisture into the attic.
Get a Trusted Roofer To Solve Your Ventilation and Air Flow Problems
For a thorough review of your ventilation situation and needs, call a dependable roofing company like Christian Brothers Roofing. We serve Kansas City metro homeowners by helping them understand their roofing problems and best solutions. Our certified crews will install your new roof or make the needed repairs so you can be confident in your roof again.
