Good call on ventilation—can't tell you how many times I've crawled into an attic and felt like I stepped into a sauna. If your attic feels like Florida in July, something's definitely off... Proper venting saves wallets and sanity down the road.
Totally agree on the attic heat issue—seen way too many shingles prematurely curl up because of poor ventilation. One thing I've noticed, though, is people often overlook intake vents at the soffits. Even if you've got good ridge vents, without proper intake airflow, you're still gonna have problems. Did your roofing company check the soffit vents too, or just focus on the ridge and roof vents? Curious how thorough they were...
"Did your roofing company check the soffit vents too, or just focus on the ridge and roof vents? Curious how thorough they were..."
Good point about the soffit vents. When we had our roof redone a few years back, I remember the contractor initially just talked about ridge vents and attic fans. I had to specifically ask about the soffit vents because I'd read somewhere (probably here, honestly) that intake airflow was just as important. Glad I did, because when we checked, half of ours were painted over or clogged with insulation from a previous job.
Funny story—well, funny now, not so much then—when we finally cleared out those soffit vents, it was like night and day. Before that, our attic was basically a sauna in July, and you could literally feel the heat radiating down into the bedrooms below. After clearing them out, the upstairs rooms cooled down noticeably, and our AC didn't have to run nearly as hard. Plus, no more curled shingles or weird moisture issues.
So yeah, definitely worth double-checking if your roofing guys didn't mention it explicitly. Even good contractors sometimes overlook stuff like that if they're focused on the bigger picture. If they did check yours thoroughly, that's awesome—sounds like you found a solid company. But if not, might be worth taking a quick peek yourself or asking them to swing by again. It's one of those small details that makes a huge difference in the long run.
"Funny story—well, funny now, not so much then—when we finally cleared out those soffit vents, it was like night and day."
Ha, totally relate to this... same issue here. My contractor didn't really mention soffit vents either until I asked specifically. Turns out ours were mostly blocked with old insulation. Once cleared, the attic temp dropped noticeably and our upstairs rooms stopped feeling like ovens in summer. Definitely worth double-checking even if your roofer seems thorough.
Had a similar experience myself a few years back. I was inspecting a client's attic, and they mentioned how unbearably hot their upstairs bedrooms were every summer. At first glance, everything seemed fine—roof was newish, insulation looked decent—but something just felt off. Decided to poke around the soffit vents, and sure enough, they were almost completely blocked by layers of paint and debris from previous renovations. Once those vents were cleared out, the homeowner called me back a week later amazed at the difference it made. Said it was like someone flipped a switch on their comfort level upstairs.
It's funny how often soffit vents get overlooked, even by experienced contractors. Glad you caught yours in time... makes you wonder how many people are sweating through summers unnecessarily!
