Proper Ventilation for Roof on Finished Attic

Roofing/Construction Questions
#1

I own a 1.5 story bungalow in Chicago, with a finished upstairs. The upstairs has doors through the kneewalls to access the eaves, and inside the eaves the kneewalls are insulated, with the walls and insulation extending up to the rafters so there is no airflow or access to the actual attic space above the finished ceiling from the eaves.

I need to have my roof replaced, and I am wondering what I should be looking for from contractors in terms of ventilation. Should I be removing insulation on the interior to allow free airflow from the eaves through the attic space? Where in relation to the eaves / attic should I have vents installed on the roof? It does get extremely hot in the eaves during the summer, I’m wondering if that is in part due to inadequate ventilation, and in turn reducing my roof life.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

#2

Proper ventilation requires two key parts, intake and exhaust. You need to create proper intake near the bottom of the roof. This can be done a few different ways. Ideally the intake would come from the soffits so in your case if you can cut the wall and insulation open and add intake vents to your soffits this would give proper intake.

That leaves us with the exhaust higher up on the roof near the peak. You can choose ridge vent, electrical fans with a thermostat or wind turbines.

But if most of your upstairs area does not have an air flow space between the ceiling and the roof deck, a seperate AC system may be the only way to cool the upstairs area.