Our first question: The second story is a low slope roof. (12/2) There are no eaves. There is presently one turbine ventilator on top which in our mind doesn’t do much. It gets very warm upstairs during the summer. There is no access into the attic from inside the house. Our guess is it’s not been accessed since it was built. Our roofer who has a great reputation and has been in business since 1969 recommended filling it with insulation.
Our second question: The garage gets some serious heat during the summer. There isn’t any insulation in the garage attic, but there is one turbine ventilator on top. The roof over the garage has eaves. We thought of adding insulation to the attic, a better ventilator and even insulating the garage door.
We’d very much like your opinion/recommendation on this. We also want to let you know that you’re a regular on Saturday mornings at our house and I want to thank you for all the help you’ve provided me over the last 15 years. This our fourth and final renovator and we couldn’t have done any of them without you. We look forward to your reply. Thanks again,
Jim and Susan
Tom: If you can’t ventilate the attic space, don’t ventilate at all. In fact, close it up. Because all it will do if you have a hole there that will take air in with nowhere to go and it actually builds up humidity inside that area. That’s actually right. If it’s a real low slope and, I wouldn’t know if I’d fill it all the way up, but you can fill, you know, put the insulation that’s needed in there. I don’t think it’s a problem at all. Go ahead and put a tight roof on it.
Charlie: So, you’re saying if you can’t ventilate you should insulate?
Tom: Well, you always insulate but if you can’t ventilate, don’t.
Charlie: Got it.
Tom: Half way does not work.
Charlie: Half way is, okay, I understand now. He had a second question. He says his garage gets hot. He’s got a
Tom: Well, welcome to Houston. All garages get hot.
Charlie: And there’s really nothing you can do about it.
Tom: No. People ask me this every August. “Why is my garage so hot?” Is it air conditioned?
Charlie: No.
Tom: Well, if your house wasn’t air conditioned, it would be hot. No. Don’t insulate it and here’s why. It’s going to get hot and we know that. We’ve established that in the last 30 seconds. If you insulate it, it holds the heat in all night.
Charlie: Right.
Tom: And it can’t escape. That’s the cool time where you want it to cool as quickly as possible. Really, I’ve done this in my own house.
Charlie: He has.
Tom: If you want a cool garage, put an air conditioner in it.
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