Ventilation Innovation: Breathing Life Into Roofing - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Adam Keithley of Attic Breeze. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Intro: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips, the podcast that takes you on a thrilling journey across the world of roofing. From fascinating interviews with roofing experts to on-the-road adventures, we'll uncover the stories, innovations and challenges that shape the rooftops over our heads. So fasten your seat belts and join us as we embark on this exciting Roofing Road Trip. 

Karen Edwards: Hello and welcome to another episode of Roofing Road Trips from Roofer's Coffee Shop. My name is Karen Edwards and in today's episode, we are going to be diving into the world of ventilation with Adam Keithley from Attic Breeze. Adam, welcome. 

Adam Keithley: Thank you. Glad to be here, Karen. 

Karen Edwards: So could you just introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about you and a little bit about Attic Breeze. 

Adam Keithley: Yes. Again, my name is Adam Keithley. I'm the plant manager and operations manager here at Attic Breeze. I've been here a little over two years now and I'm excited. This is an area I was unfamiliar with before I joined Attic Breeze, but I joined the company and have begun to learn a lot more about attic ventilation and just overall ventilation of attic spaces, which is where we see ourselves as America's leader and America's leader in solar-powered ventilation. So we manufacture here in the United States solar-powered attic vents and they're exactly what they sound like they are. They're vents that use the power of the sun to circulate and ventilate your attic space. 

Karen Edwards: So let's talk a little bit more about the importance of proper ventilation in the attic. Ventilation is one of those things in the roofing industry that seems confusing, can be hard to figure out, but why is it so important? 

Adam Keithley: Yeah. So there's a couple of reasons this is important. First and foremost, for a traditional shingled roof or any roof, it can really increase the life of your roof and that's because you're controlling moisture in your attic, which is again the bottom side of your roof. You're also getting that air circulation so you don't have that stagnant air in your roof or underneath your roof space. And for anybody who stores anything in their attic, right, you don't want moisture building up in there or other things. So allowing that ventilation really improves the overall condition of your attic space and therefore since your attic space touches your roof, your roof itself. And then anything you store in your attic. If you have a poorly ventilated attic, you can have your roof deck buckle under the extreme heat where it's not breathing or rot if it has moisture in it or you can actually cause ice damming in the winter months in those northern climates. 

Karen Edwards: Yeah. I know there's some studies and numbers out there, but let's talk about how that moisture is generated. We're not just talking about rain or from the environment, just the fact that you're living in your house and breathing, you are creating moisture. And think about are you boiling water on your stove? Are you taking showers every day? And I think the number, something around so many gallons per person per day is generated just by the fact of living in that home. 

Adam Keithley: Correct. Yeah. Just living in a home and pressure differentials that also creates opportunities for moisture to generate as you get that condensation. So yeah. Any home that's occupied, no matter what climate, you're going to be generating some level of moisture. And again, if you have any storage in your attic or again, just your house. Most homes are made of a wooden construction, so moisture can cause rot or other sorts of damage if it's not properly ventilated. 

Karen Edwards: Okay. So there's different kinds of ventilation. We've got electric-powered ventilation solutions, but we also have passive systems. Can you just touch on the differences between that and figuring out how do you know what this home needs? 

Adam Keithley: So I am a big proponent of allow your attic space to breathe as much as possible. Both in combination of passive and active ventilation. So passive ventilation ... And those are your typical soffits you see on the underside of your eaves. Maybe you have some open gable vents, hipped gables on the side of your home. Any passive vent is just any natural place where air can circulate into the attic space. Along with those passive vents, you included your ridge vents. Your traditional ridge vents. That's very common these days becoming more and more popular. So those passive vents just work by allowing air to come in through your soffits and up out through your ridge vent or other vents you have on your house, whether they're turtle backs or slant backs or whatever you call them. 

That's the passive side of ventilation. For active ventilation, we are basically just encouraging more circulation. Active ventilation actually works really well when you have a really solid passive ventilation setup to start with. Our vents work, for instance, by using the power of the sun, they actually pull air out of the attic. You can only pull air out of the attic if you have a place to let air into the attic. So a key to our ventilation is to have that good solid foundation and just the passive ventilation model. The intake through soffits and other means and then circulating the air out. So one trouble you have with passive ventilation, air really doesn't move well unless you have wind blowing across your vents creating that pressure differential or you start to see that natural convection occur. But that convection in the attic doesn't really occur until temperatures reach approximately 130 degrees Fahrenheit. So at that point, your attic's already rather warm. And for us that live in the south ... I'm in Texas. A lot of us keep our HVAC units ... Our HVAC units are actually located in our attic. So you can imagine during the heat of the summer, it's a hundred degrees outside, which is hot enough, but maybe your HVAC is in your attic fighting temperatures of 130 or 140 or even 160 degrees Fahrenheit. 

So the goal of good ventilation is minimize that increase in temperature. You see in your attic space. And with great passive ventilation in combination with active ventilation, you can actually ideally keep that space near the ambient temperature, so your HVAC unit's only working against the ambient temperature instead of the increased temperature you see in the attic. 

Karen Edwards: Wow. Yeah. It does. Anyone that's ever climbed up into their attic to get something out in the middle of summer knows. Yeah. It's really hot. So we're talking, if it's 90 degrees outside and the attic is at 120 or a 130, you're able to bring that temperature down to match the outdoor temperature. 

Adam Keithley: That's the goal. If you get a properly ventilated attic with some active ventilation in combination with your passive, you can actually bring that attic temperature down to match your ambient temperature. And then your attic is no hotter than it is outside with the added benefit of having air circulating. So you're reducing that moisture content in your attic all the while. 

Karen Edwards: So I find it interesting. I did not know HVAC units were in the attic in Texas. I'm in Pennsylvania, mine is sitting outside right beside my house. So I'm imagining that the strain on the system is going to be reduced and it's not going to have to work as hard to keep the house as cool. But the same would go for one that's not in your attic too. We're going to probably increased efficiency. 

Adam Keithley: Exactly. So whether or not your HVAC unit ... And again, here in Texas, our condensers are outside, sounds like very similar to yours, but our whole blower assembly is in our attic because we don't have basements here very often. Same in Florida. So it's that whole blower assembly where it's circulating all that cool air is in your attic. Regardless of where your HC is located. Your attic space is basically a temperature layer between your ... You have ambient, your attic space and then your living space. So that's like a blanket on you, whether it's full of cold air or warm air, it's going to impact how efficient you are. 

So you have insulation around your home. Your attic is basically another layer of insulation. So especially in the heat of summer, that insulation is like a warm blanket, just because it's 130 degrees in your attic and not only a hundred degrees outside, you're actually increasing the workload on your HVAC unit just to keep your house cool because it's got a warm blanket over it all the time. Our goal is to keep that air circulating, turning over 13 to 15 times an hour to change that air over in your attic and to get it near the ambient temperature in the summer. And then in the winter units like ours are purely passive at that point and they're just working to make sure it continues to allow air to circulate, but it's not actively pumping that cold air into your attic so you don't have that cold blanket effect. 

Karen Edwards: Right. Yeah. Okay. I'm glad you mentioned that because I was thinking about it's great to get hot air out, but what happens in the winter? So yeah. Then it's just passive not running. 

Adam Keithley: Correct. Yeah. So there's different solutions out there. Different people have different solutions in the solar-powered vent space. Not all solutions include ... Ours actually includes a thermostat. So we have a thermostat that hangs down into the attic space. And that thermostat's set at 75 degrees Fahrenheit plus or minus five degrees. So if it's below 75, our fan, it still acts as a vent, just a passive vent, allowing air to move and breathe, but it's not going to actually pump the cold air in at below 75 degrees. As soon as it gets above 75 degrees, that's when the fan will use the power of the sun to actually pull in that cooler air to keep your attic at a more comfortable temperature. 

Karen Edwards: I like that it has a thermometer because I was like, "Well, how do you know? Do you have to be turning it on and off?" But it's set to do that on its own. 

Adam Keithley: Set to do that on its own based on the temperature of the attic too. So if your attic is getting hot, it'll turn on. If it's cool, it won't turn on. 

Karen Edwards: I love it. Love it. Okay. So let's talk a little bit about the installation. Anytime we've got things with power, do I need an electrician? What does that look like for a contractor? 

Adam Keithley: Yeah. So we work closely with roofers. We actually have a certified installer program. We will train roofers, anybody who's interested in learning more about installing these fans. That said, you don't need to go through that training. It's actually relatively straightforward. Ideally, you got to talk about, it's all about location. We are solar-powered attic vents. So if you have a vent that has a solar panel attached to it, ideally you have it on a southern facing roof line. Because we live in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun's going to go from east to west across the southern side of our homes. So ideally you have it on the southern side of a home. We have detached solutions for those who just don't have that possibility where you can actually put the solar panel remotely located from the vent itself. But first things first, the solar panel needs the sun, so you got to make sure it's facing the sun as much as possible. 

Another great thing about our attic vents is if you have an attached panel, it actually has a bracketry. For instance, my own home, I have to have the vents on the north side of the house because my wife didn't want the vents on the front of house, which is understandable. 

Karen Edwards: Aesthetics. 

Adam Keithley: Yeah, aesthetics. So we put them on the north side of the house, but we were able to prop our panels up and have them parallel to the ground so they're not facing north, they're facing straight up to the sky. So we get the most out of our vents, even though they're on the north side of the house. So location's one spot. You want to look at your attic space itself and that's what we're going to want to understand. Some ranch style homes that actually works better, we have a gable mount fan where it actually draws air across between the gables on those lower pitched roofs. That may work better for that space. So you want to look at also shading. A solar panel does not work in the shade. So if you have a big shade tree, you want to make sure that solar panel isn't being obstructed from the sun. And if you are specifically worried about heat, you may want to look to where your HVAC unit is located. If your HVAC unit is located in one particular portion of your roof, you want to really focus that area and being cooler, you may want to locate it near that. 

You also want to look at size. We have a calculator on our website that we call Design Studio. That just basically allows you to figure out how many ... Do I need just one solar panel or one solar panel vent or do I need multiple or what size you have. We also offer multiple sizes of solar panels from a 25 watt for smaller spaces. 35 watts are most common, 45 watt and even a 65 watt. Again, each panel is a larger net just absorbing more energy from the sun. I've view it as casting a larger net. The bigger the panel just allows it to absorb the sun's power and turn the sun into power for your vent. So the larger the panel, it'll run at even lower light levels. So a 45 watt panel is going to run at the very early parts of dawn and late into dusk, where maybe a smaller panel is not going to run quite as early or quite as late. 

Karen Edwards: Okay. I'm curious, when say it's below 75, the thermometer reading and it's not running, what happens to the solar power that it's drawn in on those panels? Does it just go away? 

Adam Keithley: So it's a self-contained system. When the thermostat is not closed basically it's like an electro circuit that's got an opening. So it's basically not circulating any power. Solar panel just sits there and it's not actually creating power because it's just generating a voltage that's not being utilized. So the great thing you talked about installation, because it's a self-contained unit, there is no tying into any electrical for the homeowner or for the roofer. That's why, again, we've worked with roofers because they're literally cutting a hole in a roof and then installing our unit and flashing it. Something they're very accustomed to doing. It's very traditional installation with no extra wiring involved other than making sure our thermocouple is hanging on it and hanging down into the attic. 

Karen Edwards: I'm having this conversation right now, in my mind, I'm thinking of asphalt shingle roofs, but what about other roof materials? There's synthetics, composites, metal. How does the system work with those? That market is really growing in popularity too. 

Adam Keithley: Yes. That is growing. With barndominium and everything else are becoming more and more common. Then you have your really high-end tile roofs. So we have multiple versions of our fan. We have our self-flashing, which work under your traditional asphalt shingles. It's flat and it's made to be flashed right into shingles. We also have curb-mounted versions. So roofers can either build their own curb. We have a curb they can purchase from us, but they by no means need to buy a curb from us. The curb kit and the curb mounting basically allows the fan to sit a little bit higher to make sure it's got clearance to get air coming out of the vent and clearing the roof and allows it to install there. And again, those attics need to breathe just the same as shingle-based attics or attics under a shingle-based roof, I should say. Because it's the same thing. It's that layer of the temperature gradient you see in your attic. You want it to be as minimal as possible to the desired temperature in the house. So on hot days, you want to make sure that attic temperature is as cool as possible. On cool days, you want to keep all your heat from escaping. So that's why our system turns into a more passive system. 

Karen Edwards: Okay. My next question is related to ... Especially, you said you're in Texas. That's the hail belt. So let's talk about that for a little bit. What kind of hail ratings does it have? What kind of testing? I'd be worried about that if I was a homeowner. 

Adam Keithley: Well, for our solar panels, our aluminum-framed solar panels with a relatively thick polycarbonate glass on top, we have actually had instances where people have whole solar panel systems, like house-size systems on their roofs and our vent is installed next to it. And again, not every system is the same. But we've had instances where hail damage has come in and destroyed the large solar panels for the house and our vent turns out to hold up just fine. So I think some of that is the fact that our solar panels are a little smaller than the traditional large solar panels that are powering the home. So that makes them a little more rigid, a little more resistant to that abuse. For an actual rating, we don't have a rating for hail, but we just achieved a rating for the hurricane-type winds. We actually have the high velocity hurricane zone wind rating for the state of Florida now. We did some testing there. So just showing that our vents are going to hold up to those winds, they're not going to rip off your roof and cause any more damage. They're actually going to stay on your roof as you see those huge pressure gradients you can see during a hurricane or other sort of wind storms. 

Karen Edwards: Yeah. Yeah. You want to make sure that it's up there on top of the roof and it's being subject to a lot that mother nature has to offer. So yeah, we want to make sure it's going to be okay. Okay. One more question about placement. Is that something that a contractor can turn to you for some insight and maybe send you some pictures or have someone come out to the job? Because where on the roof does this go? And you mentioned positioning, sun angle, know the Southern exposure all important. But on the roof itself, based on the other ventilation, if you've got the soffits and a ridge or if you've got the ones on the end, where do you position it? You may have the perfect southern exposure, but where on that slope is the right spot to put it? 

Adam Keithley: Yeah. So traditionally speaking, you want it near the top of the slope is if you can. Assuming there's no ridge vents there. You want to stay five to 10 feet away from ridge vents. But I'm glad you asked how would a roofer find out? So again, we have a certified installer training for which any roofer is welcome to join. We host those trainings twice a week now, Tuesdays and Fridays. But you can also call us. We're here in Texas. We have a team here of technical support people. Generally, when contractors call in, they'll talk to two of my teammates, either Michael or Austin and the first thing they're going to ask is an address. And they generally pull it up on Google Maps and they're looking at the house. They'll confirm they're looking at the same house the roofer is looking at and they'll walk them right through the best possible solutions for where to install those attic fans. It's great with technology these days you can literally be almost be like he's on the roof right next to the roofer, helping choose the location. 

Karen Edwards: Yeah. No. That's fantastic. So you mentioned Tuesdays and Fridays you have the trainings. Are they virtual? 

Adam Keithley: They are virtual training, yes. So if you reach out through our website, we can get you a link directly to those trainings. They're virtual at 9:00 A.M. Central time, I believe. But yeah. Anybody who's interested in that training can sign up for it. It's virtual. It takes less than an hour, depending on how many questions anybody has to make sure they get the best out of those attic vents. 

Karen Edwards: Yeah. Wow. That's a no-brainer. It's twice a week. It's free and it's virtual right. 

Adam Keithley: Exactly. 

Karen Edwards: Excellent. Wow. Adam, I want to thank you so much for being here today and talking about ventilation and how important it is and how Attic Breeze can assist in achieving that perfectly balanced and cool attic. 

Adam Keithley: Thanks for having me here. 

Karen Edwards: Yeah. This has been great. And if you want more information, Attic Breeze has a full directory on Roofers Coffee Shop. You can go there, has all the information about all the products and how to get in touch with them as well. And I want to thank everybody for listening. As always, subscribe because we don't want you to miss a thing. And we hope to see you on a future episode of Roofing Road Trips. 

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