Good news, roofing contractors: You do not have to be good with numbers nor do you have to enjoy math to be able to quickly—and accurately—calculate the amount of attic ventilation needed for residential attics. Here it is, a handy shortcut for quick calculations:
Attic square footage ÷ 2 = square inches of EXHAUST and square inches of INTAKE Net Free Area (NFA) needed. (NFA is the unobstructed area through which air can pass through a vent, usually measured in square inches. Ventilation manufacturers assign an NFA value to the non-motorized vents they make.)
This shortcut conveniently calculates the 2015 International Residential Building Code MINIMUM (IRC Section R806 – Roof Ventilation 1, which states, in part, 1 square foot of Net Free Area for every 150 square feet of attic floor space with the attic defined as length x width floor of the attic). The shortcut actually overestimates a bit but that’s OK. It puts the roofing contractor in the ballpark which is useful when estimating.
Read the full article: pdf The Attic Needs Ventilation but How Much Exactly?
