If your upstairs or attic is running hot, the answer is almost always in one of four places. Let’s work through them.
Roofing Materials
Shingle roofs absorb heat from the sun — surface temps can run 40-60 degrees hotter than the air outside. That heat radiates down into your attic all day long. When you replace your roof, consider upgrading to a shingle that reflects solar rays. CertainTeed makes Landmark Solaris with an Energy Star rating — worth asking about.
Bathroom Fans
Not all bathroom fans vent outside the house. Some blow warm, humid air straight into the attic. Check yours. Bathroom fans can be vented through the roof or out the side of the house — either way, they need to exit the building.
Insulation
Attic insulation is rated by R-value. Depending on where you live, you need anywhere from R-30 to R-60. Pull back the access panel and measure what you’ve got, then compare it to what your local code requires. This insulation means heat pours through your ceiling all summer.
Ventilation
This is almost always the biggest factor. Think of it like a car engine — intake at the front, exhaust out the back. If your roof is missing either one, heat gets trapped. The formula for calculating how much ventilation you need is called the 1/300th rule — it tells you exactly how many vents your attic requires b ased on square footage. We run that calculation on every house we work in, and the results surprise a lot of homeowners. Most homes in Tulsa don’t have enough. If you want to work through the formula yourself, we wrote a full breakdown in our blog “Do I Have Enough Vents?” it walks you through it step by step.
If you’ve checked the obvious and your upstairs is still cooking, give us a call at (918) 607-7409. We’ll get up there and tell you exactly what’s going on.