The other issue is that high humidity levels in the attic cause extreme temperature changes. The attic in the middle of summer with high humidity can literally cook the roof shingles. In winter high condensation levels can cause ice to form in the attic. With this kind of temperature change on the roof it is very rare that the roof can live up to its life expectancy. Homes who experience this generally suffer from ware and tare to a much higher degree than homes which are well ventilated.
Getting vents installed is probably the cheapest Ventilation is very crucial for your roofs health as well as your home comfort. As recently as twenty years ago the important issue of ventilation was not fully understood most because before the eighties the most common roofing product was bound to be organic. The one and only true benefit to an organic roof is that it ventilates itself very well. When I say organic what I mean is that it is made of wood, paper or slate. Today though the majority of roofing products being placed on are inorganic. Asphalt and fiberglass are resilient against the elements but don't allow the home to breath very well.
When your roof is not well ventilated what you find is that when you cook, shower and breath the moisture finds it's way into the attic. This condensation gets trapped in the attic with some pretty warm temperatures. Condensation occurs which happens at a rapid pace if the external temperature drops dramatically and wets the insulation in your home. Basically if insulation is wet an opposite affect occurs. Instead of the insulation protecting you from a cold outside and keeping you warm, when wet insulation actually sucks the warm out your home in the winter and sucks the hot air in during the summer.
The best way to understand is when you hand a wet oven mitt and your try to pick up a hot pan. Please do not actually do this, you will learn very quickly that the heat travel through the moisture and the insulation of the oven mitt does not work anymore. Just based on energy savings the best choice you can make on your home is to ventilate a roof wellart of the installation yet many homes are still getting inorganic roofing material put on and are extremely under ventilated. This comes down to basic installation knowledge and responsibility. I cannot speak for other towns and cities but in Vancouver where I live there are over 400 registered roofing companies half of which don't bother thinking about ventilation and the long term life expectancy of the home. The other 400 unregistered roofing companies probably don't bother with ventilation very much.
Make ventilation your priority when getting a new roof and you can be sure that if the roof is installed correctly it will last past it's warranty
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