09/24/2026
As summers become increasingly challenging for buildings, researchers are taking a closer look at a familiar question: how much can a home’s roof and ventilation system do to control heat inside an attic?
A new experimental study published in Building Research & Information in January 2026 provides some useful answers. Researchers from the University of Bío-Bío in Chile and Chalmers University of Technology examined how roofing material and natural ventilation interact to affect overheating in habitable attic spaces.
The study is particularly interesting because it doesn’t look at roofing or ventilation in isolation. Instead, it examines how the two strategies work together—and the results suggest that both can play an important role in limiting summertime overheating.
Inside the 2026 Attic Overheating Study
The researchers constructed 1:5-scale test cells in Concepción, Chile, a city with a temperate climate classified as Csb under the Köppen climate classification system. The test cells were designed to represent lightweight residential construction.
The experiment compared two different roofing materials:
Read more: https://solarroyal.com/why-natural-ventilation-still-matters/
University-led research shows cool roofs and natural ventilation jointly cut attic heat; winter impacts are smaller—learn more.
