How to Properly Vent Your Roof - Roof Ventilation Types and Theory
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- Опубликовано: 1 июл 2021
- In this video Ami (AKA The Roofer Chick) describes the different types of ventilation that you can use on your roof including the best practices to have a properly vented roof.
Not sure if you have adequate roof ventilation? Call Feller Roofing for a free consultation from one our roofing specialists!
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Feller Roofing of New Braunfels is a GAF Master Elite Contractor, the #1 roofing contractor in New Braunfels. We provide roof repairs and replacements to New Braunfels, Cibolo, Canyon Lake, Converse, Universal City, and San Antonio Texas.
Our company founder is Ami Feller Wells, known in this region as the "Roofer Chick" - a female entrepreneur and leader in her community that encourages other women to be brave and bold in running their own businesses.
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Nice to see people who knows ventilation. So many people get it wrong....
It's so very important! Thanks for watching!
Good info. Well presented. I'm glad you spoke positively about a powered exhaust vent. I'm just an average joe homeowner who happens to be generally handy and interested in lower temps in my attic so my AC will run less in the summer here in SW Oklahoma. Yours is one of many videos I watched to get educated. I just installed myself a powered roof vent at the top middle of my 2 story house. But I positioned it low enough from the top ridge so it can't be seen from the street. I also have 4 static vents at the top of the roof that a roofer put in last summer. I closed off 2 of them that were closest to the powered vent so they would not create an intake loop. I do have enough soffit vent's around the house I think. The powered vent has 3 speeds and is wireless I can control on my phone. I think medium speed is good from 10 am to 3. Then high from 3 to 7pm if it gets above 102 degrees outside. I'm also in the process of putting up thin radiant barrier along the rafters. We'll see how this all turns out. It's kind of fun being focused on reducing the higher summer temps on my 2nd floor bedrooms without spending thousands putting another HVAC return at the top of the stairs. There really is no room for the duct work required to get in to the HVAC in the utility closet downstairs. Have a good day.
That's awesome! I am happy I was of service. If you remember, come back and tell me how it is after the radiant barrier. I really would love to hear about it. Our power vents we get are on a switch in the attic - that's awesome that yours is so programmable. Do you know what brand it is?
❤️❤️❤️ just bought a fixer upper and have little money so your videos are helping a lot
I'm glad they are of benefit! Let me know if there's something I should have covered that I missed! I'm always looking for ideas.
Hi Amy,
Great job on the info. Personally, I like the (Lomanco) Turbine vents when you have different ridge heights. As far as I know, these are the only types of vents that can be used at different elevations without causing a short circuit in your attic ventilation.
Thanks for watching! What about them makes them so that they can be used at different elevations? I generally eschew wind turbines unless I have a customer who just insists. Tell me more!
@Ami Feller
Turbine vent pros:
1. They are an active vent, not passive like the ridge vents. They will draw air in a breeze as low as 4 mph.
2. If there is no breeze causing the turbine to stall, there is still a 14" hole allowing a passive flow of hot air.
3. Active turbine vents can only exhaust air. They can not intake air like ridge vents if a short circuit occurs. This allows the turbine vent to be placed at different elevations and all not have a short circuit in the exhaust ventilation.
Turbine vents cons:
1. Some ppl do not like the looks of the turbine, but if explained to the customer, the advantages exceed ridge vents and box/ turtle vents. Form follows function.
2. After a severe storm event, the turbine should be checked (looked at from the ground) to be sure it still functions. If they get struck with flying debris, this can cause a deformation in the fins or even an all stop condition. This is a rare event.
3. If an all stop condition occurs, rain can now be forced into the attic, and short circuits can happen. This is also a rare event.
@@highqualityhomemaintenance7565 I'm fascinated (isn't it funny, what can fascinate a girl?). So they can't take air in? Really? That's a game changer.
@Roofer Chicks
Correct, they can't take air in unless they are broken or defective, of course.
I think they are the bee's knees, the bull's nuts. Lol
Hi roof chick..i see the examples are for shingle roofs.. can the solution apply to Eurotile roofing sheets as well??
Great information
Thanks for watching!!!
Great info
Thank you for watching!
Where can I find info on venting a mansard roof?
Thank you.
Thanks for watching!!!
Can you install passive air vents to just one side of the roof or does it need to be both sides, I have a double pitched roof with a gully in the middle and would like to avoid working on this side if possible. Would a gable electric vent be a better option.
Yes, we do that often. I do it because I don't like to see the vents from the front of the house to improve the curb appeal, so we always put them on the back.
Hello. Currently I have small ridgevents and 4 passive box vents close to the ridge vents to account for small ridge vents. Do you think that is allowed.
In my experience, those vents will work against each other and you will be only circulating air between those two types of vents and not pulling properly from the soffit vents. You might ask a knowledgeable roofer to take a look at it, especially if you think your attic is hotter than it should be.
Thanks for the great informative video. I'm from So Cal near Disneyland. I have a single story with vaulted ceilings in several rooms, but no attic space above those rooms. These rooms with vaults are 5 to 8 degrees hotter than the rooms with attic space, which are always comfortable in all seasons. Soffit vents all around with extra holes on the rooms with vaults. The 6" to 8" space between the roof and ceiling is insulated with fiberglass. It seems to me the air is not flowing past this insulation and not venting out at the top. I have been in many homes with vaulted ceilings and none are as hot as this. Some don't even have soffit vents, but are cool and comfortable. What is the best way to to cool those rooms? Most people say use a/c or fans, but I am really looking to vent them naturally. I have several roof vents over the attic space, but no ridge vents. Any advice is appreciated, even if you can recommend someone in Orange County, CA. Thank you !
We run into similar issues with mobile homes. Unfortunately, you have to have SOME air space up there to vent - even if you only have 2-3", it's something. Do you know if you have any? Make sure that your soffit vents are not blocked (that happens a lot, the insulation guys pack the insulation into the eaves); in new construction now they are actually using rafter vents that keep the space open. Of course, then each air pocket between each rafter needs a way to vent - ridge vent could accomplish this. All of this is tough to do after the fact. We have had a lot of luck using radiant barrier underlayment when installing a roof - one brand is Polarium but there are many. Also, metal roofing is more reflective than shingles, so that might help you. Finally, there are some coatings (one brand is Supertherm) that is reflective and energy efficient. Coatings are not always my favorite, thing, but they have their time and place. Hopefully some of that will help you? If you want to send photos my email is ami@RooferChicks.com. I'm happy to try and help.
Hi Amy, I have a 1963 Cape with a closed attic. There were two gable vents prior to owner siding house. He also now has a ridge vent with no intake. I’m guessing roof is 10-15 years old. I’m having issues with leaking in various areas. What to do about new roof ventilation? Thanks 🙏
Ideally I'd recommend installing soffit vents and closing up the gable vents from the inside (unless the siding already has them blocked off - and keep the ridge vent. If you can't do soffit vents for some reason, there are shingle over intake vents that are pretty slick. Does that help?
I’m replacing a shingle roof on a double wide with a metal roof. Would a ridge vent work and do away with the turtle vents? If so,would you cover the old holes where the turtle vents were or does it matter? We are putting metal over shingles. Thanks
It depends how your mobile home is made. Generally, they are two halves that are put together, so the ridge might have some air in it, but it doesn't go anywhere. In this case, ridge vent does not good. Many mobile homes don't have any airspace at all in the "attic" and there's little point in ventilating it at all. But some do! I would take it apart a bit to see what there is to ventilate, or ask the manufacturer if you can.
Why ventilate! Seal the old roof membrane , know where your rafters are, put 2” of foam on top with foil on one side, run 1”x4” vertically screwed thru foam into rafters for air space, attach metal roof with ridge and lowest edge venting. Make sure your ceiling below is sealed from vapor. Your attic space needs venting primarily because of moisture from the living space leaking thru openings in ceiling ( like light fixtures,wires and plumbing pipes, etc). The infrared light is what causes your attic to get hot. You must have an air space on one of the foil sides otherwise it will transmit thru the material by convection and thereby render it useless and heat your attic/ceiling. The key here is to seal moisture from getting in from outside and inside. You can put a dehumidifier in if you can’t seal it, but moisture is the enemy in the attic!
What would you suggest for a house that doesn't have a ridge at the top but it comes to a peak over the top of the attic?
My personal favorite is an electric power vent from Master Flow on a hip roof that comes to a peak. Lomanco also makes some nice wind turbines, although I don't use them personally. www.lomanco.com/images/vents/eva-730/01-eva and www.gaf.com/en-us/roofing-products/residential-roofing-products/ventilation-and-attic-vents/power-vents/power-attic-vents/master-flow-power-attic-vent-erv4-roof-mount
Hi roof chick..i see the examples are for shingle roofs.. can the solution apply to Eurotile roofing sheets as well?? I will be very grateful with some feedback.. thank you
I have not installed Eurotile personally, but I have installed other synthetic tiles. I would advise you to check with the manufacturer on their recommendations. Lomanco does make a ridge vent for tile, but I'm not sure it's compatible with every manufacturer. Tile is tricky - it kind of vents itself because of the space it creates under the tile (with barrel or S tiles, not with flat tiles) and it's put on battens (1x2 boards) which gets it off the deck. This creates airflow in the roof BUT IT DOES NOT ventilate the attic itself. They make static vents for tile that are used a bunch, but if it were me, I would still try to do ridge or power vent if it's compatible with the manufacturer. With a power vent, you can build a box and mount it on that, and it's pretty slick. My ops manager recommends TRV-4 - he has done a lot of tile. Look at this link: www.lomanco.com/tileridge-trv4
Thank you so so so much for this feedback. I sincerely appreciate it. Very insightful and informative. Thank you a million times..I'm actually an architect in Ghana and was looking for insights on roof ventilation and I chanced on your channel. Its been a blessing. Thank you for your resourcefulness. It is very very much appreciated.
@@davidamugi5315 well, it absolutely makes my DAY to help an architect in Ghana. That's pretty awesome for me!!!! Best wishes to you on your project.
Roofer chick. Just saw your RUclips channel and I have a question. I have a Rancher with a full basement, which has been built out. The house was remodeled in 2013, but we added about 30" of blown in insulation a few years ago as the first floor was pretty warm. Fast forward to today and the first floor is still warm. I have a ridge vent but no other vents in the roof. Any tips to cool down that first floor. The A/C stays around 76*
Do you have soffit vents? Have you made sure they are not blocked with the insulation? It's a pretty common thing to have happen and getting someone to shimmy out to the eaves and unblock them might do you a world of good. I'd start there.
I checked RUclips to see if I can also add vents to the roof, even though I have a ridge vent.
@@rooferchicks
if you get too much ventilation it all starts working against itself.@@rickduncan362
I hear that rule of thumb of 1 square foot of vent for every 300 spare feet of attic space often but does that really apply to Michigan and Florida and Arizona? What if you have a lot of shade or a lot of wind? What I did in the attic over my garage last year is add more soffit vents then convert two existing static vents to powered vents then put them on a thermostat controller. It kept the garage a lot cooler and I plan to do the same for the main roof in 2023.
That is the equation no matter where you live. The shade versus sun shouldn't matter really - if you have an electric power vent, it just won't have to work as hard/often if it is cooler, which is a great advantage (it should last longer). It sounds like whomever did your ventilation did it right! Every attic space has to be ventilated separately, but if it's all connected, you only want to use one exhaust.
Florida code is the same as everywhere else. And all code says 1 per 300 unless less than 40% or more than 50% of your vents are 3 feet below the highest ridge.
If you only put slant vents up top,.how would you get enough air in to push the air sitting st the bottom of the roof if you don't have opportunity to add soffit vents ?
They make shingle over intake vents - O'Hagin makes a great one. You can retrofit these to a shingle roof.
Would ventilation matter any if you have a shipping container house and the only reason you have a conventional roof with spray insulation attached is for aesthetics and a wide soffit for keeping the sun away from the walls?
Ventilation does NOT matter if you have spray foam insulation. I'm not super familiar with shipping containers, but if there's no attic space (the insulation is snug to the deck), then there is nothing to ventilate and it does more harm than good.
@@rooferchicks oh wow! See, I learned something new, Thank you!
ventilation keeps both attic and shingle cooler, as well getting rid of excess moisture and odor.
Have a ridge vent but house is still to hot can I install a power vent with a ridge vent?
I don't recommend installing two different types of exhaust ventilation because they will work against each other. I would just do the power vent and skip the ridge vent. All you have to do to close off the existing ridge vent is shingle over it. I suppose you could also block it from the inside (we do that with gable vents a lot).
We have an extremely hot attic, we just did a HVAC attic mounted system. Added insulation to the attic floor. 1300 square foot home in California. OUR ROOF vents, type: 4 box hood vents for exhaust. With soffits as intakes, or screens in the eaves. On our peaks, we have Gable vents. Our attic was about 150 degrees on hot days. We have added an attic fan attached to one of the insulated the attic floor. Our attic still runs approx 30 degrees hotter then the outside temp. Should we add more exhaust vents like a power vent? Or stay with the box/hoop vent? any advice would be welcomed? Thanks for content.
According to the GAF ventilation calculator, if you have 1300 SF of attic space (this means no attached garage), then you need 312 square inches of both intake and exhaust ventilation. This is 18' of ridge vent, or 6-9 turtle (box hood) vents (depending on the type), or one power vent. I think if you are struggling, I'd recommend closing off the gable vents from the inside and either installing 18' of ridge vent or one power vent and closing off the box vents. Also, are you sure that the insulation is not blocking your intake vents? It's pretty common for that to happen and very easily (although a pain in the butt) fixed. Your attic will always be hotter than the outside temp (and warmer in winter time). The goal is to minimize it as much as possible, and good job with the insulation, because that's the true buffer to keeping your house energy efficient.
@@rooferchicks I appreciate your input. Also I mistyped. On one of the gable vents, we added an attic fan. I was hoping for better result, on the fan. I will check the soffit vents to see if the insulation is blocking the airflow. Great advice. Again, we’re running about 30 degrees hotter in the attic then the outside summer temperature, is that okay? I was told 12 to 15 degrees could be achieved. And how do you feel about radiant barriers? Because my AC system is attic mounted, we’re really trying to get the attic cooler.
@@theshow1269 Sorry it took me a couple days to respond. I reached out to an acquaintance of mine in the industry to make sure I wasn't blowing smoke up your hind end. I do love the opportunity to learn!!! In my market we set our thermostat on our air vents to come on at 110. According to Paul, your attic temp should be 10-15 degrees hotter than the outside temperature - 20 degrees is too much (so your 30 degrees is super too much). So since we get to 105 often, that means that when it's 95 outside its about 110 in the attic when our fans kick on (about 11 am right now). You might enjoy Paul with Air Vent's podcast episode 15 on this very topic.: ruclips.net/video/z7L-YcIU1x8/видео.html
PS I don't think I've mentioned but your gable vents and box vents could be short-circuiting and only circulating air and not pulling from the soffit vents. When you have too much exhaust at different heights, the lower exhaust can become an intake vent..... not what you want.....
@@rooferchicks appreciate it again. I had an attic guy trouble shoot my attic and he’s telling me that the AC ducts installed are too big and getting in the way of proper ventilation……. I mentioned I had a new AC system installed. So this guy had nothing for me…. He installed our attic fan…. Is he making excuses?
I'd like to know how you are measuring the square footage of the attic: The floor of the attic? The sections of the roof added together? It seems that the cubic footage of the attic would be a more meaningful measurement than square footage.
It's calculated by the SF of the floor area (be sure to include the garage). I didn't write the rule, I just follow it!
@@rooferchicks Thanks for answering. So to make sure I'm clear, if the attic floor square footage of two separate houses is the same, but one house has a very shallow roof pitch and another is much steeper (creating a lot more attic space), do they both rate the same amount of ventilation?
@@johnporter4628 Yes. And I understand why that doesn't feel logical!
@@rooferchicks O.k. Thanks!
My mobile home roof had styrofoam underneath metal roof deck but no decking to convert roof into shingle roof. My question is the previous metal roof had a continuous ridge vent. Now the roof contractor says it is not needed because of the styrofoam underneath the roof deck. I don’t know if I should take their their word for it.
If you have spray foam insulation on the underside of your roof deck and it's a completely closed system, your roofer is right - you should not install any roof ventilation.
@@rooferchicks No this is styrofoam panels not spray foam
@@rooferchicks styrofoam panels not spray foam the attic is not foam the roof decking over the panels.
@@salsapete2132 I don’t think it needs to be ventilated. It sounds well insulated and being a mobile home, it probably doesn’t have any attic space really for the air to even move in.
I have to replace my roof -- I have ridge vent that was done incorrectly and one contractor says I need the ridge vent replaced and just a few RVO38 vents (4). There are no soffits on this old house (big eave overhang and no room for soffits) ...Another roofer says in addition to the ridge vent I MUST HAVE a "smart vent" installed about 2' above the gutters. One of the problems is previous owner installed the ridge vent himself and did it wrong. I definitely want better ventilation but am confused by the different contractors disagreeing so strongly about how best to vent (and the differences in price are huge).
I’m curious what about your ridge vent is incorrect? I have several, but based on what you wrote. One, I would find out how many square foot of attic space you have two include the garage if you have an attached garage and go to a ventilation, calculator online and type it in and see how much ventilation they suggest. My favorite one to use is GAF, but it is not the only one. That should tell you how much of each type of ventilation you need. Two) revelations to work properly. You have to have an intake and an exhaust. If you don’t have soffit vents, we will need to use something else at the eaves of your roof to create the intake. They make shingle over intake vents that I like a lot. 3) I don’t know the size of your attic, but four of those little box RVO38 vents is not going to create a heck of a lot of ventilation. 4) I googled “smart vent” and I got a flood vent or an AC vent - so I don’t know that that is? Maybe you can get me a link?
www.gaf.com/en-us/for-professionals/tools/ventilation-calculator
5) You shouldn’t mix different types of exhaust ventilation….
In my reply I forgot to mention the square footage is about 2020 sq feet.
@@clh3239 according to GAF, you would need 27' of ridge vent OR 9 turtle vents (RV038 included) OR 8 slant back vents OR one power vent.
A lot of people have misconception or fear on recirculation caused by more vents. Think about it: what's wrong with some recirculation? Recirculation does not harm anything, it's just a bit less efficient than 'no-recirculation'. If you add a powerful active vents not far from ridge vents - there is a chance that some air vented from the active vents come from the ridgevents, but most of air vented should still come from lower area (assume enough intake vents). The ambient air coming in from the ridgevents are still cooler than the air in the attic (though not as cool as the air from soffit eaves). The end result is that a lot more hot air and heat left your attic - even though not the amount to the specification of your active vents.
If you have a box vent in middle of roof, plus soffit vents under eaves, then the box vent acts as an intake vent if there are enough ventilation at the top of roof/attic. The biggest difference is that the air from eaves is a little bit cooler. But adding a box vent in the 'dead pockets' area where air flow barely reaches does way more good to vent those area. It also helps the problem of not-enough-intake, which is a bigger issue.
Some people recommend close ridgevents if you are adding enough active vents at top of roof - to prevent recirculation. I do not like the idea because your active vents may malfunction or there is an outage and you have the electrical vents.
So feel free to add more intake and outflow vents to your roof as long as the attic gets 15F hotter than outside.
We allow a 2 foot difference in elevation for ridge vents, but more than that, you compromise the efficiency of the ventilation too much. And we will have to agree to disagree - you can definitely over ventilate a roof, especially with an electric power vent that has too much CFM for the space being ventilated. When that happens, you can suck cold air out of the air-conditioned space, especially if there's an attic access hole.
can you put box vents on both sides of roof instead of 1 side?
Yes. I just recommend you keep them at the same height/level. You see them on both sides on mobile homes often. We usually try to put all our ventilation on the slopes that cannot be seen from the street for better curb appeal.
@@amifeller doesnt the wood on the side without ventilation not last as long tho? if its out of the sun too. doesnt it work better on both sides?
so about a foot down from ridge? what about how many feet away on same side? like side by side. and can they be right across from 1 another on oposite sides of roof tho?
@@Brandon-no3vc Honestly you'd be way better off to just install ridge vent - it has more ventilation, it's more aesthetically pleasing and it leaves less holes in your roof. Is there a reason you are not doing ridge vent? Yes, put the box vents about 1' down at least, even 18" - you want them far enough away from the ridge so that if you have to do any maintenance on them you don't have to tear into the ridge. We really don't install turtle/box vents hardly ever - I would check the manufacturers installation instruction for whichever vent you buy. They should lay out all the specs they require to warranty the vents.
@@Brandon-no3vc No, it really should not affect the decking/sheathing at all, unless the vent leaks (then it will rot the decking out). I would highly recommend installing ridge vent instead of box vents - that way it's even, it looks better, it vents better, and you have less chance for leaks.
yea, I need to watch this one since I see mostly no exhaust vents on houses. Especially, those in hot humid countries. They have large vents (soffit location - under the overhang) but no exhaust vents. No static vents, power vents, whirly birds, or ridge vents. nothing. Very common. So, I'm still trying to figure out why. Must be something about hot and humid almost all year around environments.
Where are you at that you are seeing this? Here in Texas it is quite hot and humid. I think intake (soffit) vents with no exhaust won't do any good at all, because it creates no air movement.
@@rooferchicks Southeast Asia, example Bangkok. I just pulled up weather and its 82F (nighttime) but 93% humidity. It is more humid than I experienced in Texas (even Houston. lol). And, similar I don't understand why there are no exhaust vents. What I can learn so far, is that more priority is towards designs with large overhangs to keep the sun off the house walls. It is also rare to see insulation in the attic. I guess it is due to cost. I'm still trying to understand.
@@darwinjina seems with humidity like that, proper ventilation would be even more important. I'd be curious to hear what you find out!
y will u notice it on your electric bill?
It has a very minimal impact on your electric bill and 99% of our customers don't notice it (we had one once who was extremely frugal and living down to the penny and she noticed). It draws off of regular 110 power.
9" I can see, but can you really take 12"?
Are we still talking about roofing? 🤔
outtake? haha exhaust
Yes, it's called both. I learned a long time ago that different terms have different names depending on what part of the country you are in. Semantics! Same result.
feet? Meters! Fahrenheit? Celcius!
Sorry about us backwards Americans! But this means my reach is getting out there!!!!!
@@amifeller You could indicate the metrics as subtitles ...
@@svenlima I just wanted to let you know that I think this is a great suggestion and we are going to start doing this going forward. Thank you for the great idea! I honestly never considered that my videos would be viewed outside of the US!
@@amifeller My secretary will send you the bill for my consulting services ... ;-)
Greatings from Switzerland.
@@svenlima Ich war einmal in die Schweiz! Howdy to you from Texas.
Ok video, but the correct terminologies are Intake and Outlets, never OuTtake.
tomato tamata? I find many terms are different in different markets. Like laminate, dimensional, architectural shingles.