Attic Ventilation | Roofing Mythbusters Series – Episode #3 | Skywalker Roofing Company
Roofing expert Luke Wilson explains the importance of ridge vents, soffit vents, and why proper ventilation matters to the health of your attic and your overall roofing system.
In the future do you mind putting links to the other Episodes in the video series in the video description, please? I just stumbled across Episode 3 and had to go hunt down Part 1 to get started. It’s very helpful to update the earlier episode info to contain links to the newee episodes too! Thanks! 🙂
Jesse, I will try to work on that in the future. Sorry, I’m not very tech savvy. I’m about to release a new one next week about rake trim and I’ll make sure to put that in.
When we had our house resided I had them remove the gable vents and install ventilated soffits. The roof was done in 2016 and I think it has a ridge vent. I can see the plywood was cut shy of the peak but does a ridge vent have an actual piece of plastic installed or is it just a way of laying shingle to allow the air to escape?
There should be a plastic shingle over style vent under the shingle caps that allows the air to flow out. You probably should see a small black shadow line under the cap from the ground to confirm it’s there.
this is a great video and very good helpful replies in this thread. Sadly my home is the opposite to most of yours, – 1790s 2 foot thick stone walls, with room temperatures of 54f in winter and 54f in summer. I’ve lost the will to live
I’m sorry to here you’re struggling. I know that God loves you and he has a plan for you, keep your head up!!!!
What do you do when you have no ventilation whatsoever? Inspector says it should be a ridge vent roof but there is no cutouts or openings in the roof at all to even install a ridge vent.
You should never put a ridgevent if there is no soffit vent in place. The air has to come in before it can go out. Some inspectors might not have the proper knowledge of ventilation. If your home was built many years ago and shows no sign of sweat or ventilation issues, leave it like the original home builder designed it. Sometimes we can do more damage than good changing the original design.
I just had my roof replaced and had requested ridge vents when the contract was being drawn up. The roof was replaced yesterday and ridge vents were installed … but the roofers also replaced the existing pair of box vents on one section with new ones as well! Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of the ridge vent I paid for? The roofers tried to claim they observed some sort of ducting in the area of the box vent openings and presumed the vents were dedicated for some special purpose. The only ducting in the ceiling space (there is no attic or crawlspace) is for an A/C vent that’s located in the ceiling approximately halfway between the two exterior box vents. Won’t combining box vents and a ridge vent result in the box vents becoming air inlets now? Won’t they “short circuit” the soffit vents?
@Skywalker Roofing Company Thank you. The scheduler is supposed to be out her in the morning, I’ll discuss this with him then.
You are correct, the box vents can disrupt the airflow from the soffit to the ridge. It is common to have existing bathroom fans or dryer vents attached to some sort of box vent, but if they aren’t attached to anything I would recommend removing them when using a ridgevent. If you go to the manufacturers website you can usually find something on ventilation to help support your claim. Let me know if I can help further.
Im framing a granny flat with a skillion roof (single pitch). What type of ventilation system would you reccomend? Thanks for the help
Ok
@Skywalker Roofing Company I keep seeing soffit installation videos that say to level over from the bottom of the overhang of your roof to the wall and install your J channel there, this makes sure when the soffit is installed it’s horizontal. You can’t do this on the high part of a skillion roof because the over hang is higher than the wall, it also looks kind of dopey on the short wall. Do soffits need to be horizontal on a skillion roof? What do you do in this case?
If its an overhang on the bottom and the top, you could have vented soffit on both and it should flow in the bottom and out the top.
So today I was talking with a contractor asking him about ways to keep my house cooler, I have a cape style home. So he said to me that he installed an attic fan and it keeps his home really cool, so I told him I have a ridge vent with the soffit and I don’t think I can install an attic fan along with ridge vent. He said it was ok to have both! But to my knowledge it’s one or the other not two. My home needs some insulation, so once it’s done I should feel a big difference temperatures wise. My second floor is really hot or extremely cold during the seasons, hopefully some insulation will fix my issue. Now is there anything I can do to draw more hot air out my attic in the summer?
Skywalker Roofing Company I checked and I could see light all the way down to the soffits, insulation isn’t blocking , I’m gonna get a company in to check it out and see what I can do to make house warmer or keep the conditioned air in. Definitely needs insulation, it’s old and flat now.
I would just make sure that there is no obstructions from the eave to the ridge for the air to flow. Sometimes insulation is packed in to tight and needs to be pulled back off the soffits. Also make sure the soffit vents aren’t put over wood that isnt cutout properly, I’ve seen that alot.
I live in N. Arizona..its very dry here. We have all 4 seasons as well. My house was built in 55′ it does not have vented soffits. I think just two vents on either side of the house. I have no idea how old or what type of insulation is up there. Q,1. I bought some R-tech 1″ insulation borad I was gonna nail to the rafters. (Like drywall.) Woukd that help reduce heat? Q,2 should I replace my insulation? Q,3 can I put in a vented soffit or maybe vented soffit every X feet?
The best option in my opinion would be to put soffit vents in and upgrade insulation. Make sure not to block soffit vents when insulating. There are several online roof ventilation calculators to determine what kind of intake and exhaust vents to use and how many. It is recomended to have 50/50 split
i had my wood soffits covered with aluminum siding to make it maintenance free from painting and they didnt cut any holes for venting,without ripping out all my new soffit siding what could i do to add venting and it look good
Patrick, they should have used a vented soffit panel under your overhang. If they didnt I would go back to the installer and ask why. They should never cover up soffit vents without using vented panels. Hope this helps.
Question for you. My home/attic has a ridge vent and two end gable vents. It does not have soffit vents. Do you think I should install soffit vents? The home is a 50ft straight ranch style home located in New York.
@MrBababuwi It is published in all manufacturer recomendations that if you add a ridge vent, you should close off the gable vents. If not, the air pathway through the attic will be short-circuited, flowing only from the gable vents to the ridge vent and NOT ventilating the lower part of the attic.
@Skywalker Roofing Company That’s wrong, gable vent should never be blocked. According to your weak analogy about fire- air that flows in, should flow out.
Yes, the air flow is designed to flow in the eave and out the ridge on a ridge vent system. Previously before the ridge vent, it was only the gable vents. The gable vents should be blocked off as well for it to perform the best. You can go to several sites on the internet to get the proper amount of intake required for your brand of ridge vent. Hope this helps.
I requested ridge venting and soffit vents. I know the perforated soffit vents were installed, but how can a homeowner tell if a ridge vent is there? If the plywood doesn’t go to the peak – is that enough proof?
Yes, you can go in the attic and the plywood should stop 1-2″ from the ridge on both sides and shingles not covering this area. Looking from the outside you should see a black raised 1″ lip across the ridge with shingles on top of it. That’s the plastic shingle over vent. Feel free to send me some photos and I’ll help.
Some of the contractors who gave me a free inspection told me that ridge vent is not a good idea for my roof which is not flat or too steep. Are they right? For the ventilation work properly, do I need to install inflow vents as well? My roof only has some Soffit Vents. Appreciate your input ASAP as I’m in the process of having my roof done. Great video! Thank you.
@Skywalker Roofing Company Thank you.
@Binh Minh Pham We have thousands of roofs with ridgevents installed with no problems at all. The only time I would see the pitch being a factor is if its below a 3/12 pitch or over a 14/12. Your roof pitch is perfect for this.
@Skywalker Roofing Company They said a ridge vent causes a lot of problems to homeowners, and my 7-pitch roof is not high enough to have a ridge vent installed.
I’m not sure why they would have said it wasn’t a good idea for your roof. There could be many reasons, but they should’ve told you. If you have soffit vents now, and the air can flow freely from the eave to the ridge it should be the best option in my opinion.
When venting
Which type is best to use whirlybird, low profile vent, ridge vent or attic fan?
I live in central California.
If you have a ranch style home where the soffits and ridge are similar length, the ridge vent is best. I’m not a fan of the whirly birds, if you have a hip roof that doesn’t have enough ridge to vent I recommend a good power fan. Try to use one with a humidistat so when the temperature is too low it will still run when the humidity is high.
My preferred contractor wants to install ridge vents in certain sections of my roof. He also suggested having 2 turbines installed in a section that is unsuitable for ridge vents. But this section already has a 1500 CFM Power Roof Mount Attic Fan. He said it’s okay to install the turbines just beneath it (picture a triangle section with the electric one at the top; two turbines at the bottoms). I’m not sure such a system will work because the turbines will turn into intake vents, instead of exhaust vents, when the electric vent is on. I appreciate your advice asap. Thank you.
@Skywalker Roofing Company I thought all roofing contractors know what they’re doing. I’ll ask the roofer NOT to mix exhaust vent types within a common attic area. Too bad your company doesn’t provide services in Texas. Thank you very much for your help.
You are absolutely right. The turbines arent designed for air to flow in and that’s what would happen when the fans cut on.
Hi, I had a shingle roof and the roofer cut slits down the capping in 8ft sections and put metal roofing with 3/4 styrofoam. But when they put the capping, they used the rubber seals along underneath it. They said it would vent though the metal roof ridges. This was about 10 years ago this was done. We have been smelling mildew every one’s and a great while. I just recently found out what the problem was. Roof not ventilating. Was thinking of putting solar attic vents. My roof is 80ft long. It’s a 16 wide mobile home. How many should I put? Thanks
@Dale Bourgeois Yes, 2 or 3 fans will be more than sufficient, but please just make sure you buy fans that are made for close to the same square footage of your attic. It is also a good idea to buy the fans that also have a humidistat also. This allows the fan to run in moist damp conditions in the winter time as well.
@Skywalker Roofing Company Thankyou, That’s what I was hoping
@Dale Bourgeois It is possible one power fan will be enough. There are fans that will vent up to 3,200 sq ft.
@Skywalker Roofing Company Thank for the reply, my overhang on the roof is vented about 2 inches the whole length of the roof, 80ft. I dont remember how many roof vents were there before the metal roof. But do you think 2 or 3 fan vents is enough?
Dale, every fan is different. They will list how many square feet they are supposed to vent. If you measure the length and width of your home and multiply it will give you that number. It is very important that your intake is correct. Some sort of soffit vent needs to be in place and the right amount. There are tons of roof ventilation calculators on line you can find to use for that. Hope this helps
The continuous roof vent is a bad idea in eaerthquake country as it compromises the integrity if the roof diaphragm- better to have discrete vents, preferable a few solar powered type
Re roofing 100+ year old, 2 1/2 store with cathedral/vaulted ceilings with finished attic space. Previously, aluminum soffits wither perforated vents spaced every 7′, however holes not cut out in the wood above, so no ventilation. We are going to cut approx 4″ x 10″ space above those vents, but can’t get to the outside edge. Insulation on the floor of attic space is batt insulation. Was suggested to use a baffle, but don’t know that will work as the baffle would be away from the roofline. Is there a problem with simply having the ventilation improved by cutitng out fair size hole and having a ridge mount vent for intake/outake but not having something to direct the flow of air? from soffit vent to ridge mount vent or is it natural the air will find it’s way up?
@Skywalker Roofing Company Could it be that we have a finished attic space. Our attic is a bit different than video
@Skywalker Roofing Company Thank You for your reply. We have a very steep sloped roof ( 9 or 10 pitch). I wonder why the roofer, who is very well respected, did not suggest this. Thoughts? They use GAF & their system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9y0EVXDaog
Check this link out. We use Owens Corning edgevent at the eave when you can’t get ventilation through the soffit. Let me know if this helps.
I have a home that has no eaves at all. Just roof vents. Is there a way to fix this?
Victor, yes there are ways to have intake and exhaust on your roof with no eaves. We use Owens Corning Vent Sure inflow vent any time we can in that situation. Check out this link and see if helps. If not, let me know and I’ll be glad to help answer any questions. https://www.owenscorning.com/en-us/roofing/products/inflow-vent
Hi, my ranch style house has a roof that was installed just about 3 yrs ago. Previously, the roof had powered fans to vent the air coming through the soffit vents. When the current roof was added, it was changed over to a ridge vent, of which it is continuous 35 ft ridge vent. There are two shorter ridges about 20 ft over the two smaller BR’s and the garage. I’m not sure that is enough venting for my continuous soffit vents, and I know I should do the calculations to see if I need more ridge vents added to the two shorter ridges. My question is, if I do need more ridge vents added, is it feasible to just add more ridge vents to the existing roof without having to redo the whole roof? It seems to me since the ridge vent is almost the last part to be completed on a shingled roof, it should be fairly easy to more ridge vents to an existing roof. Thanks for your videos, they are very good.
Thanks for your comment, yes if the calculations say you need more ridge vent it is very simple to come back and put it on later. Yes, you will pay more for this after the roof is installed than during, but with a 3 year old roof I wouldn’t redo everything. Make sure the air intake and exhaust are balanced to have optimal ventilation.
Hello, I have a 50,s style home where there are no soffits but only the exposed roof rafters around the house. As of now the home has only one gable vent 2’x2’ .
There’s no real source of fresh air coming in . Since I’ve bought the home I’ve add in the attic central gas heat and air , gas water heater. Now my concern is not enough fresh air nor enough venting.
Any advice on how much intake and exhaust I would need. I’m about 1500sqft under roof. And any suggestions on how to get fresh air in. It’s very narrow where the roof meets the exterior walls to get vents between the rafters . Would roof vents low on the roof line work or just a lot of small ones work in the tight areas? So figuring out an adequate number of Sq inches to achieve an adequate intake would Help I’d recon .
https://www.owenscorning.com/en-us/roofing/components/vent-calculator
Here is a link to a ventilation calculator that we like to use. Just plug in your sq ft of attic space then it will tell you what items will work on your home. When we can’t get soffit vents on old homes, we use Owens Corning Inflow vent. I’ll also attach a link below for that as well. In this link you will find all the technical data you need. I hope this helps. Let me know if you need anything else.https://www.owenscorning.com/en-us/roofing/products/inflow-vent