Poor Ventilation Advice

Grumpy

I was speaking with a home owner, a competitor roofer decided too bid ridge vent. On this person's house a ridge vent would normally be a great idea, however he has zero overhang, so no intake ventilation. As you may know ridge vent only works with equal or greater intake ventilation.

I spent half an hour trying to explain to the home owner why that the ridge vent is usually a better method of ventilation, however not in his case because he has no intake.

What do you guys do for ventilation when bidding on new roofs but there is no intake? Typically I just bid mushroom vents as the exhaust. Actually I try to upsell the creation of some intake but if it's not in the budget I am left with only one option, mushroom/breather vents.

Any advice?

Ron in So. Md.

That would be my opinon as well
I have seen the cheap inserts installed in the fachia @ the lower gutter edge

Grumpy

yeah the fascia vents are all pretty much garbage. We've designed and built a decent working fascia vent system but it's totally custom and costs about $25 a foot installed. The cost is pretty much all labor. Most home owners won't spring for that.

jmorgan

With any luck there are gable end vents. Then I would do nothing. Otherwise, I agree...the turtle vents are the best you can do. Good soffet venting is too expensive for most homeowners.
Jim

Grumpy

Gable vents are often times far inadequate for the attic space. This is the case in this situation. The gable vents are 22" square... even if they were of adequate size I still like to put a fan on one side, OR a roof fan, then the gables become intake.

Teetorbilt

Grumpy, I have to re roof one of my homes and an architect buddy of mine is really pushing me into a new system called 'conditioned space'.
The entire attic space is sealed and insulated with spray in foam and there is some sort of a bypass in the A/C system to handle the accumulated moisture.
The info sounds good and it's great for bug infiltration but I'm a little leery given the humidity here in FL. The house has survived since 1980 with ridge and soffit vents, no rot or termites.
Your input?

Grumpy

I've heard of similar type systems but don't know much about them as a whole. I do know that the foam is typically SPF. I don't see why this won't work, the key is to making sure the whole thing is sealed.

A simple dehudifier with some kind of drainage can handle the mousture, but what about uneven air tempratures? I ask myself is SPF THAT good an insulator? Well in florida Ice damns aren't a problem so it just might work.

Teetorbilt

They are using a PU foam. And yes, a total seal is required.
Something just seems wrong. Am I just getting too old?

Grumpy

LOL everytime something new hits the market we are skeptical. We still don't use most synthetic roofing underlayments (felts). I don't like when something is "new and improved" every season. I have to ask what was wrong with last years product, or the year's before that.

Your ahead of the game!

Teetorbilt

As long as you are here, I was talking to a roofing contractor about metal roofing and longevity. I pointed out many of our homes that have been around for 100 yrs. or so and he mentioned that they had membranes under the metal. What is this? If it lasts for 100 yrs. I want it!
I'm getting old and if I can have a roof installed that will last the rest of my life, I'm all over it. (have a twenty something son) Means 'on top of it'. LOL

Grumpy

90lb felt probably. It's was very common to use under tile roofs of all kinds. On many tile roofs, it's actually the felt that is the water protection. Most tile roofs are now covered with Ice shield of one kind or another.

If you want a roof that will last the rest of your life, think slate. Put some Grace down first, cover it with some natural slate and your roof will be holding true long after I'm gone.

Teetorbilt

The first house that Dad and I built was stone with a slate roof. The roof came from a church that they were tearing down. My mother went by there a few years ago and said that it looked just the way it did originally.
PS, I'm in So. FL and to the best of my knowledge ice is not much of a problem down here. LOL

Grumpy

Interesting. I helped my Dad install reclaimed hard wood floors from a house they were tearing down across the alley to make way for a church parking lot.

Unregistered

This has been a problem in the past now there is a great product for intake for homes with no overhangs Check it out at www.everflovent.com
"The Inhaler"

Grumpy

As far as the exhaust goes, there are 100 products similiar on the market.


This is the first of these types of ventilation products I've seen that doesnt risk Ice backup because the intake comes from the bottom. Interesting. I'm bidding on a project right now where this may become useful.

atulc

It has been a couple of years since there was any activity on this discussion thread.

Grumpy and others, have you had any experience working with the "inhaler vent" from Ever-Flo Vent? I would like to hear of any first-hand experience with this product for intake roof venting on older homes with no soffit.

This product provides a little less ventilation area than most ridge vents. Ridge vents require about 9 square inches of intake venting per linear foot. The inhaler vent provides 7-1/2 square inches per L.F. How do you fix this mismatch?

I need to use the inhaler vent or something similar at the soffitless eave and a roof-wall junction vent along the the top edge of a roof addition. Is the use of a vented roof-wall junction recommended in areas that often receive 6-12 inches of snow several times each winter? Would there be any water leakage issues with melting snow or rain?

Thanks,
atulc

Kirktheroofer

Have you tried vented drip edge? We are required to use this in certain cities.
airvent.com/homeowner/products/intake-ventedDE.shtml

Grumpy

Vented drip edge is a sham when used with gutter. Even the guys at Airvent acknowledge it WILL clog with snow... When asking them about it at the seminar all I got was blank faces and a quick change of the subject. I pressed harder and said if snow can clog it, can't snow back into it? More blank faces then one of the "marketing" guys assured me it couldn't happen. I laughed and allowed them to press on. Bad idea for snow regions.

Kirktheroofer

I was of the same train of thought when we first installed the vented drip edge. We went round and round with the inspector, but since youy can't fight city hall, Like I said we are required to use this product in certain cities, so begrudgingly we installed it. Our first installation was about 10 years ago and have not had any call backs. I do not believe that the ice and snow can get under the roofing due to the configuration of the metal. I do although agree with you on the fact that it is useless when covered with snow. Here in Michigan we have quite a bit of snow although we rarely have snow that stays on the roof for more than a couple of weeks at a time.

When given the option of not ventilating the eaves or using the drip edge vent that will work 95% of the time, I will always choose the latter until I find a better solution.

supercrew

ive NEVER heard of vented drip edge....i personally have never built/redone a house with a completely o" overhang....i would think that winter(snow) would not effect the "breathing" of the attic....since the use of gable/ridge/turtle?? vents is to let out hot air.....isnt that the reasoning to insulate the ceiling???so hot doesnt escape thru it????and if that being the case....isnt the extra layer of "insulation" kinda desirable?????

the first guy i worked for ALWAYS commented on the ventin/insulation of a building by how much snow was left by the amount of snow left onna roof a few days later....

was he SNOWIN me??????