# Does ridge venting make sense if I do not have eaves/soffits?



## Ed the Roofer (Jan 27, 2007)

On a gable style home, it will help through thermal bouyancy only and not get the full effect, but it will be significantly better than standard static air mushroom vents, pot vents, turtle vents, or whatever you call them where you are from.

Ed


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## nymark (Jun 18, 2008)

Thanks. When you say gable do you mean simple. My house is basicallly a rectagular With a side vent and a roof vent witj an automatic fan. But the roof ends where the wall ends (no soffits).


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## Ed the Roofer (Jan 27, 2007)

Yes, a gable style home has the ridge board length the same length as what the eaves are.

Get rid of the fan if you do use the Ridge Vents.

Ed


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## nymark (Jun 18, 2008)

I should have been more clear and explained more. I do not have eaves. So there are no intake vents which would create the circular air flow from the eaves to the ridge. I received a bunch of quotes - the cheapest quote was from the only person who did not include the ridge vent because he said it was a waste without the eaves and I should stick with the roof fans vents (with thermostats) and one on the side of the house (it's only 1,200 sf). Is he right?


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## Ed the Roofer (Jan 27, 2007)

Oh, you made yourself pefectly clear regarding not having any eaves for soffit ventilation.

But, you did not mention that you were getting a new roof done.

That changes things dramatically.

You DO have a great and very viable option to provide lower roof intake ventilation.

There is a great product that I have been using for the past 6-7 years, called Smart Vent, by DCI Products Inc.

It is a shingle over style intake vent that gets installed on top of the plywood decking witrh a 1" wide slot cut out. It is a tapered product, which winds up being only 7/8" high at the actual eave edge and gets as thin as about 1/16" 12 inches higher on the roof.

Myself and many other roofers who care greatly about making sure that the roofs will last their warranty period of time, always refer this product.

Here is a link to the Smart Vent page with some illustrations as to how it gets installed. Almost every shingle supply house either carries it in stock, or can quickly order it fro them and in the rare circumstance that their are no local suppliers, you can contact them directly.

http://www.dciproducts.com/html/smartvent_eave.htm

Ask for either Jack or Steve Henderson and tell them that Ed The Roofer told you to contact them if you need to. Who knows, maybe I will get some brownie points?

Now, even without a soffit overhang, you have a remarkable and viable solution to provide the proper amount of exact balance between the ridge vent exhaust and the fresh air intake.

Ed

P.S. I have a post on this forum that shows photos of it getting installed on several jobs. Do an Advanced Search under the Username; Ed The Roofer" and the search phrase; "Smart Vent".


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## Ed the Roofer (Jan 27, 2007)

Here are some of the threads that some photos are located in.

Smart Vent Photos showing Balanced Roof Ventilation from Intake to Exhaust.

Ed

http://www.diychatroom.com/showthread.php?p=126471&highlight=smart+vent+photos#post126471

and another one

You will have to follow another link to the ContractorTalk Forum where I originally posted them in these next links.

http://www.diychatroom.com/showthread.php?p=119915&highlight=smart+vent+photos#post119915

This might lead you to duplicates that arew in the last one

http://www.diychatroom.com/showthread.php?p=119912&highlight=smart+vent+photos#post119912

and here too

http://www.diychatroom.com/showthread.php?p=116573&highlight=smart+vent+photos#post116573

Ed


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## nymark (Jun 18, 2008)

Awesome - thanks so much.


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## Ed the Roofer (Jan 27, 2007)

I just realized that I forgot to put that link in the previous thread to the Smart Vent manufacturer.

Here it is again and I also edited the older post to add it in there too.

http://www.dciproducts.com/html/smartvent_eave.htm

Ed


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## Grumpy (Dec 12, 2003)

One of the commonly asked questions about ventilation. Ask any manufacturer, and ridge vent should not be installed without equal or greater intake ventilation. All ventilation will work better with intake ridge vent wont work at all without it, although if you have adequate ridge vent for the size of your attic space, and you have equal intake, a ridge vent is a very very good form of ventilation. You can check www.airvent.com and www.rollvent.com for calculators and specifications.

Intake can be created a number of ways, but be careful of the products that replace gutter flashing/apron, as they are HIGHLY prone to snow backup. Also be careful of the intake vents that slide under shingles a few courses back from the gutter edge as these too allow free reign to water infiltration. When we need to create an intake we do it the hard way, but the only ways which will prevent damage from snow backup. This either means creating an overhang, or some how creating aiur flow behind the fascia. We have a number of methods, but it often falls down to budget. Most customers don't want to do it right when they find out how much it costs to do it right.


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## nymark (Jun 18, 2008)

Thanks. It sounds like I am better off staying with the old vent.


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## Ed the Roofer (Jan 27, 2007)

Ridge venting works much more continuously and more efficiently than any other type of roof exhaust vent.

Yes, it works even MORE efficiently when the proper intake ventilation is introduced into the system, because now the air will flow through the attic.

But, the same, to a much lesser degree can be stated about the cheapest and most inefficient static air exhaust mushroom vents. Even they too, will work more efficiently with proper intake ventilation, but definitely not as good as the continuous ridge vent.

Remember, the Intake Ventilation is the key and usually missing ingredient for the entire attic ventilation system.

Ed


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## nymark (Jun 18, 2008)

Would one big side vent work for intake on a 1,350 sf roof with a ridge vent? If I have a mushroom already should I leave it and add the ridge vent?


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## Ed the Roofer (Jan 27, 2007)

nymark said:


> Would one big side vent work for intake on a 1,350 sf roof with a ridge vent? If I have a mushroom already should I leave it and add the ridge vent?


I presume you are referring to a wall vent at the high point of the gable wall, right. That is called a Gable Vent if you are.

Technically per most studies and a lot of research, the usage of any other vents near the top of the roof will short-circuit the other attic ventilation systems in place.

Rely on the continuous ridge vent for the complete exhaust solution.

To make the exhaust ventilation work to its fullest capacity, you need the intake ventilation in an equal or even higher amount.

The Shingle Vent II Ridge vent provides 18 square inches of exhaust per lineal foot.

The Smart Vent Shingle Over Style Fresh Air Intake Vent provides 9 square inches per lineal foot.

Therefor, you would need both eave edge sides having the Smart Vent installed to add up to being equal the amounbt of exhaust ventilation that the ridge vent is capable of expelling.

Ed


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## nymark (Jun 18, 2008)

Great. So if I install the ridge vent and smart vent...... should I remove the mushroom and shut the gable vent?


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## Ed the Roofer (Jan 27, 2007)

Yes. Absolutely.

If you leave either one intact without blocking any airflow from them, the Ridge Vent will "Pull" its air from the path of least resistance, which could either be the nearest mushroom vent or the side wall gable vents.

Either one and then the air is not coming in from the lower and cooler portion of the air surronding the home and it is not creating a complete washing effect through the entire attic.

Ed


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