# Ridge Cap Venting Issues - Poor Ventilation??



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

What type ridge did they install?
If it's Cobra vent then that's part of your problum.
There worthless.
How far did they open up the roof at the peak?
A ridge vent is useless if you also have gable vents or any other type venting.
Those power vents should have been removed when the ridge went on.
All those power vents are just drawing in air from the ridge vents not from the soffits.
It would be nice to see a picture of the soffit vents you have now.
The attic should have been air sealed any place there's ceiling lights, or fans, any place wiring or plumbing was run through the top plates.
There should have been baffles to keep the soffit vents clear of insulation.

Sure you have enough insulation up there?
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home_sealing.hm_improvement_insulation_table


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## askeyb (Feb 5, 2013)

*Ridge Cap Venting bad and poor ventilation*

What tryp ridge did they install?

Askeyb: I am not sure. It was the third ridge cap venting. It has a scotch pad looking black material. Roofing was installed over it.

If it's Cobra vent then that's part of your problum.
There worthless.
How far did they open up the roof at the peak?

askeyb: I think a couple inches on each side.

A ridge vent is useless if you also have gable vents or any other type venting.

askeyb: The roofer today told me they should of never installed ridge cap venting with the fans already installed on the roof. The contractor that did the roof even had me buy humidity thermostats for the fans so I would be protected against heat or moisture. The fans never came on till recently and last week ran for almost 24 hours and again today for about 10 minutes.

Those power vents should have been removed when the ridge went on.
All those power vents are just drawing in air from the ridge vents not from the soffits.
It would be nice to see a picture of the soffit vents you have now.
The attic should have been air sealed any place there's ceiling lights, or fans, any place wiring or plumbing was run through the top plates.
There should have been baffles to keep the soffit vents clear of insulation.

askeyb: one of the previous owners had insulation blown into the attic and they didn't put card board barriers in to block insulation from covering the eve vents or suffits. My wife and I went around the house blowing out the suffits. The one area I had to go into the attic and remove wood that had been placed over the suffits. Interesting is that the original roof did not have a moisture problem even with what was found. The contractor blamed the problem in 2008 to the suffits and suffits that had been covered. The contractor had holes drilled and round vents installed for more ventilation. I was told that those little round vents are worthless.

Another issue I was told is wrong is a mushroom vent was used on the roof for the bath room vent. The vent hose is wired to the struts and pointed into the vent. Contractor told me that a round vent that the hose clamps to should of been installed.

Sure you have enough insulation up there?

askeyb: I believe I do have enough insulation but more would probably be better. The current blown in installation is as deep and a little over the framing on the bottom of the attic. You can still see where to place your foot when in the attic and it looks pretty deep. I would describe the material as looking like worm bedding.

Attached is a picture I took today. You can see the ridge cap venting material, black at top. You can see the mold in the plywood. And the sky lite with nothing around it. The vent to the bath room is barely visible but you can see the open vent on the left side of the picture.

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home_sealing.hm_improvement_insulation_table[/QUOTE]


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

That style vent is so bad all my supplyers have stopped selling it.
http://www.airvent.com/pdf/literature/PAVbooklet.pdf


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## jagans (Oct 21, 2012)

1. There are no wide angle pictures of your house so we can see the roof construction, or type of roof installed.
2. You do not say where you are from, or what the mean temperatures are.
3. You dont say what type of insulation or what R-Value you have.
4. There are no close ups of the ridge or the eaves.

You do say you have Cobra, which is worse than nothing, as it increases the chance of ridge cap blow-off.

I do see the fan you have installed. That might make a marginal difference in a dog house, based on its size.

By the way. are you venting a clothes dryer into your attic?

Instead of having people pull the answers out of you one at a time, and speculating what is wrong, do you think you could just post some pictures, and relevant information?


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## askeyb (Feb 5, 2013)

I live 30 miles south of Portland, Oregon in what is called the Willamette Valley. 

Temp winter seems to be around 35 to 40. Wet rainny winter with snow a couple times each year.

I really don't know the insulation R-Value. The main house is a blown in material that seems fairly deep. Looks like worm bedding.

Over the room that use to be a garage is a false ceiling with think layers of insulation. Some areas are over lapping so double layer.

The bathroom vent is the only vent going through the attic. The contractor didn't install a vent that the vent hose connects to. The bath room vent hose is wired to the struts end slightly into the vent. I was told that is not good.

Attached are six pictures. Let me know if these show you what you need to see.

1. There are no wide angle pictures of your house so we can see the roof construction, or type of roof installed.
2. You do not say where you are from, or what the mean temperatures are.
3. You dont say what type of insulation or what R-Value you have.
4. There are no close ups of the ridge or the eaves.

You do say you have Cobra, which is worse than nothing, as it increases the chance of ridge cap blow-off.

I do see the fan you have installed. That might make a marginal difference in a dog house, based on its size.

By the way. are you venting a clothes dryer into your attic?

Instead of having people pull the answers out of you one at a time, and speculating what is wrong, do you think you could just post some pictures, and relevant information?[/QUOTE]


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## jagans (Oct 21, 2012)

Looks like your neighbors have the same setup. Do they have problems? Looks like you have a lot of green mold on the sheathing over by what appears to be a triple wall flue stack, and Im not getting that ridge cap at all with what appears to be foam between ridge caps.

It appears that you do have a severe lack of through ventilation in the attic space


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## askeyb (Feb 5, 2013)

Looks like your neighbors have the same setup. Do they have problems? Looks like you have a lot of green mold on the sheathing over by what appears to be a triple wall flue stack, and Im not getting that ridge cap at all with what appears to be foam between ridge caps.

It appears that you do have a severe lack of through ventilation in the attic space. 

askeyb:That is what I have decided. also right after install the attic fans run if we get 70 degree weather. I did call about that and nothing was done or checked.

We are the only house with ridge cap venting in the neighborhood. no one else is having mjoisture isses.

Does the eve venting look ok? They did add those round vents.


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## HomeSealed (Jan 3, 2008)

Are those little holes the only venting that you have in the soffit? To me it looks like a combination of lack of ventilation + lack of air-sealing and that bathroom exhaust being improperly ducted. Certainly you want any warm, moist air that gets into the attic to be moved out, however you really want to keep that warm air from leaving your conditioned living space in the first place.


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## askeyb (Feb 5, 2013)

Are those little holes the only venting that you have in the soffit? To me it looks like a combination of lack of ventilation + lack of air-sealing and that bathroom exhaust being improperly ducted. Certainly you want any warm, moist air that gets into the attic to be moved out, however you really want to keep that warm air from leaving your conditioned living space in the first place.

Askeyb: The original suffit vents are the slotted with screen. The contractor added the round vents after the roof was installed. The plan which I didn't know and if told would of made sure got done, was that as the plywood was removed a pre-screened 2x4 was supposed to replace some of the suffits that were not vented between the struts. The contractor didn't check till after the job was done. 

I believe the problem as decribed to me is that moisture and warm air is trapped in the attic. Being that the ridge cap venting never did work correctly and also had attic fans and vents should of never been installed. I was told it was the greatest way to go and it has been a headache ever since being installed. Each time the ridge cap was replaced I was told this will work and it hasn't.


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## PatChap (Nov 17, 2012)

Looks to me like they over compressed the ridge vent, possibly gun nailed a vent that was meant to be hand nailed. I've also seen this happen if guys sit on the ridge while they cap it. That style of vent does work, it just isn't as good as a plastic one, more likely to clog.


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## Gary in WA (Mar 11, 2009)

How uniformly will the roof be ventilated by a given product? Will some roof areas or rafter bays be left un-vented?
 Looking at a linear foot of a typical thick mesh-type ridge vent and before considering that power-nailing compresses the mesh to further reduce airflow: From; http://www.inspectapedia.com/interiors/atticcond10.htm


The 3- 2" circular soffit vents supply 2.5 NFVA for all three. lol. That is about 1/3 of what you need, if they were not painted shut. The slot vent is about 1"x16" ? for about 13NFVA if it was not blocked by the fiberglass, as pictured. Figure your requirements: http://www.airvent.com/homeowner/products/intakeSoffit-specs.shtml


http://www.blocktheheat.com/ventproblems.htm


Gary
PS. you have an excessive moisture problem and ineffective venting, find the source...


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Those small round vents are doing next to nothing being that close to the area that should have been covered with insulation, the venting needed to be in the soffits.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...057485D177D796C3187AF90678002&selectedIndex=8

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...4F4306BDD83B2A1F6767A8EB63AF0&selectedIndex=7


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## PAHome (Feb 16, 2012)

I wish you the best of luck, below is a link that will explain why you should not mix a power vent and a ridge-vent. 

http://www.airvent.com/pdf/literature/VentViews_InstallTips.pdf


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## HomeSealed (Jan 3, 2008)

askeyb said:


> I believe the problem as decribed to me is that moisture and warm air is trapped in the attic. Being that the ridge cap venting never did work correctly and also had attic fans and vents should of never been installed.


Correct... Joe, Gary and myself have all also identified the fact that you can and should mitigate the warm, moist air in there by fixing the source (heat loss from the conditioned living space/improperly vented exhaust fan), in addition to getting the venting taken care of.


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## Misty2177 (Mar 29, 2016)

Im hoping to get ahold of the original poster of this thread although i know its old. Thanks I will be posting my own thread as well.


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## jagans (Oct 21, 2012)

Did you get an answer to your question?


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