Need intake vent, but have no soffit space

Hello,

I need to install intake vents, but I have no eave’s or soffit space, my hip-roof rests right on the top of the house and there isn’t any space. What is a solution for intake. I hear that small dormer vents can be use at the base of the roof, is that possible.
I don’t want to replace roof it was installed a couple of years before we bought our house, and it is relatively new.
Help! :?

UPDATE: I’m sorry I accidentally forgot to mention that I live in Los Angeles, my house is from 1905 and aprox. 1350 sf, and my roof is a rectangular “hip-roof”.

Well since the roof is close to new there is really nothing that can be done. The contractor that you picked did not care to deal with this issue. That is not a surprize. There is a product called smart vent from DCI and a product called drip vent that could have been used. Too late for it now. A good part of the roof would have to be removed to install either product, and the ice and water shield if used would cause some problems.

Does your roof have gables? If so, you could install some gable vents, the bigger the better. Not as good as soffit vents, but they do work. I have retrofitted a house with a system like this, using gable vents and ridge vents, and it cut about $40 a month off the a/c bill.

Hi,

Where are you from.

Soffit vents is not the only way to ventilate your roof.

12ga. Solving ventilation solutions one pump at a time!

.

[quote=“Lefty”]Hi,

Where are you from.

Soffit vents is not the only way to ventilate your roof.[/quote]

I am from Los angeles, California.

The roof is at an angle on all four sides so there is no vertical area to install a gable. Would a copper or aluminium dormer vent work instead, how many should I put, and in what position? Also, would these act as “intake”, or “exit”.

I live in Los Angeles, so we don’t have ice or snow problems.

thanks

I have never heard of a dormer vent, but it certainly would work. You could build three or four dormers near the bottom of the roof, put them on the back of the house so you can’t see 'em from the front.
These would be intake vents.
Then put a ridge vent on the top for the hot air to go out. How long is the ridge?

[quote=“simonkenton”]I have never heard of a dormer vent, but it certainly would work. You could build three or four dormers near the bottom of the roof, put them on the back of the house so you can’t see 'em from the front.
These would be intake vents.
Then put a ridge vent on the top for the hot air to go out. How long is the ridge?[/quote]

Thank you so much, no I can breath a sigh of relief nowing there is some remedy, even if it isn’t 100% perfect. Dormer Vents are basically like gable vents but they are angled for pitch roofs, I’ve mainly seen them used as exaust, but this contractor on the interned uses them both for intake and exhaust, he says it just depends on positioning. Here is his web site: savenrg.com/venting.htm

I could even possibly put some of the side of my house as well, they aren’t attractive, but at this point I dont care.

My ridge on my hip-roof is approx 27 feet, and my attic floor plan is 1300 sf. So it appears that ridge venting is the preffered choice on this forum. I was just wondering is turbine venting useless? Because I could probably install those on my own allong with the dormer intake vents. The ridge vents seem a little trickier, and I would probably need a specialist. But is that is the best choice, that is what I will end up doing.

thanks again!

Hi,

Use power vents at the ridge for exhaust.

They also make a power intake vent. GAF makes them.

gaf.com/Content/GAF/RES1/ROO … ter_SS.pdf

Lolabell that savenrg.com is an impressive web site.
I must say, I almost fainted to read this guy stating that ridge vents don’t work! I have put 'em in about 12 houses!
Well, they DO work, but the guy at savenrg.com makes a good case that they are not as effective as the dormer vents.
Next chance I get, I am going to do some testing on one of our rental houses, which has a ridge vent. I will add 3 or 4 dormer vents up top and see if I get a drop in temp.
At any rate, the rest of what he says does make sense to me and I agree with him, such as, stay away from powered roof vents.
Well, why don’t you just go along with this guy’s web site.
Put 4 dormer vents at the bottom of your roof, and four at the top. Put em in the back so they can’t be seen, for they are ugly.
Each vent has 97 inches of free ventilation. This is 2/3 of a square foot per dormer vent. So this would give you 5 1/3 square feet total of ventilation.
I infer that you now have NO roof ventilation. You live in LA, you will not believe the difference in AC costs.

savenrg.com is an impressive web site.”

Yeah, whew! He makes a great case…for the stuff he’s selling.

Boy needs to take a first year physics class before he starts saying what defys physics, sheesh.

[quote=“Tar Monkey”]“savenrg.com is an impressive web site.”

Yeah, whew! He makes a great case…for the stuff he’s selling.

Boy needs to take a first year physics class before he starts saying what defys physics, sheesh.[/quote]

Well, actually… I don’t believe he is selling those particular products, so I doubt he has any vested interest in people using them or not. At some point he mentions something like “I don’t personally supply these, but you can buy them at any Home Depot”

either way, it’s interesting.

“Well, actually… I don’t believe he is selling those particular products…”

Look again.

.

actually he says theyre available at home depot,but by his ridge vent logic,hot air would get trapped at the top of his vent and not(by some universal force)go down thru the louvre slats,also its hard for cool outside air to be pulled in from a roofvent over the attic—just playing w/his logic–that should work!

I personally like the touch of his vents with ridge vent about a foot away. It turns the ugly vents he sells into an intake and cuts off 90 percent of the roof. Mr wizard at it again. If he understood how ridge vent worked then he might think differently. And yes i have smoke tested homes and you know it works just fine. But hey maybe i smoked to much crack in the last 2 weeks to know any better. This guy is just trying to sell his vents. Those will never work in a snow area. They will bring in more snow than anything. The vents are designed small and low profile for a reason. Not to mention all the rain it will let in. This guy is a goof.

He doesn’t ship the ugly dormer vents but if you read further he is selling the other products like power fans, thermal barrier and whatnot.

Tar i did not have time to read all of his BS. He is full of chit

wow, ok… you guys really get yourself kind of wound up over this stuff. This forum can get a little nasty, I probably should just quit while Iamb ahead to stay out of the insult firing range, but I do need to get some helpful advise. I’m just looking for a roof solution, that’s all. I probably should worn this guy that you might be waiting outside his house with a baseball bat. Anyway, I just thought his of his idea was interesting, because he offers a solution for people who have no soffit space. and after the first replier gtp1003 basically told me I had no remedy for my problem, and that basically I was totally screwed, it’s nice to see some other options.

yes, it is ugly, and it does use up most of the roof. But if it was for gtp1003 he feels I need to tare down the whole roof, so, who cares anyway. also, regarding the snow/ice proplems, I guess it’s not an issue because we live in L.A., and the guy lives in Phoenix, so maybe he mailnly deal with snow free homes. So it’s not an issue. Either way, I’m not totally convinced about his anti ridge-vent philosopy, but as far as using the dormer vent’s at the base of the roof, as intake, in place of soffits, it sounds good. Along with the ridge vent’s up above. It’s that, or replacing the whole roof which came whith the house and is only a few years old.

Gentlemem, Your poking and jabbing I must say is entertaining, but with the ecception of a couple of people I’m not sure if I got any help.

It’s easy to say, what you are doing wrong. But how about, what to do right for a change.

Hi Lolabell,

Nice comments.

There are a variety of solutions to your problems.

Ridge vent is a product that should be used alone.

Those other vents should work fine. It would be nice to see a better veiw of the louvers on the front of those vents.