Guys,
I am back again. The roofer installed the ‘ridge vent’ simply by cutting a ridge at the top (3-4 inches) and laying the thick ‘plastic mesh’ on the opening. (Sorry I don’t know what the mesh/ brillo-like filter material is called).
I do not see a plastic vent. And now that I am looking at pictures from a recent post on this site, my question is “Is the way my roofer installed a ‘vent’ correct/acceptable?”
Can you have a ridge vent, with no physical vent… just the vent material.
Also, at the ‘butt-ends’ of the ridge, there is no opening.The shingles are completely capping the roof… NO Vent.
Therefore, the only ventilation I can see this getting is from the the ridge shingles which seem to bee sitting SLIGHTLY higher, and not as ‘tacked down’ as the other roof shingles. Comments???
You guys are GREAT. Thanks for taking the time to help. .
He put in a different type / style of ridge vent… I suspect it’s something like the Cobra Exhaust Vent (gaf.com/Content/Documents/20424.pdf).
IMO, it’s not as effective because it doesn’t allow for as much free moving air - it’s a bit more restrictive than the Cobra II or III or Snow Country (all by GAF).
Tmonkey’s picture is exactly correct. So it must be the Cobra Ridge vent.
Should I request an additional aluminum box- type vent be installed on each roof?? (My GC should be telling ME this stuff!!!) But If you guys think so, please inform me.
If the GC decides to install an additional aluminum vent on each roof at my request, it will certainly be at a cost to me. At this point what might that cost be?? Should that cost have been included in the original job price?? Again, I am aware that some of you previously said that a ridge-vented roof should have no other vents (other than soffits), but at this point I do not think there is actually soffit venting, and it sounds like the cobra does not do the trick. Too late for me at this point, but still looking for a solution. (if one is needed)
Or should I just Install some type of fan that kicks on at certain temps. I could possibly have this installed on the attic’s vents which are on the ‘side’ of the house/attic, not the roof. (again more costs).
Please keep in mind that each attic is now holding central air ductwork/handlers/etc…, as we just installed 2 zone central AC.
(The Central Air flexible ductwork will bring me to my next true PROBLEM, but I cannot yet post a picture, and it is difficult to describe. I will try to expalin in another post, later.)
no, no, no…to the aluminum vents. you answered your own question, no mix of exhaust vents with a ridge!!! it will counter balamnce and draw in moisture. as far as power vents…im not sure, i dont use them.
From your description the vent is on correctly, it is just not the vent you envisioned…
Cobravent is one of my last choices for ridgevents but the stuff does work.
I would be more concerned that they put Timberlines on my roof…
Leave the workers alone, you obviously don’t have a clue …
Don’t mix vents
Axiom,
You are right. If I had a clue, I wouldn’t need this website.
‘Beggers can’t be choosers’ so I will take your advice in any form I can get it. But telling me ‘leave the workers alone and I haven’t got a clue’ , serves no purpose other than to tell the world you had a lousy day.
OK, I can type more now that the 9 month old is back asleep & I have two hands for the keyboard.
The INTAKE BOOSTER fan will blow air in; you install it @ the lower parts of the roofline, i.e. about 4’ up from the support wall line.
Since it’s self powered, when the sun is up it’s always working. Hot air rises & even on the worst day, the attic space will be warmer (by a lot) than the outside air temps. This means cooler air in low, hot air being forced out high.
If you can get one soon, you might be able to get your work crew to install one before they finish (they retail for around $ 170.00 @ Home Depot, but good luck finding the INTAKE vs. the exhaust variety).
Hello,
You know the saying, Everyone has an Opinion>>
Heres Mine.
The Cobra Roll Vent will work ok, But like others, I prefer not to use it.
The Nailing needs to be as to not smash the netting tight, for it to function.
You need to decide if for your roof attic area,if you believe you have enough venting to satisfy yourself and the comfort zone your attempting to reach.
for example : I have a small one story ranch with a 8/12 pitch to it, North Carolina Area of weather, one main roof pitch, one gable roof pitch into it on rear, and main upper roof pitch on addition. I have Cobra Vent, 3 thermostatically controlled power fans, the gable end framed Vents, and Continuous Soffit Vents.The roof has 50year architectural shingles on it.The roofing is 18 years old and still looking Great.no problems.
its still warm in attic but all this seams to help dramatically.
In the addition I have a second Air system in the attic space with the ducts running through it. Have not had any issues at this point. system is 8 years old.
I am shaking my head with mixing exhaust sources. Cobra like that is junk. It only flows 14 inches new and about 9 or 10 after 1 year of service. Never does look clean due to its design.
I felt obliged to add a response here, since we are in the midst of having our roof replaced. I had read in another forum (DIY Chatroom) that the GAF Snow Country and Smart Ridge II plastic ridge vents were the way to go. Many contractors also seemed to swear by these products in ContractorTalk.com.
So I had my roofers get a few boxes of Snow Country, even though they normally use another product (uncertain of its name) that they described as being made of plastic but looking like it was corrogated cardboard and which only lifted the cap shingles at the ridge slightly above the other shingles.
So they installed Snow Country along one of our ridges and-- guess what?-- it looks like hell! The caps are sitting a couple of inches higher than the shingles adjacent to them and-- just as bad-- the Snow Country vent extends a couple of inches beyond the endges of the cap shingles. Bottom line, the ridge looks awkward and ungainly.
I decided to have the crew remove the ridge shingles and vent and replace it with their other product. Maybe it won’t breathe quite as well, but they say that it’s well-regarded and they’ve had no problem with it. If I remember to get the name of it from them, I’ll post it here.
I’m not saying that Snow Country is bad-- only that it looks like crap. My wife and I thought so at least, and the crew agreed. I later found some photos on the other forum site of an installation, and it was identical to ours. Maybe we all are too finicky, but at least check out the appearance yourself before you opt for these products.
The product you are referring to is probably Owens Corning ventsure.
It does work but it is not as good as other vents, roofers that use this type of vent usually use it because you can install it with a nail gun which is much faster.
It saves them time at the expense of good ventilation.
It can get plugged up in some circumstances also.
I think the product that the roofer is recommending is Cor-a-Vent.
Even if it doesn’t ventilate as well as Snow Country, I think I’d prefer it if the caps sit lower and look more integrated.
For those of you who are experienced and have seen Snow Country installed, do you find that it looks ungainly? Maybe the fact that we’re using thicker Timberline Ultra caps makes them sit up higher. The roofer overlapped them on top of Snow Country, but he says this is how it has to be done.
Maybe we should have used thinner 3-tabbed shingles for the caps?
It sounds like your roofer did the right thing with the right product.
Coravent is similar to ventsure but it is a bit better.
I use coravent for wall vents.
There is another similar product called venturivent, corrugated plastic…
The snow country vent is a good product, there are many vents of this style and they work well.
I hope your roofer got paid to remove a properly applied superior product…
If you do have ice damming problems it is not the roofers fault so don’t bother him about it.
More than likely everything will be fine but some houses need all the ventilation they can get and others not so much.
The pictures that you saw on the DIY chatroom dot com forum were mine, because some other roofer had proclaimed that the Shingle Vent II, (Not Smart Vent II), would bend and twist and look like strands of spaghetti. Those photos are from a roof done a little over 9 years ago now.
Possibly, another reason besides you being finicky, is that the contractor who installed your Snow Country Ridge Vent, was not familiar with installing the better functonal products. Snow Country is a near duplicate knock off of the Shingle Vent II made by Air Vent Corp.
Some contractors are familiar with cheaper and easier to install products, because they do not take the effort to educate themselves about the better performing products, prefer to be fast and not as functional or like to keep prices cheaper, just to get the jobs.
Honestly, with nearly 2,000 roofs installed with Shingle Vent II, I have not once heard a complaint about the aesthetics of the product, but only praise for its effectiveness after it has been installed.
i also have had countless roofs with snow country and not 1 complaint on asthetics. did he run it all the way to the gable ends or did he leave it setting in at the ends. also did he nail it in EVERY hole or just some and then drive them in too far. it sounds like the owens corning product was used on your house which is quite “cheap” in terms of performance.
