I live in west Texas and I just had my roof replace due to storm damage. I had 2 wind turbines and vents on the north and south side of the house and my contract with the roofer was to replace the wind turbines.
He appears to have finished the job though I haven’t heard from him in regards to collecting the rest of his money. After his men left our house, the ridge is slightly more raised than it used to be and there are no wind turbines. This being a holiday weekend I’ve had plenty of time to read about it before complaining to him. I think he’s installed a ridge vent in lieu of wind turbines. Before I start complaining to him (if even needed), I want to get some facts straight.
It seems that most people recommend the ridge vent over the wind turbines so maybe I don’t have anything to complain about (except maybe that he consulted me first). Is this true?
Most of what I’ve read seems to include the soffit vent as an integral part of the design. Obviously I don’t have that. Will I still be ok, as in at least as good as before, with the simple vents at the north and south side of the attic?
Also, is wind direction important? Much of what I’ve read talks about wind creating a low pressure area that sucks air out. I understand the Bernoulli principle that I’m sure that concept is based on quite well but does that mean the wind has to be perpendicular to the ridge to make them it effective. I ask this because the dominant ridge on my house is north-south which is the same direction as the most common wind in this area. I do have a shorter, and lower in height, section that is east-west.
Finally, given all these factors, should I be calling this guy up and complaining about a raw deal or should I be thanking him for installing a better system on my house?
yes. Can ed extra soffit vents,cover old vents,cut new ridge vent line or ed power vent.,you pay :).Yours situation old turbo vent was really important , created vacuum in the attic.
It would seem to me without soffit vents a ridge vent is mostly useless. He should have put the turbines back. I wonder why he deviated from the contract?
The way I understand it, the soffit vents seem pretty important to the design as well but I also wonder if the turbines were doing much anyway with the only place for exterior intake were the north and south gable vents (near the top of the ridge)… maybe a case of ignorance was bliss on my part and I need to do more to get our attic ventilation to work right. (by the way, I bought this house in the prior configuration so I wasn’t the one to thought out how to do the original configuration)
I have no idea why he deviated from contract. This does not look to me to be as cheap as just replacing the turbines so I don’t see it as a cost cutting measure. My ridge runs the length of my house and he installed it on the entire ridge line and also on the lower and shorter ridge line that runs full length east-west.
At this point, I’m considering just looking at it like he did me a favor and seeing if I can install some soffit vents myself. It looks easy enough except that a cathedral type ceiling in one room adjacent to one part of one exterior wall may be problematic for that area. Still wonder if I should be worried that the prevailing winds in this area are parallel to my main roof line.
Already have those. They’re on the north and south end as mentioned in the first post. I was out looking things over this morning and realized I also have a gable vent on the small section that extends to the west.
I’m guessing these gable vents were installed when the house was built in '83 and were the sole means to vent the attic at the time. They’re installed near the top of the gable in each case. And then, when the roof was redone in '95, the two turbines were added (again a guess). These two turbines were both on the main north south ridge line. I see no way for the turbines to have drawn in air except through the gables vents near the top which would not provide any ventilation for the lower part of the attic (unless they were drawing in air from inside the house).
Also, I read a lot the past few days that say to block the gable vents with a ridge vent/soffit vent design. Of course there’s not much discussion on a ridge vent without a soffit vent design. I’m guessing that without any soffit vents, the gable vents are better than nothing for either the ridge vent or the prior wind turbines.
Black Square, Hit the spell check before you post or use Firefox for a browser and it will check as you type.
[quote]Also, I read a lot the past few days that say to block the gable vents with a ridge vent/soffit vent design. Of course there’s not much discussion on a ridge vent without a soffit vent design. I’m guessing that without any soffit vents, the gable vents are better than nothing for either the ridge vent or the prior wind turbines.
[/quote]
Block the gable vents, install soffit vents in an amount double to the ridge vent. Make sure your insulation isn’t blocking air flow. Use proper vents if needed. Don’t be concerned about the direction of prevailing wind. Hot air rises and will naturally ventilate
Secondly, the ridge vents will ventilate by design without soffit vents, although yes, you would be better off installing soffit vents for additional ventilation…
The north to south winds shouldn’t create a problem with the ridge vent, they will still do their job.
And no, ridge vent is by no means cheaper than 2 wind driven turbines…
Secondly, the ridge vents will ventilate by design without soffit vents, although yes, you would be better off installing soffit vents for additional ventilation…
The north to south winds shouldn’t create a problem with the ridge vent, they will still do their job.
And no, ridge vent is by no means cheaper than 2 wind driven turbines…[/quote]
That cover’s my concerns. Thanks for the direct answers. I’ll install the soffit vents when I get a chance.
Any idea why he would go with the ridge vents when he wasn’t asked to do so? I mean, I’m not going to pay him more just because he put something more expensive on my roof without consulting me even if it is better.
Myself, If and only if homeowner agrees, we will remove wind/power turbines and re-deck… Then we install ridge vent as an upgrade, most of the time at our cost… Makes for a good word of mouth advertising… :mrgreen:
I think that your old system was better for ventilation. Ridge vent is static, turbines create vacuum as blacksquare said. You should add soffit vents, or make your roofer come back and pull the ridge vent out and put turbines in (he won’t be happy about that).
SHangle rdieg vent is not static. It works on the bernoli effect, like an airplanes wing. If the air is passing over the ridge it creates negitive pressure in the attic therefore pulling from the soffit vents and exhausting the air out the ridge vent. Only thing that is static is cans.
[quote=“Aqua Roofing”]Shingle Nailer is correct, although without wind your turbines will not create any vacuum…
Of course living in west Texas, I am willing to bet you have enough wind…[/quote]
This confuses me because everything I’ve been reading indicates that ridge vents do create low pressure and that ridge vents effectively create much more open square footage of vent space than do the turbines.
This jives with what I’ve been reading but I don’t know that there’s truth to it… as far as I know it’s just a bunch of marketing phewy. That being said, as a pilot who understands the Bernoulli effect quite well, I’m more inclined to believe that phewy. :?
Does anyone have any concrete evidence that supports one version over the other?
