5 year old home that has a ridge vent crudely applied almost as an afterthought. Exposed and rusty nail heads and it doesn't appear to be properly nailed down, or fitted in places. I can see wind driving rain right under it and into the attic. The sheathing, viewed from the attic, was cut back so that the ventilation is effective and there are drain holes in the edges of the vent so it appears it was designed to go over the shingles. I'm deferring this to a roofing contractor, but I'd like thoughts on whether this is ever an acceptable application (even if done properly).
The whole thing looks like a "Oh s**t Bubba. We forgot to incorporate the vent. Let's just slap one on afterwards."
-- Richard Moore
Rest Assured Inspection Services
Seattle, WA
www.rainspect.com
Originally Posted By: jrice This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Hi,
I’ve seen this style metal ridge vent. Only problem I see is it is not properly fastened to the roof (the slots are for the nails so the metal can contract and expand ) and there should be silicone caulking over the nails to prevent leaks. Other than that, the vent is to be installed over the shingles. I checked my house and I have the newer plastic ridge vent but my neighbor has one just like this one.
Originally Posted By: jwortham This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Just spent some quality time browsing websites looking at ridge vents. While I found many metal ones, none were quite like that.
Everyone I saw had the nailing areas covered by shingles. I don't believe all the caulk in the world is going to keep that from being a river in the attic.
I would call it out as improper installation also!
Originally Posted By: Larry L Leesch This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I used to sell this stuff. It requires it to be nailed using aluminum nails, it sets on top of the shingles, not under them, it requires that the ridge shingles go under each end 18", it must be mounted in a bed of silicone caulk. The slots are for drainage, not the nails. If there is more than one 10" length used, it requires a gasket between the lengths that is made of neoprene. The gasket must also be installed in silicone. Besides this particular stuff being bent up, the wrong fastners are used and will cause corrosion.
Originally Posted By: rmoore This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Larry L Leesch wrote:
I used to sell this stuff...etc, etc.
Thanks Larry...that's what I was looking for. Besides the drain slots it just seemed to be the wrong profile to go under shingles. But definately a very, very poor install job. The report has already been sent out with the following wording. Good to know I wasn't too far wrong.
"INVESTIGATE FURTHER and PROMPT REPAIR: There is an area of roof just east of the larger front projection that is in need of repair. Shingles have slipped out of position and one tab is missing at the projection itself.
I am also concerned about the ridge vent which appears to have been hastily and poorly applied as an ?afterthought? rather than being incorporated into the original covering. There are rusty, un-caulked nails showing and parts of the vent do not appear to have been properly secured or fitted correctly. It would seem that wind driven rain could easily penetrate the attic under this venting. I recommend that the ridge-vents be fully evaluated by a qualified and licensed roofing contractor. I suspect repairs will need to be made in this area."
Thanks all.
-- Richard Moore
Rest Assured Inspection Services
Seattle, WA
www.rainspect.com
Originally Posted By: cmccann This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I see this type of ridge vent also, on my house. BTW the home is five years old, was there any damage in the attic area? Is the vent working as it was intended? If so report the nails and move on, no big deal. Working as advertised.
Originally Posted By: dcarroll This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Recently I’ve inspected two homes with new roofs and beautiful ridge vents. When looked at from the attic they were never cut through to the attic crawl space. I reported these as having inadequate ventilation. It looks like some contractor in the area is only doing half the job. What is normally done to get the proper ventilation through to the ridge vent?
Originally Posted By: James D Mosier This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
What good would calling in a roofing contractor do? On a 5yr old house it was probably installed by one to begin with. I had the same quality of install on my 7yr old house with the added bonus of tar paper blocking any venting action.
