Ridge Vents

How in the hell can there possibly be adequate air flow if the ridge vent material is covered in fabric? I went up into the attic and a rush of air came out…plenty of undereave venting, but this ridge vent doesn’t look like it breathes very well???

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Good point. When calculating actual open space, you will be surprised how much you must discount. A typical window screen material has only about 50% of actual area verses the outside dimensions.

Baffle-less ridge vents are typically heavily screened to allow an overpressure via the soffits to prevent wind driven rain from entering. This is an observation, I don’t design them.

tom

Was the hole in the ridge the corrct size I have seen them not big enough.
Good site is http://www.ronhungarter.com/ lots of great information .
… Cookie

This is another site: http://www.airvent.com

Also, was it fastened properly? I’ve seen them nailed down as tight as the shingles, compressing the air space. This is where you do not use a nail gun.

Don’t like them. As the material in the vent becomes dirty over time it will hinder air flow out.

I think they are great and do a good job have seen the pan vents plugged too.
What I feel are very poor is the cyclone vents added with pan vents and soffit vents .
They tend to pull air in through the pan and out the cyclone not getting proper ventilation to the attic.
… Cooke

Still don’t like them. How is one suppose to clean the material of dust/dirt?
You can’t.

I have never seen a plce where they have cleaned Pan vents either or Gable vents for that matter… Cookie

I have not seen a fully plugged pan or gable vent, ever!

I saw four on a home I did last year plugged from new, they never even cut the Sheating… Cookie

Looks like Cobra Ridge vent. Its a heavy plastic mesh to help keep its shape. I’ve heard good and bad about it.

Roy

Not cutting out the roof decking for the vent could hardly be described as plugged, its more of an oversite in the installation.

How can it be called an over site the hole gets cut before the vent goes on.

You mean like the 5 year old home that had sold 4 times in 5 years .
The last people where the first to get an Inspection .
I found zero ( Like NONE) insulation in the attic .
No one could figgure out why it cost so much to heat the home.
That is an Oversite for sure.

Roy

**** happens. There is a big difference between installation screw ups and a ridge vent filter material becoming clogged with dust/dirt over time.

Never seen one clogged yes I have seen them restricted but I do think I have see % wise just as many dirty gable and roof vents .
Seen more soffit vents sealed the roof vents sealed .

And what do you think happens when the filter material becomes clogged? Just look what happens to the filters in furnances. Same with the ridge vent materials.

No oversight was the problem.

ROFLMAO!! OVERSIGHT!!! Now, that’s got to be the biggest understatement I’ve heard in a while. I would think that placing a passive or turbine vent, or whichever it was, directly over solid decking would better fall under the heading of…direlection of duty.

Raymond…what the heck kind of environment you got out there in which the ridge vents become clogged with dust? Now, we still got a lot of red clay dirt roads around here, but I’ve yet to see a clogged ridge vent. Y’all know that the science says that continuous soffit and ridge venting can’t be beat, since the air is convected more evenly between rafters/trusses, thus cooling the decking more evenly. Real important in these parts, where air conditioning in the summer is almost as big an economic consideration as the dang mortgage. Someone stated in one of the posts about ridge vents + passive and/or turbines…Not only is this not a good idea because it doesn’t allow the ridge vents to function as designed, that attic may actually be ***overvented, ***which, in humid conditions can cause more problems than they were intended to prevent. Sometimes more is less, and should be called out. If it exceeds the 1/300 (combined soffit and other means) rule of thumb by very much, you may end up with an unintended consequence.