Roof Ventilation Examples

Anyone involved with residential roofing should become familiar with the purpose of attic ventilation and understand how to achieve an effective ventilation system while meeting building code requirements.

Roof ventilation examples.

On a windy day the vent s turbine mechanism spins which moves hot attic air up and out. The building codes and building science for natural roof ventilation however only appeared in the 1940s. For proper roof ventilation roughly every 300 feet of attic space should be vented. Vent roofs with steeples towers or cupolas can be found in different buildings from barns to cathedrals.

Roof ventilation also known as attic ventilation comes in various forms. Make sure your home has a balanced roof venting system to increase your home s livability reduce your energy costs make your roof last longer and cut down on costly repairs. Roof ventilation in a cold climate vents moisture and ensures a cold roof temperature to avoid ice dams. Figure 8 examples of gable vents.

For example ridge vents and gable vents function as both intake and exhaust vents. As a rule of thumb you will need 1 square foot of vented area for every 300 square feet of attic space if it has a vapor barrier or 1 square foot of vented area for every 150 square feet of attic space if it does not. The downside to turbine vents is that they don t provide much venting power on calm days. So for example if the total roof area in question is 900 square feet you would typically need at least 3 square feet of vented area.

Turbine vents are not low profile but in windy climates they provide more ventilation than other types of roof vents. Attic venting serves an important purpose and is key to a well performing roof system.