Intake Versus Ridge Roof Vents

Roof box vents and continuous ridge vents are separated by a few differences and deciding which one to put on your roof depends on which better fits the type and situational roof you have.

Intake versus ridge roof vents.

The whole point to a ridge vent is that it takes air from all along the bottom of the roof line and exits it out the top kind of like a toilet. In this back by popular demand article see the difference between roof box vents and continuous ridge vents. The homeowner has seen a drastic improvement in the air temperature in the upper level of his home. The winner by far is a concealed ridge vent over roof louvers.

The problem with gables is they short circuit the air flow paulcp writes. This option might be the updated system which most newer homes use but if you have an older home then you might need the soffit vents too. What are the cons. The intake vent should be at the bottom of the roof whether it is a soffit vent or an edge vent.

If the amount of intake ventilation cannot match the entire 40 feet of ridge vent consider reducing the width of the ridge vent slot thereby reducing the vent s nfa per linear foot to accommodate the amount of intake nfa available. Roof louvers aka roof cans which is best. Roof outlet venting with no intake venting won t work because the absence of sufficient intake of outside air to satisfy the negative pressure from air leaving at the ridge will cause draw warm air up from the building interior increasing heating costs and possibly mold or allergen movement through the building. You do not want a box vent acting as in intake vent b c it will suck air in and can also suck in rain or snow with it.

This can cause a leak. It is ok to install all 40 feet of ridge vent as long as it can be balanced with intake ventilation. However if you were only going to install 3 or 4 the turbines would be more affordable to you. If you were to install about 40 feet of roof ridge vent the area would span up to 10 turbines in this case 10 turbines would cost you substantially more to purchase and install.

For every square inch of ridge exhaust vent you must balance it with at least one square inch or more of soffit intake vent. Most building codes define a balanced ventilation system as one square foot of ventilation for every 300 square feet of attic floor space with half the ventilation represented by intake vents and half by by exhaust vents. We added the edge vent for proper intake and replaced the roof louvers with continuous shinglevent ii ridge vents said jason vogen ceo of elite. That means roof ridge vents.

The soffit vents act like the air intake for the home. If it fits in your budget i would highly recommend upgrading as it will not only make your new roof look nicer it will save you money on cooling in the summer months. But the ridge vent maintenance and running cost is a lot less than for turbines when. The reason you do not mix them is that the ridge vent can turn the box vents into intake vents.