A roof protects your home, belongings, and family from the outside weather, but to do this effectively, it must be adequately ventilated. Here’s what you need to know about roofing ventilation systems.
What Is a Roof Ventilation System?
Before we can dive into how important ridge vents are for your roof’s entire ventilation system, we need to first define what that ventilation system is and why it’s important for your home. Simply put, a roof’s ventilation system allows your home and roof to breathe effectively.
Ventilation systems allow fresh air to be pulled in and excess heat and moisture to escape. This extends the overall longevity of your roof and prevents unwanted bacterial growth like mold and mildew in your attic. It also does wonders to help increase the efficiency of your cooling system during the hot summer months.
What Are Ridge Vents?
Ideally, the temperature in your attic should be within 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit of the temperature outside. This means that during the wintertime your attic temperature should not be terribly cold and during the summer it should be only be relatively hot. To achieve this, your roof uses its ventilation system. There are two forms of ventilation that your home can employ, either active or passive. Active ventilation requires the use of mechanical fans to direct and circulate air. Passive ventilation relies on the natural movement of heat. Heat will naturally absorb moisture and rise.
Both systems will use vents that are placed within your soffit or eaves. This is at the lowest portion of your roof and allows ambient outside air to be pulled into your attic. As the hot, stale air moves upward toward the peak of your roof, it will absorb moisture. Eventually, when this hot air hits the peak of your roof, it can escape via your ridge vents. These vents can be installed along the entire horizontal ridge of your roof to aid in the expulsion of all that hot, humid air.
The Use of Ridge Vents
Ridge vents are a must-have for any home with a well-defined roofline. They’re fairly easy to have installed, and they provide a nice passive method for helping to control both the humidity and temperature inside of your attic throughout the entire year. It’s important to note that homes in very hot climates and those that have multi-level roofs may need additional ventilation in order to maintain optimal conditions in their attics.
Will Ridge Vents Allow Pests to Enter Your Attic?
When homeowners discover what ridge vents are, one of their first questions is if the vent will allow enough open space for unwanted pests to enter their attic. The reality is that roof ridge vents are specifically installed with mesh material on their sides to prevent any unwanted pests from entering your home. As long as the ridge front receives routine maintenance and roof repairs during your regular inspections, it shouldn’t be a source of any sort of pest infestation in your attic.
Types of Ridge Vents
Just as with most roofing materials, a few different styles of ridge vents are available for your home. The style you go with will be highly dependent on your budget, your roof design, and your home’s exterior aesthetics. There are two main design categories that ridge vents fall into. They are either exposed or shingled over.
Exposed ridge vents are made from a durable metal material and are highly visible from the outside of your home. This is the sturdiest type of ridge vent, and it offers superior ventilation. However, this is the costlier of the two options. The second option is the shingled-over roof vent, which uses shingles to provide a more discreet design. The top of the roof vent gets a special layer of ridge cap shingles that help to blend the vents in with the rest of your roof so they’re not as visible as the exposed ridge vents would be.
Reliable Roof Ventilation Service
HT Roofing & Construction offers reliable roof ventilation service for the Lenexa, KS community. We can also help with all your residential or commercial roofing, exterior painting, siding, gutter, storm damage, and window replacement needs, including roof inspections. Contact our friendly staff today to book your next service consultation.
