Cupola vents come in many different shapes and styles. Some have wooden louvers around the openings to protect against the elements, while others are wide open in order to maximize the amount of light and air that enters the space below.
Many Italian-inspired homes have cupola vents built into the roof line for multi-use purposes. A beautiful cupola vent can add lots of character and charm to an otherwise boring roof line. Some more elaborate cupola vent styles even have windows and enough room for a person or two to enter the space.
What a fantastic location to spy on your neighbors from! The higher costs associated with building out a brand new cupola vent combined with similar efficiency when compared to larger box vents make cupola vents an unnecessary cost for most homeowners. Otherwise, a few large box vents will do the trick! Exhaust ventilation without any intake is like having a bike without pedals.
Paired with proper exhaust like a ridge vent, or an ample amount of box vents , adequate intake ventilation brings fresh air into the attic and up through the exhaust.
A new stream of fresh air comes in, and the old hot air is pushed out. Unlike with exhaust, there are less styles of intake for your roof to consider. And in most cases, we strongly suggest the first option on the list.
Soffit ventilation is by far the most popular form of roof intake venting. It forms one half of the most popular combination of intake and exhaust; soffit vents for intake with a ridge vent for exhaust. Soffit vents are a favorite amongst home builders and roofers because they are unquestionably the most effective intake vent for the cost.
Soffits are intake vents that installed directly on your eaves, which are located directly underneath your roof line. There are different types of soffit, but almost all of the most common designs have small holes that allow cool air to flow into your attic space, where it helps push hot air out of your home through the exhaust vent.
Because not all homes are the same, there are two types of soffit vents designed to fit most styles: continuous soffit vents and individual soffit vents. Continuous soffit vents are longer, and often wrap around the entire eaves of a home. Much like a ridge vent which runs along the entire peak of a roof , continuous soffits provide lots of bang for your buck because there is more surface area.
The greater the surface area, the more air can pass through. Continuous soffits are generally made of vinyl with intake holes drilled in. If continuous soffit vents are like the ridge vents of the intake world, then individual soffit vents our second type of soffit ventilation are more like box vents. Because individual soffits are spaced out, they are not as effective as continuous systems because they provide less surface area for air intake.
Whether an individual or continuous style best fits your home, soffit vents are the base of any great vertical ventilation system. When combined with a ridge vent, soffits pull large amounts of cool into the home from underneath the eaves then help push the hot air out. When it comes to effectiveness, there is really no comparison when put up against the following intake vents. Gable vents are an older, somewhat outdated, style of intake that also partially functions as an exhaust system.
Unlike with vertical ventilation discussed throughout this article, gable vents utilize horizontal or cross-ventilation to help keep air moving through the attic space.
The basic premise is that air flows in on one side of the attic, then out through the other. A gable vent is mostly used with a gable style roof because a vent can be placed on each side of the home. These vents are not as effective on more complex roof styles because the cross breeze can be impeded by rafter beams, peaks, valleys, dormers and other parts of the roof. Gable vents come in all shapes and sizes, with the most popular being a triangular shape that sits directly below the peak of the roofing system.
They are sometimes made of wood or vinyl, but metal is the most popular. Important: while more surface area for venting is generally better when it comes to roofing, you should be careful of combining a gable vent with any vertical ventilation strategy. We give this warning because the cross breeze often disrupts any air flowing from a vertical intake like a soffit through to the vertical exhaust like a ridge vent.
The purpose of using the soffit and ridge vent is defeated when gable vents enter the picture. Fascia vents, or over-fascia vents, are a newer form of roofing intake that are designed primarily for roofs that do not have sufficiently sized eaves to fit soffit vents.
A fascia vent is placed at the top of the fascia board and gutter and directly underneath the starter row of shingles. The basic premise behind fascia vents is to allow air intake where the wind hits the roof, opposed to a soffit vent with relies on air rising.
The potency of over-fascia vents is questionable because of their small surface area. This is a drastic decrease in available airflow when compared to the surface area of soffit ventilation. The pros and cons of a fascia vent hold true for drip edge vents because the two are very similar in design and effectiveness. Drip edge vents differ from fascia vents because of where they are installed.
The drip edge is a roofing material that goes directly underneath the first row of shingles and is designed to help drain water into the gutters. It is generally made of a malleable metal. A drip edge vent incorporates intake into the classic roofing material, with small holes either drilled into the drip edge itself, or attached to the drip edge as an add-on. As you can imagine, installation is notably complicated and should only be completed by a professional.
Like fascia vents, drip edge vents are great for roofs that are unable to utilize sufficient soffit vents for their air intake but do not hold a candle to soffit vents. For homes that cannot have a ridge vent, box vents are generally the second best option for exhaust.
And for homes that cannot have soffit ventilation, you will find that fascia vents to be your second best bet. With all this being said, every home is different. First, having both intake and exhaust vents is better than having only one. As a general guide for wind driven ventilators, Bradfords recommend around one vent be installed for every 90m 2 of roof space. Ideally, you should also add one internal ceiling grille, to allow any hot or moisture-laden air inside your home to pass into the roof cavity where it can be exhausted to the outside.
Solar Star recommends one V model is adequate for roof with less than m 2 of space whereas the RM is capable of extracting M 3 of air per hour. The recommended number of ventilators for the Solar XVent on a regular shaped roof is one vent is sufficient for around 90m2 based on a ceiling to ridge height of 1.
Builders and designers became aware of the need for adequate roof ventilation in the mid 20 th century. Increasingly effective sealing and insulation in roof cavities and internal walls trapped hot humid air in the summer and cold damp condensation in the winter.
That moisture build-up can damage timber framing, gyprock ceiling panels, electrical wiring and trigger a dangerous growth of harmful mould.
Without adequate ventilation the hot summer air in the roof space forces your air conditioning to work harder to achieve the desired levels of heat extraction and will increase your electricity bills and running costs as well as shorten the lifespan of the AC units. Modern insulation and building practices create such as well sealed structure that adequate roof ventilation is needed more than ever.
Roof ventilator installation is typically very straightforward and cost effective. Some models take as little as 30 minutes to install for a qualified installer. Ventilation Quick Links. What are the benefits of roof ventilation? How does roof ventilation work? What's the best type of roof ventilation for my roof? Roofs without ventilation How much does it cost? What about installation? Roof ventilators can eliminate these negative impacts.
This is especially true when your AC units are ducted into the roof cavity. Roof ventilation works by regulating the temperature and humidity levels in your roof cavity. In simple terms, roof ventilation works because hot air rises. We supply all types including: Wind-driven Whirlybirds Solar powered Roof Vents Electrical roof mounted fans Passive ridge ventilation One of the most critical questions to ask is does your chosen option provide enough ventilation for your given roof space?
You can read more about how to work out this requirement for your home lower down the page. Vent-a-Roof is one of the first concealed ridge ventilation systems in Australia. Photo by Ron Bastian. Who knows better how well or not so well a residential attic ventilation system will perform than the actual installer who witnesses the results in person?
Who knows exactly which installation methods are highly likely to turn into a problematic callback than the roofing contractor who once was on the receiving end of that callback? The tips featured here are collected from roofing professionals who generously shared their expertise, best practices and hard-knocks lessons in residential attic ventilation seminars across North America.
Joseph, Mich. These roofing professionals are firm about the need for balanced attic ventilation because they know firsthand it can help fight heat traps, moisture buildup and ice dams.
Armed with this firsthand information, the roofing contractor is in a stronger position to explain it to a homeowner. For the record, Bellis thinks intake ventilation is too often overlooked when it comes to balanced attic ventilation Tip No.
Nevertheless, these roofing professionals urge an attic inspection as part of every project when possible. Go into the attic to find out. Toms is describing tell-tale signs of moisture problems, which could be properly handled with balanced attic ventilation.
But they have to be detected first. Still not convinced about the importance of an attic inspection? The result can be box vents are added to a roof that already has wind turbines. Or, a power fan being added to a roof that already has ridge vents. Or, ridge vents are added along with the new shingles but the gable louvers which are exhaust vents are left open.
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