What about ridge vents when you have cathedral ceilings. are they needed

Armand,
They are a decent idea in that situation.

An older house was constructed with 4x3's rafters (beams) running hoziontally, 48 inches on center. Ignoring "code", would a ventilation solution be to install 2 vents per section?

A two story 2nd house on the same property has a one story addition with a low pitch roof butted to the main house on two sides, and of course no vents. To complicate matters, there is a wood deck over (and supported by) the 1 story addition. Since I have to replace the roof entirely and it has (provisions for) lower soffit vents, what upper ventilation product is best for this 10x10 room?

Mr. Olsen,
It sounds like a decent solution.

Within the past two years we had new roofing paper and shingles installed on our 9/12 pitch roof. This was not an overlay. At the same time we had the turtle vents removed and continous roof vents installed. We left the soffit vents and the gable end vent on the north east side intact (only one gable end because of chimney). Shortly after the shingles were installed we climbed through the access hole to check the inside of the roof. We found a great deal of mold, primarily over the bathroom located on the south west side of the house. However, we feel certain the mold was there before new shingles were installed.

We treated the mold with a solution of bleach and water which killed the mold. We checked a few months later and the mold had not reappeared.
Later, I was told that the gable end vent should be closed off as it did not work well with ridge vent. I did close the gable end with foil and duct tape. The soffits are vinyl and have very small vent holes that are not visible under beadwork that runs perpindicular to the house.
We have a r-19 factor attic insulation (at least) on 2nd floor celinig.
The bathroom fan vents empty into the soffit.

Now several months (7 or 8) after we last checked we find the mold is back.

We have questions.

1. Should I uncover the gable end vent even though we have ridge vent in place?
2. Do you feel the bleach and water solution sprayed on the mold with a garden sprayer will defeat the mold? Or are we going to end up replacing the sheeting and shingles?
3. Will an attic vent fan help?
4. Is attic mold a common problem in newer homes?


Thank you,
Bill

Bill,
You need to read ALL of the columns in these categories to get a full understanding of the dynamics of what is going on inside your attic:

Condensation category
Mold category
Ventilation category

This is going to take you several hours and you will be able to apply that time for college credit in Building Science. Just kidding!

Bottom Line: You need to lower the humidity indoors AND you need to have dry, cold air pulled through the attic *constantly* to push out the humid air that comes into the attic from your home.

Hello everyone,
We have an attic that becomes so super heated in the summer that it clearly affects the ac systems performance. I have read everything I can find on improving attic ventilation and everything seems to suggest soffit vents and ridge vents. My house was built in 2000 and has a soffit/ridge vent system in place. There are baffles installed and the soffits are unobstructed. The soffits run the full width of the house as does the ridge vent. However, there are 2 factors that I am thinking are maybe the cause of my extremely hot summertime attic. One thing is that because of a porch off the back of the house there are no soffit intakes on that side of the house, only the front. The second thing is that the house is a cape cod style with an extemely long, high pitched roof deck with black shingles. I am wondering if the the air being pulled into the soffits is so super heated by the time it gets past that long dark roof and into the attic that it really gives no relief to the scorching attic temperature??
Any thoughts or suggestions on what I can do to relieve my problem would be much appreciated.

thanks
Jamie
Virginia

As a layman, I wonder if the superheated attic of Jamie MIGHT be because the insulation was installed tight against the roof, thus not allowing air flow.

Might you use some visual device to check if air is getting sucked into the soffit?

Since your builder omitted soffits on one half the roof, you have to install some "intake". Would explain your "easy bake attic." as much as paragraph one.

Jamie,
You need to read this column:

http://www.askthebuilder.com/690_Hot_Garage_Ventilation.shtml

And to help put this in perspective, you need to think about how hot the surface of a metal guardrail gets on a roadway that has 100% ultimate ventilation. In other words wind is blowing and there is nothing but air around it.

So anyone who ever thinks they will significantly cool an attic that is in direct sunlight needs to do a reality check. The solar heat gain is enormous. And as I say in the column, the best you might ever do is get it to air temperature!

I understand...but with temperatures nearing 155 degrees when it is 90 degrees outside, something must be done...Would a gable vent at each end of the house with a fan pulling air through work or would it totally disable the soffit/ridge vent system that is currently in place? Would it be better to use 2 gable vents without a fan to just allow the necesary intake for the ridge vents in place to work better?

Thanks for you help,
Jamie

Jamie,
I am sorry, but I am trying to help you. I am desperately trying to communicate the *physics* of the situation.

If you want a *relatively* cool attic install *monster* fans that are blowing tens of thousands of CFMs of air. Even with that, you will still be above the air temperature because the roofing is *radiating* its heat........

Jamie, you need to wrap your head around how hard it is to offset the massive heat gain.

I just discovered this website today. It's great! I have an attic that has had condensation issues for the first time. The house was built in 1965 and is about 50 feet long, with a standard roof ridge. We have 4 roof vents, 2 gable vents, and 6 soffit vents on the north and south sides of the house. We recently installed a humidifier and new furnace and have had a hard winter here in Iowa. We discovered water spots on two bedroom ceilings and found condensation in our attic. I had a roofing company today tell me that I had too many escape routes and adequate intake. He suggested blocking the gable vents so air will be forced to come from the soffit vents. Would this be good enough? Thanks!

Tammy,
No. Read all of my Ventilation category columns.

I understand it's important to have an equal amount of intake and exhaust ventilation. It sounds like soffit vents for intake and ridge vents for exhaust are ideal. Our 1980 house had neither, just 3 gable louvers. When the roof was replaced, we had a ridge vent installed. Would it be worth the trouble to close off the gable openings and install soffit vents?

Thanks
DJ

DJ,
Leave the gable vents and add soffit vents.

We have 6 buldings in our apt. complex. Each bulding as an electric fan at the top. We want to eliminate that fan by installing ridge vents on our new metal roofs.
We have soffit vents also. Should that not be sufficient without the electric fan? They are expensive to operate and are very noisy.
Each apt. has 2 bathrooms that have "stink stacks" on the roof. Should not the other bathroom moisture be handled by ridge and soffit vents???

Jacinta,
Ixnay the ridge vents. I am a big fan of Turbine Vents. Read all of my past columns about them.

I HAVE RAIN LEAKS IT COME THRU THE ATTIC VENT & LEAKS DOWN TO A WINDOW UNDER IT HOW CAN THIS BE RESOLVED DO I NEED 2 REPLACE THE ATTIC VENT?

Rob,
Possibly. You need to call in a professional roofer. My Roofing Checklist is the tool you need to find that pro!

I have a house built in the mid 1970's and is a raised Ranch. There are no soffit/undereave vents, and we need to have them installed, YET we have no discernable soffit or eaves on our roof. The roof terminates on the side of the house when the roof meets the siding. The roof's shape is a gable, but what do I do for ventilation if there are no areas on the gable that actually lead into the attic? Thanks!

Eric,
There are inlet ventilation products made for houses with little or no soffits. Visit a supply house that only sells roofing materials.

Hi,
I live in hot and sunny Miami Florida and want to vent my attic but don't know which system is best. Should I go with free flowing turbines or something else? I am also concerned about hurricane season and whether or not they can take the abuse. Any suggestions?

Thanks
John G.

Hi, I Live in Central Florida in a house with all hip roof. R-30 is installed in attic. House has aluminum soffits. I have been opening garage door 1 foot and opening attic access and receive a great deal of positive ventalation thru the ridge vent and 2 off ridge vents. By opening the garage door and access doors the a/c doesn't come on quite as often. Can anything be done to alum soffit to increase air flow? Or is adding batt insulation on the underside of the roof a possibility?
Thank You
Richard

We have a 100 year old home that had no ventilation - and I mean none - for the attic when we first moved into the house. Since then we have installed a powered attic fan and a ridge vent. We cannot add soffits, but were going to add some passive vents to allow air flow to the ridge vent. My question is - our ceiling goes to the rafters and insulation has been stuffed into these cavaties, does it make sense for us to remove some of this insulation to allow air flow or is there some other alternative that would work? Should we remove 3-4 rafter cavaties or is there some rule of thumb involved?

Also, any thoughts on applying the reflective foil insulation to the underside of the roof where possible?

Could gable attic fan be drawing air from ridge vent, thereby creating a conflict. The ridge vent was added during a renovation/addition at which time two attic fans were removed and replaced with the ridge vent. Attic is much hotter and there is a distinct sense of there being no air flow at all.. I live in S/E Virginia in a area that usually has a good breeze which I have heard can cause a back draft along leeward side of the ridge vent (which runs perpendicular to the prevailing breeze. Many thanks

For the last 1.5 years, I've owned a 2 story Cape Cod style house where the steep roof begins atop the first floor walls. In a previous article you suggested turbine vents for removing attic heat for somebody with a similar setup to mine. There are no soffit vents in my 60 year old house and as you described, I think the roof configuration prevents me adding from adding any. The only attic intake air comes from two gable vents. Last year I replaced the roof and a ridge vent was installed. Here is my question (sorry for all the background info).....If I add a gable vent or turbines, will the air flow conflict with the ridge vent? It seems my real problem is lack of airflow coming *into* the attic. Can you make a suggestion to remedy this? How else can I get more air coming into the attic? Thanks in advance.

I have an older house built in the 50s that has Gable vents only. I am looking at putting on a new roof and have a conflict between contractors. One says ridge vent and the other says it is a closed box construction so sofit vents will not work so a ridge vent will not work. Will a ridge vent work with the Gable vents alone or is there something else that would work better. Thanks

I will have a new roof installed which has four turtle back vents. I am considering to have a ridge vent added with the four turtle back vents. Is this a good idea to have both or should I go with the original four turtle back vents?