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Roofing Question

1,627 Views | 13 Replies | Last: 10 yr ago by jcurtis
jcurtis
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I am having my roof replaced and battling with to keep the ridge vents or close them off and completely depend on top of the line attic breeze solar exhaust fans.

The house is horseshoe shaped and slightly broken up into 3 different zones if you will. The house is 2100 sq ft.

I have researched the brand in the past and they are the best solar fans for residential market. The come with lifetime warranty and are made in Texas.

Here is my issue. I asked my friend that is a roofer his opinion on doing away with ridge vents. His opinion is that they are best option. My problem with this line of thinking is that ridge vents are dependent on lift from the air reaching 125 degrees or so where the air actually lifts through the ridge vents. (Passive ventilation)

My thought is that the solar powered ventilation fans would produce active ventilation and the soffit vents area are good and will be more than adequate after adding more to accommodate fan additions.

Please give me input on ridge versus active pulling through for ventilation.

We are also adding polarium under the new shingles as added insulation/seal to the attic.

Gig 'Em

Jason
chuckd
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AG
From my research a while ago, it was a general consensus that passive ventilation (soffit/ridge vent) is better than forced. I don't remember why.
The Fife
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The best combo IMO is soffit + ridge vents, with radient barrier.
TexAg1987
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If you are concerned, why not do both?

sts7049
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AG
i think that installing "competing" systems like that can actually be a detriment to ventilation
Aggietaco
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AG
Unless your home was built with forced ventilation in mind, soffit and ridge vents provide the best attic ventilation. Adding a radiant barrier to keep the attic from heating up and adding more insulation between your conditioned spaces and unconditioned spaces should be next on the list.
Aggie1
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AG
Soffit, eave, and ridge vents are permanent, require no power and work well. Natural flow ventilation from soffit to eaves and ridges cost nothing and is one of the oldest form of "cooling" there is.
Turbines - electrical powered or wind powered are very good additionally.
As noted above heat reflectance and insulation are your next best friend.
ANY penetration should be screened and protected to (and water proofed as required) keep bugs, birds, and varmints out!
jcurtis
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Everyone: Thanks for the input.

Another round of insulation is on my list in 2014, I blew the original in 4 years ago and have done a lot work in my attic on my hvac unit relocation and resealed and re-insulated my metal duct work this past winter.

@ChuckD
It was probably due to balance of pulling too much air and sucking conditioned air out of house and through can lights etc.

@Fife
I agree and know this is the best option, just don't want to go through ripping all of the quality decking off to replace with insulating board and then replacing decking. My friend said Polarium will accomplish 20-25 degree drop he has accomplished multiple times and in his own home in Houston and is as close to radiant insulating board.

@texags2016
There is a thing called cross ventilation where you remove air from an exhaustive ridge vent if you are to close and drawing too much air from an exhaust fan location and basically drawing air from superheated exhaust and the result is not good.

If anyone else wants to chime in please feel free.

Thanks again all!
MaroonTxAg03
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AG
You are correct in the Solar Breeze Attic Fans being the best option for the solar powered attic fans. That being said as others have pointed out just understand that you are depending on something electrical to not go out, and 9 times out of 10 you won't know the fans are out until you have a bigger problem.

Turbines aren't pretty but are hands down the best exhaust vent you can have on a roof. Ridge vents and box vents are fine as well, but none mean a thing unless you have adequate intake ventilation (soffit vents are most common). If using box vents or static dome vents you also need to make sure they aren't too close together so they don't draw off one another. You'll also want to make sure you don't have blown-in insulation covering your intake vents.

Hope that helps.
The Fife
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You don't need to pull the decking. I had great results with attic foil installed underneath the rafters. The air flow was from the soffit vents to the space between the decking and radiant barrier, out through the ridge vents. I'd have to look at old bills but they dropped by 1/3 or so during the summer months. Attic temperature dropped from the about 140 to low 100s.

We also got rid of the whirlybirds when we reroofed because they no longer served any purpose.
Jones12
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AG
quote:
Ridge vents and box vents are fine as well, but none mean a thing unless you have adequate intake ventilation (soffit vents are most common). If using box vents or static dome vents you also need to make sure they aren't too close together so they don't draw off one another. You'll also want to make sure you don't have blown-in insulation covering your intake vents.

Hope that helps.


By far the best analysis. Intake is just as important as exhaust. Also, many people believe putting multiple slant backs together will cool it down, but it actually creates a circular motion for the air and never gives it an opportunity to vent. More isn't always better, and the good roofers will be able to explain this.

-works for a roofing distributor
jcurtis
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OK. Thanks all!

I will ask a more defined question now. Please see my crude drawing for details.

The layout of the house is U shaped with hips on the U lines and a few more in the front of the house (larger attic space and westward facing). My main concern with putting forced air fans is that if placed where close to the current one, that would be my only exhaustive point and the other parts of the attic although open would suffer with extra heat as the majority of the air being pulled in would be at the North and sound ends of the house.

Opinions are welcome.

I have 2 options in my mind:

#1. Remove the ridge vents on the 3 hips and allow the fans to perform all the air transfers. I will also be installing the thermostat controls for the fans with the alarm notification for temperature that alerts me if turnover is not being completed. I will be adding additional (return) soffit vents all over. It appears that I am already on the cusp of acceptable with 22 currently based on the square inches needed for the space.

#1.(a) Add 2 solar fans at opposite side of the Hips.
#1.(b) Add a single solar fan near the current location.

#2. Leave the ridge vents and close off the current hole for the old power vent and rely on the polarium as the reflective benefit. I will be adding soffit vents as well to overdo intake requirements.

I have installed Radiant Barrier before and the only draw back that I have seen and heard from others is that cell phone reception can be severely limited based on proximity to towers and reception strength. I run my own business from home and can't afford to take the risk as I know how much of a PITA installation is and would be in my attic.

Directional Orientation
W
S N
E

-----------------------------------------
\H Edge of Roof H/
\I I/
\P P/
\ Hip /
////////////////////////////////////
/H /H
/I (Exhaust) /I
/P (Fan) /P
/ /
/----------------------------------/
/ (Edge of Roof) /
/ /
/ /
/ /
/ /
jcurtis
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The drawing didn't work obviously as it removed all the spaces I inserted.
The Fife
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quote:

#2. Leave the ridge vents and close off the current hole for the old power vent and rely on the polarium as the reflective benefit. I will be adding soffit vents as well to overdo intake requirements.

I have installed Radiant Barrier before and the only draw back that I have seen and heard from others is that cell phone reception can be severely limited based on proximity to towers and reception strength. I run my own business from home and can't afford to take the risk as I know how much of a PITA installation is and would be in my attic.

This.

Also, we saw no difference whatsoever in our mobile phone strength before vs. after radiant barrier. Any change was completely undetectable. FWIW we bought ours from http://www.atticfoil.com
jcurtis
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Thanks Fife!
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