Roof Ventilation Examples

Make sure your home has a balanced roof venting system to increase your home s livability reduce your energy costs make your roof last longer and cut down on costly repairs.

Roof ventilation examples.

Roof ventilation also known as attic ventilation comes in various forms. So for example if the total roof area in question is 900 square feet you would typically need at least 3 square feet of vented area. The building codes and building science for natural roof ventilation however only appeared in the 1940s. Comprised of intake and exhaust vents the basic roof ventilation system can be found in a few forms including turbine vents low profile vents and ridge vents that are specially designed to accommodate specific roof shapes.

On a windy day the vent s turbine mechanism spins which moves hot attic air up and out. Turbine vents are not low profile but in windy climates they provide more ventilation than other types of roof vents. For example ridge vents and gable vents function as both intake and exhaust vents. For proper roof ventilation roughly every 300 feet of attic space should be vented.

Figure 8 examples of gable vents. Andrew kirmayer last modified date. Anyone involved with residential roofing should become familiar with the purpose of attic ventilation and understand how to achieve an effective ventilation system while meeting building code requirements. The downside to turbine vents is that they don t provide much venting power on calm days.

Attic venting serves an important purpose and is key to a well performing roof system. Vent roofs with steeples towers or cupolas can be found in different buildings from barns to cathedrals.