House Has No Roof Vents

Let me break it down.

House has no roof vents.

A roof pitch is how steep the slope of the roof is. For example the addams family house has a high roof pitch. The vent stack is the pipe leading to the main roof vent. Now that we ve reviewed how ventilation works.

The important thing to remember is the air must flow through the attic to the roof vents somewhere near the ridge of the roof. Most post war ranches are one story houses with a low roof pitch and shallow eaves with a flat soffit. The intake vents work with ridge vents to allow cool air to enter the attic space forcing warm air to exit through the ridge vents. Located at the edges of the roof these intake vents can be installed at the eaves under the soffit at the drip edge or under the shingles at the roof s edge.

Improper roof ventilation can also affect the health of your family. If your house has minimal or non existent overhangs that won t accomodate soffit vents or you simply aren t able to install them for some reason then you have a couple of options to provide intake air inlets low near the roof perimeter. Improper ventilation allows formation of condensation moisture accumulation and damage to the roof deck and eventually to the stability of the roof. If you don t know how your roof vents work or if you re unsure about your attic ventilation in general you should talk to a roof inspector about your current system and any inherent weaknesses that may be at work.

The idea of roof vents existed for hundreds of years with natural vents employed in chinese buildings during the tang dynasty natural ventilation ducts in the buddhist monks caves and wind catchers incorporated in arabian architecture. Vent roofs with steeples towers or cupolas can be found in different buildings from barns to cathedrals. It is a vertical pipe attached to a drain line and runs through the roof of your home. Taking advantage of this natural process referred to as passive ventilation is the most common way to vent an attic.

However if the home has no soffit it is quite a different matter. It also allows fresh air into the plumbing system to help water flow smoothly through the drain pipes however no water runs through the plumbing vent pipe. Did i just lose you. The risk reward for having no ventilation or poor ventilation along with the negligible cost of installing a good working ventilation system makes them one of the unforgivable sins of home maintenance negligence.

Thankfully there are some ways around this dilemma. With a soffit venting is not much of a challenge. Hot air exhaust vents located at the peak of the roof allow hot air to escape. The building codes and building science for.