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When we moved into our house it had a large gable vent at one end of the attic, and a turbine vent on the top of the roof. We had a new roof installed and they recommended to use soffit vents and a ridgeline vent. Soffits needed replacing anyway so we went with that.

They left the turbine vent in place and the roofer couldn’t give a clear answer as to whether we should close off the gable vent. My thinking is the gable vent is not necessary now that we have the soffit and ridge line. But we left it open to see what would happen with all 4 elements in place. We have noticed our electric bill decreased. But also noticed oak pollen sucked into the attic which we never had in 8 years before. It is all throughout the attic.

We live in southeast Texas. It rarely snows here, and our house is surrounded by LOTS of oak trees. Should we cover up/close the gable vent?

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You should close off the gable vent, but not due to the pollen. Also, your energy bills won't give you scientific evidence either way--there are too many other variables potentially skewing any comparison.

The reason is that a gable vent typically short-circuits the airflow path between the soffits and the ridge, leaving some of the outer attic space less well scavenged. Ideally you want a simple, straight path of convective flow from soffit to ridge covering the entire attic area.

Here's more information about the inverse question: Do I need soffit vents when I have 2 gable vents and 5 normal peak vents?

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