Is there a recommended vent for new roof?

Question

I am redoing my roof. I already decided to add sofit ventilation which I currently do not have. I have gable vents, and already decided to go with normal eyebrow vents Vs ridge ventilation.

Question is: which type? I hear from the roofers themselves that sometimes they leak! (I would think we should have the technology to solve this problem by now...). Anyone knows what type I should use? here are a few main "types" I see:

http://www.ohaginvent.com/products_comp.asp#

1

2

3

Answer 1

Have you considered changing to a ridge vent? The larger area of venting would give you more efficiency, it can be shingled over to hide it, the filtered ones a piece of material to prevent insects and dirt from getting in, and this one appears to not leak even under high winds:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100027903/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Since the ridge vent is installed at the top of the roof, you don't have the problem of water running down from above and going around a break in the shingles.

Answer 2

In general, it seems ridge and sofit venting is the way to go. That's all I see on new construction around here. (It's also what my house has.)

I recently had some roof work done, and the roofer reccomended and installed a singled-over ridge vent to replace the aluminum ridge vents I had in place. The new vent was a plastic roll-out type.

The singled over ridge vent was somewhat wider than the old one, so it helped to cover up some narrow bits of plywood at the roof ridge that were coming lose.

The new vents also have some coarse filtration built into it which blocks stuff (leaves, bugs, etc) from getting into the attic.

My roofer also told me that the thermal expansion/contraction of the aluminum ridge vents can work loose the nails, so he only uses plastic ones anymore.

Answer 3

Last summer I build a shed and installed plenty of ventilation including two roof vents. If I had to do it over again I would chose either a plastic one like option #2 or a ridge vent. I went with metal and regret it. One nice hail storm and it now looks like this:

Note that some of the bending of the metal may have been my fault (read: I dropped it!)

Answer 4

Ridge vent is the way to go IMHO. I think installation may be as easy as a straight edge and a circular saw.