Roof venting, ridge vent or power fan?

[trader4]

I think we're on the same page here. I looked into the vaious ridge vents a bit and saw that a lot of pros were recommending the Shingle Vent II. The leading contractor for the job is proposing OC Duration shingles. OC makes a similar ridge vent. It's rigid plastic, comes in 4ft sections, and allows 20 sq in of airflow per foot. So, I think I'm going to spec that.

On another subject, one roof section which is over the garage is low profile. It's right at the 2:12 min pitch for shingles. Two of the contractors want to put down ice barrier over the whole roof section.. The other one wants to use ice dam on the lower, two layers of felt on the upper part. His thinking is that applying a rubber like surface over the whole thing is not good, because it's better to let the sheathing breathe even a little from the top through the felt and shingles.

I looked into this a bit online and seems there are folks vigorously arguing both sides of that one two. The ice barrier the whole roof approach guys claim:

Done properly it's virtually impossible for water to even get behind the ice barrier material.

Even if it does, the roof can still dry out from the other side, ie attic side.

With felt and shingles the roof really can't breathe from the outside anyway.

Additional factors are that this section of roof has the least venting. It has continous soffit vents, but only a fraction of that near the top. I can increase that a bit but it's still not going to have the best venting. I also can't do a rolled roof, because it faces the street. The existing shingles have worked fine for 28 years and I'm assuming there is at most just 2 layers of felt, if that. Also they did lay the shingles closer together, I think

3" exposure vs 5". But can't do that with the new architectural shingle. Spec for that shingle say 2:12 is the min pitch, so I'm right at min there.

Any thoughts?

And thanks for all the excellent advice...

[Chomper]

The whole idea is, to let the contractor know, you won't tolerate short cuts. There's too many contractors to take advantage of people not in the know. Roofing/HVAC/Mechanics are a few trades where the general public get totally ripped off.

[Chomper]

Here's a perfect example of why certain items need to be spec'd. You can _never_ include too much information in a contract to protect yourself & your interest.

[Doug]

Agree with you but still agree with my earlier posts. Where I think the specs really help is educating the homeowner what and how it's installed (well supposed to be). Then if it's not, legally he has some recourse assuming the roofer is still in business.

When I recently had a new roof, I took a different approach. I bought the whole crew lunch one day hoping that they knew I appreciated their hard work. In return I hoped they would do a good job. So far so good.

[Doug]

I failed to mention I did have a contract of what was to be installed with some specs (not a lot tho).

[trader4]

You can't have it both ways.

Then why did you say that specifiying how something is to be installed is a waste unless you have an inspector up there? You think your chance of prevailing on your attempts at recourse is better or worse when you have workmanship:

A - specified in the contract in writing

B - unstated

As far as requiring an inspector, many of us are competent enough to take a look ourselves....

That's reassuring.....

[Chomper]

I'm sure you agree with yourself.

Certainly a kind gesture, however, it has to be one of the most silliest ways I've heard of, in hopes you get a good job instead of relying on contract language. Ok, now my sarcasm seems to take over for a bit. Did you buy them a hamburger, or a double hamburger? After all, the type of job you got depended on it.

All wording is in a contract for a purpose, although you may find it to be gibberish. You appear to be attempting to justify a bad decision you made, without properly educating yourself before hand.

[Doug]

See my other post.

[Doug]

I think you can. I'm not against specs and by all means write them in but you have to hope they do the work per specs if no one is watching them.

[trader4]

Yes, you were against them, before you were in favor of them.....

"No disrespect intended here because I think your knowledge is helpful but I wouldn't spec all of this (even if possible). No problem spec'g material because that's easy to confirm but spec'g workmanship is another unless you have an inspector up there during installation. "

And aybe the work gets done without being looked at in your world, where you rely on hamburgers, but not in mine.

[Doug]

Ok... let me say it this way... I'm not against specs but I wouldn't spec everything but if you feel that it will make them do a better job, do it. I just hope they can read them and understand them if you go into a lot of detail. I once was offered a job in Florida because the guy told me his crews (underground utilities) couldn't read the blueprints.

I guess I have different experiences about kindness than you so I rely on kindness when I have no other choices.

[trader4]

There you go again. Kindness is your only choice? I guess if you're so dumb you can't spec key workmanship points, put those in the contract, and then keep an eye on the contractor to make sure it's done that way, then relying on kindness may be your only option. But I'd say it's not a good one. And if the job doesn't get done to your satisfaction and you wind up in a dispute with the contractor, I'd rather have a contract with specs, than a receipt from McDonalds.

[Doug]

I guess if you want to sit on the roof and count how many nails per shingle, enjoy.