Ridge Vents Vs. Turbines- Help!

FWIW, Here in SW Florida nobody uses turbine vents. On the other hand, ridge vents are also problematic in that they can leak fairly easily. There are ridge vents rated for wind/rain in Florida, or other static roof vents can be an option. Gable vents are the most practical, but not possible on many roofs.

There is also some concern about venting roofs at all in warm, humid climates such as ours (not necessarily yours). Turbine vents also provide less square footage than ridge vents, meaning you need more of them (One for every 8 feet of ridge vent is the number I remember).

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Cochran
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On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 08:20:25 -0600, "Dan" scribbled this interesting note:

Here's a good site that pretty well describes air flow through an attic as well as how the various ways to vent an attic work.

The design and lay out of your house, the pitch of your roof, the volume of your attic, the amount of insulation you have, the relative humidity of your climate, and more all go into deciding what system of vents you need. Indeed, just soffit vents, with no additional vents of any kind, do a pretty good job if your climate is usually a bit windy.

Only soffit vents, gable vents, power vents, turbine vents, ridge vents, they all have pros and cons and what it comes down to is what you want and what you are most comfortable with. Some people have a rabid fear of power vents, others think the only way to vent a house is with ridge vents, sometimes just soffit vents are the only choice, others are delighted with a couple of turbine vents. I've used all of these. They all are good choices if designed, installed, maintained, and used properly.

You ask good questions. The foreman on the job may very well be correct. Then again he may not. Every response you've had to your question is merely an opinion and only you can make the best decision. After all it is your house and you are the one ultimately responsible for the decisions made........

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

Reply to
John Willis

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 10:40:59 -0600, John Willis scribbled this interesting note:

Forgot the link, Try this:

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-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

Reply to
John Willis

Use the ridge vents, they work better than the turbines.

Reply to
Lawrence Wasserman

We must have a bunch of stupid contractors in out area then! The majority of the homes around have turbines, a few have gone cheap with the crappy plastic square vents, and very few have ridge vents. Greg

Reply to
Greg O

It's an easy decision: use both.

Turbines exchange the attic air based (mostly) on wind velocity - ridge vents exchange attic air based on the heat in the attic being greater than the outside air. They work differently.

Turbines don't work very well when there's no wind, so the ridge vents will provide some relief. With a modest wind, the turbines will way out-perform the ridge vents.

I've got FOUR humongous turbines and about 30' of ridge venting on a 3000' house.

That said, you can't have too many soffit vents. Use this construction period to double whatever you've got.

Reply to
JerryMouse

Phone number for a roofing materials pro is 1-800-ROOFING. That's the number for Owens-Corning. And their warantee says that if you don't have at least 1 square foot of venting for every

300 square feet of vented space, you have no shingles warantee. Better to have twice that much, it's the minimum. Even a 12" turbine is not even a square foot. Only 113 square inches, a square foot is 144. I say go with ridge vents suited to heavy winds with plenty of wind-blown rain. Ask the folks at Owens -Corning. You might even consider a roof-edge vent, too. Functions like a drip edge, gives more 'soffit venting'. Certainteed also has one. And ignore the knuckle-draggers that base what you should do on what others in the neighborhood have done. After all, I seen people put garbage bags over their turbines for the wintertime. Either to stop them from spinning and the noise being troublesome, or to trap all that nice warm moist air in the attic. What idiots.
Reply to
Michael Baugh

replying to John Willis, LINCOLN wrote: I had turbines until 2 years ago. I now have ridge vents and my power usage has gone through the roof! My 2-story house has 1600 square feet and I had two good quality turbines which were 19 years old. Never was there any noise, etc. I'd rather have them than ridge vents!

Reply to
LINCOLN

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