I'm gettnig quotes for a new roof. The house has gutters, very small soffits, and no soffit venting. One of the contractors is quoting something called a SmartVent
formatting link
It is a flat vent that installs under the shingles. It looks like an interesting system but the house is on Cape Cod. The winters there are somewhat mitigated by the ocean and snow doesn't hang around a long time (despite the foot we got today) but I am still worried about ice dams. The contractor says they install the vent further up on the roof, away from any ice dam area but that concerns me too. I'd think it would just get covered by snow and not work. Anyone have any experience with this type of venting?