| (Reprinted
From Contractors Guide)
During the energy
crisis of the 1970’s, homeowners sealed up their homes with
insulation in an effort to conserve as much energy as possible.
Now, they’re realizing that they may have overreacted, creating
more damaging and costly problems by eliminating their homes’
natural ventilation.
Today, typical
symptoms of homes that are tightly insulated and inadequately ventilated
include what homeowners see as leaky roofs, icicle formation in
the attic and buckling shingles on relatively new roofs. According
to Robert Priest, owner of Burr Roofing Co., Darien, Conn., those
symptoms can be attributed to the fact that once a home is tightly
insulated, 10 years can pass before the poor ventilation problems
appear. However, throughout that 10-year period, the homes’
roof deck may have been inconspicuously rotting from the inside
out, hence the leaky roof.
"Homes are so well sealed today that there isn’t any breathing
room to prevent damaging moisture and heat from building up beneath
the roof," Priest explains. To solve this problem for homeowners,
Priest recommends the installation of a ridge ventilation system.
Why Ridge Ventilation?
By virtue of a phenomenon called the venturi effect, airflows into
the attic through soffits located in the overhang of the roof. It
then circulates through the attic and as it rises, the air is drawn
to the ridge of the roof where it exhausts through the ridge vent.
Priest notes, "There’s no noise, no maintenance, and no
one has to flip a switch to activate it."
When Priest, whose company does about 350 roofs per year, hooked
up with home builder Don Sibilio of Darien Construction, they decided
to use the Roll Vent ridge ventilation system from Benjamin Obdyke
Incorporated, Horsham, PA. One of the main reasons was curb appeal.
"Roll Vent appears only as a thick ridge cap and sits about
three-quarters of an inch above the roof line," Priest explains.
To install the ridge ventilation system, one person can do the job.
"Because the system comes in a roll, the installer merely has
to roll it out along the vent slot and nail down the ridge caps,"
Priest says. "As for the bottom line at Burr, it’s important
that we sell add-on products with our roofing jobs to help our overall
margins and work with products that are labor efficient."
Priest sells
the ridge ventilation product as an upgrade so that he can keep
his base price competitive. He adds that homeowners almost always
buy the product after they understand how it extends the life of
a new roof and that, in some cases, ridge ventilation is required
by shingle manufacturers to validate their warranties.
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This
ridge ventilation system being rolled out along the vent slot is
manufactured by Benjamin Obdyke Incorporated, Horsham, Pa.
After
the Roll Vent has been lined up, it is tacked down and the ridge
cap shingles are installed. |
