Atlanta Roofing: What Can a Ridge Vent Do For Me?

More and more Americans are “going green” in mass droves, looking at ways to save on energy costs and become better stewards of the Earth. If even if you weren’t marching the streets in bell bottoms and giving peace signs back in 1970, you can still see the logic in consuming less resources, if it’s possible. Ridge vents are one way a number of homeowners are improving their existing structures. These vents are typically installed by professional Atlanta roofers when an Atlanta roofing job is being completed.
“Roof construction, including components such as ridge vents and insulating materials, is equite important and is often one of the more cost-effective ways to lower energy costs,” writes the National Center for Environmental Health. According to the US Department of Energy, having your Atlanta roofers install ridge vents can save you up to 30% on your heating and cooling costs.
Atlanta roofing professionals say they install the ridge vents at the peak of your house, where the plywood is cut to leave a three to four inch space, where a plastic vent is inserted. This small vent cannot be seen from the street, but it allows hot air to escape from the attic.
The Center for Disease Control explains the inner-workings of the Atlanta roofers’ ridge vent like this: “First, ridge vents help lower the temperature in the roof structure and, consequently, in the attic and in the habitable space below. Second, ridge vents and rotating turbine vents help prolong the life of the roofing materials, particularly asphalt shingles and plywood sheathing. Third, ridge vents assist in air circulation and help avoid problems with excessive moisture.”
Atlanta roofers say their customers really like this built-in ventilation system because it’s been known to prolong the lifetime of their roofing materials. According to the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing, “The use of spaced sheathing in combination with soffit and ridge vents will allow the shingles and shakes to ‘breath’ and will reduce excessive moisture. Horizontal furring will also allow for air circulation under the shingles and shakes, prolonging their life.”
Some homeowners may wonder if an attic fan works better than these natural vents installed by Atlanta roofing experts. Bill Burnett, one of “The Sweat Equity Guys” over at the San Francisco Chronicle, recommends choosing ridge vents instead. “Ridge vents are installed by cutting the roof sheeting back a few inches on each side, nailing a long plastic vent over the opening and covering the vent with composition roofing material. The result is a continuous vent exhausting hot attic air that is replaced with cooler outside air drawn in through the soffit vents,” Burnett writes in his August 26, 2009 article. “Do this and you may forgo installing an attic fan of any kind. Let convection do the work. No need to pump hot air out.”