Installing a roof ridge vent - GIF

Installing a roof ridge vent.

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Previously:

Hand cutting a metal roof ridge - GIF
Clearing dryer vents of lint buildup - GIFs
Fake air vent built into a bunker in Normandy - GIF

I had a ridge vent on a house I used to own, and the shingles overhung the sides. The vent wasn't visible from above.

These Mongoose and Cobra brand roof vent systems are available here that use asphalt shingles to hide the vent. HOWEVER, the shingles are held in place with 2 inch roofing nails placed via a gun. The wind can get under the shingles, and the small nail head, can not prevent the shingles from being ripped off under 120MPH winds, which happen enough, that I've had two wind events in less then 10 years with these shingles being removed from the plastic vent. And when that does, it is open to the weather, and I had rain damage.
Nope not a fan of these type of roof vents. They are not wind resistant enough.
My fix was to put 1/2 sq bar along each edge along the length of the vent to keep the shingle edge from being able to get caught by the wind.
I screwed that down every two feet or so with long construction screws, with holes in that square bar. I'm getting too old to get up on a 30ft in the air on the roof. So far this fix has worked.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by metric_taper

These Mongoose and Cobra brand roof vent systems are available here that use asphalt shingles to hide the vent. HOWEVER, the shingles are held in place with 2 inch roofing nails placed via a gun. The wind can get under the shingles, and the small nail head, can not prevent the shingles from being ripped off under 120MPH winds, which happen enough, that I've had two wind events in less then 10 years with these shingles being removed from the plastic vent. And when that does, it is open to the weather, and I had rain damage.
Nope not a fan of these type of roof vents. They are not wind resistant enough.
My fix was to put 1/2 sq bar along each edge along the length of the vent to keep the shingle edge from being able to get caught by the wind.
I screwed that down every two feet or so with long construction screws, with holes in that square bar. I'm getting too old to get up on a 30ft in the air on the roof. So far this fix has worked.

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I actually worked for Cor-A-Vent for 20 years (that was 18 years ago) and they had one of the original shingle over ridge vents, it was made from corrugated plastic sheets. Proper installation of any ridge vent requires hand nailing the vent and the shingle cap to avoid over compression (no matter what the instructions tell you!), or in the case of the hard plastic type, shattering or smashing. The shingle cap needs to be nailed as close to the edge as possible to avoid them being blown off. They made a folded vent that was 20' long also to rival the rolled ridge vents out there. These all have inherent issues: The type seen in the video has a filter material that restricts the air flow so your NFVA (Net Free Vent Area), measured before the filter is installed, is reduced, they are brittle in colder temps so if a branch hits it it will shatter part of the vent. Cor-A Vent has issues with insects making homes out of the corrugated flutes and they sent 2 1/2" roofing nails with their V-400 (original) vents. They're all better than a pot type vent that really only vents an area directly around the pot leaving a lot of hot air not exhausted from your attic area. Also, you typically don't see the eaves / facia areas addressed either and the perforated soffit panels aren't very effective especially if you don't install an adequate vent chute one the attic side. Without continuous eaves ventilation, the ridge ventilation isn't totally effective either.

Well, that was an unexpected flashback to a former life!