Q:Are externally braced turbines better, or should I say stronger, than internally braced turbines? A: As previously stated, we’ve discovered that outwardly braced units are stronger and last longer than internally braced units.
Is it better to use a ridge vent or a turbine?
Roof vents keep your home cool, avoid moisture concerns, and promote healthy airflow in general: Without them, your roof just won’t function properly. So, let’s compare and contrast the ridge vent and the turbine vent, two of the most popular types.
A ridge vent is positioned at the ridges where your roof peaks and runs along the top of those ridges, as the name implies. The vent is contoured around the ridge and covered in matching siding or tile, making it almost unnoticeable and resembling a running cap or extra roof trim.
Ridge vents have a number of advantages. Because the entire ridge functions as a vent instead of just one or two points across the roof, they can deliver a high volume of airflow per square foot when designed appropriately.
When comparing the ridge vent vs. turbine vent, keep in mind that ridge vents, like turbine vents, require precise, competent installation to function effectively. Weather guards and wind baffles must be employed to prevent moisture from leaking back into the ridge and to provide the requisite low-pressure area for hot air to exit. To be effective, the ridge must run the length of the roof, and not all rooftops have enough ridges for this strategy to function. Even full ridge vents may not be sufficient for particularly steep hip roofs.
Turbine vents like miniature wind turbines that have been put on your roof. When the wind blows across your roof, the turbines spin and pull air up into your attic. There is no need for an additional source of power, and turbines come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Depending on the size of the roof, two or three of these turbines are typically used.
Wind turbines, of course, are dependent on the wind. These vents can move more air than other types of vents when the wind blows regularly, but they are ineffective when the air is quiet. Turbine vents are also less expensive to install than ridge vents because the installation area is substantially smaller.
When considering turbine vent alternatives, keep in mind that they are highly visible: ridge vents are a good option if you want your vents to have a low profile. Lubrication and high-quality materials are also vital; poor-quality turbines may rust or dry out, causing unpleasant squeaks and groans, depending on the temperature.
While ridge vents are preferred for their understated appearance and functionality, turbine vents may be preferable in hot or humid conditions where more dynamic airflow is required. If you’re unsure, visit a roofing professional who can assess your home’s needs and create a venting strategy for you. A mix of both vents may be the best option in some circumstances.
Cheap and Easy to Install
When comparing turbine roof vents to ridge vents, you’ll see that this style of vent is more easier to install. As a result, installing these roof vents is not only simple, but also inexpensive and feasible. A turbine roof vent also has no electrical components because it is powered entirely by the wind.
This means you won’t need to hire a professional electrician to come to your home and install the turbine roof vent. Another feature that makes these roof vents suitable and excellent for use is that they help you save money and are inexpensive to purchase on the market.
Turbine Roof Vents Are Effective
Turbine roof vents also have the advantage of being very effective. Turbines can do a fantastic job of transporting warm air out of your attic if you reside in a low-wind area.
It’s also worth noting that when the wind blows, these vents may create a tremendous vacuum of warm air and efficiently draw warm air through them, much like any powered option. As a result, when considering their use, you must keep in mind and fully comprehend them.
They Take Up Small Space
Although turbine roof vents are more apparent from the ground than other roof vents, they do not take up much room. A ridge vent, for example, must span practically the whole length of a roof to be useful. A turbine roof vent, on the other hand, may cover the same area with just a few carefully placed vents.
Ideal for Any Property Size
Turbine roof vents are appropriate for any size home. As a result, there is no minimum or maximum roof size required for this sort of roof vent to function properly. Because ridge vents are sometimes not adequate for tiny properties, this is quite improbable.
Turbine roof vents can be used on both small and large roofs, and they’re easy to manage by simply installing more vents.
Affordable to Run Them
Another advantage of turbine roof vents is that they are simple and inexpensive to install on your home. Turbine roof vents do not add to your electricity bill because they are entirely driven by wind. As a result, you will have sufficient roof ventilation throughout the day without having to worry about your electricity cost.
How can whirlybirds keep rain out of their nests?
Whirlybirds allow trapped hot air and moisture to naturally escape from your roof cavity. Whirlybirds also improve your home’s air quality by reducing the accumulation of fumes, stale air, and hazardous moisture. A whirlybird is a specialized covering that is used to protect a huge hole in your roof. Hot air and moisture climb up and leave via this opening, while rain water is kept out by the whirlybird turbine and flashing.
What whirlybird size do I require?
Sizes of Whirlybird Vents As a general guideline, one 12-inch roof turbine vent can be fitted for every 50 square meters of attic area. Wind is required for a roof turbine to function properly. As a result, to optimize the movement of air in your attic, make sure you have the right vent size.
What is the best sort of roof vent?
Now that we’ve discussed the importance of roof venting as well as the variations between intake and exhaust style vents, let’s take a look at the most often utilized roof venting systems.
Type Of Roofing Exhaust Vents
Before making a final selection on which roof vent to employ as an exhaust for your property, please check with an experienced roofing specialist.
When adding roof vents, most people replace their roof, so getting quotations from a reputable roofing contractor is essential.
We include this warning because it’s impossible to explain all of the benefits and drawbacks of each choice without first understanding the particular configuration of your current roof and the design of your home.
Ridge Vents (Most Common Exhaust)
The most frequent type of exhaust vent is the ridge vent. If you’re getting a roof quote from a Massachusetts contractor, there’s a good possibility that this type of vent will be included. If a ridge vent isn’t indicated, make sure to inquire about the exhaust vent the contractor plans to install and why it’s the best fit for your specific roofing project.
A ridge vent is located at the apex of your roof and runs the length of your roof line. Ridge vents are strategically placed at the roof’s highest point to allow the hottest air to leave the attic region. They also have the surface area needed to release huge amounts of hot air because they run the length of the roof line.
Important: When combined with intake vents located at the bottom of your roof line (such as a soffit vent), a ridge vent provides the best opportunity for vertical ventilation.
Gravity and the natural movement of cool and heated air are used in vertical ventilation. The cold air enters from the bottom and departs from the top. Horizontal or cross-venting, which we will describe later, are considerably inferior to this method.
Almost every roofing company is well-versed in ridge vent installation. Cutting a 2 inch wide gap along the entire peak of the roof using a saw is part of the installation process. The flexible ridge vent is twisted and fastened over the top once the hole is cut.
A ridge cap shingle is curved over the vent and fastened on after the ridge vent is nailed over the newly cut gap at the ridge line. This unique shingle is more durable and bendable than standard asphalt shingles, plus it comes in a variety of colors to complement your new roof perfectly!
Most current ridge vents are so sturdy that you can stand on them, such as GAF’s Cobra Snow Country ridge vent. Their strength gives additional protection against snow accumulation in the Northeast and other snowy parts of the country. Snow and ice accumulation that might otherwise block the exhaust of other style vents are often prevented by the way the ventilation holes are constructed into the product.
A ridge vent’s design, location on the roof line, surface area covered, cost, and commonality are just a few of the many reasons why this is one of the most popular exhaust vents available, and one that we strongly recommend if it matches your home’s construction.
Off Ridge Vents
Though they have the same name, an off-ridge vent and a ridge vent are only similar in that they both sit close to the crest of your roof. In fact, “off ridge vents” resemble box vents far more than ridge vents!
When compared to other, more effective exhaust roofing vents, off ridge vents are not a very popular form of vent and are not one we recommend. Because they are smaller and do not sit as high on the roof, off ridge vents are not as effective as full ridge vents. Their size prevents them from releasing a huge volume of hot air, and their placement prevents them from venting the ultimate hottest air, as a ridge vent may.
The most common off-ridge vents on the market are 4 feet long. Typically composed of galvanized steel, installation entails cutting a hole in the roof approximately one foot below the ridge line the size of the vent itself.
When the actual ridge line of the roof is modest, off ridge vents are useful. Complex roofs and homes without a single long, continuous ridge line for a standard ridge vent to run across can cause this. Adding an off-ridge vent or two to these roofs can help offer additional ventilation in locations where it is needed.
This is a sort of vent to add in your ventilation system if your home has a lot of peaks, valleys, and dormers. However, this is not always the case, so make sure you chat with a reputable roofer before calling.
Box Vents (aka Louver Vents)
Off-ridge vents are comparable to box vents, but box vents are a much more common venting method.
The first stage in installation is to make a hole in the roof for the vent to sit over, which is comparable to an off-ridge vent. Another resemblance is that box vents are typically built in groups across the roof to provide additional ventilation. One or two box vents are insufficient to adequately ventilate your entire roof!
Box vents have a more square form than its off-ridge counterparts, hence the name. There are many different sizes to choose from depending on what you need for your space. The most commonly available box vent size is 18 inches by 18 inches.
Box vents are one of the two most common exhaust vents on a modern roof, along with ridge vents. When opposed to a ridge vent, their modest size is primarily a disadvantage, but they do offer some versatility. Box vents can be strategically placed in smaller sections that need air ventilation but can’t use a ridge vent because they don’t have to span the length of the roof.
Using a box vent, like off-ridge vents, makes sense for more intricate roof lines with multiple parts. A ridge vent, on the other hand, is usually significantly more effective if you have a larger roof line. Off-ridge vents, on the other hand, are particularly frequent on hipped roofs, and if you have a hip roof, these are an excellent option.
Hard-Wired Powered Attic Vents
Powered attic vents, also known as driven attic ventilators or attic power vents, are electric-powered fans that assist in the removal of stale air from attics. They function similarly to a box fan in a window on a hot summer day. They can successfully remove hot air, albeit at the penalty of increased utility costs.
Overall, one of the most important reasons for attic ventilation is to maintain a consistent temperature in your attic relative to the rest of your house. The room may be a little warmer in the summer and a little colder in the winter, but we want to minimize excessive temperature swings from season to season. This is vital to remember when talking about powered attic vents since their power can be either damaging to a ventilation strategy or insufficient to make a difference…
“Vent fans have the ability to reduce measured peak summer attic air temperatures by nearly 20 degrees farenheit,” according to Danny Parker and John Sherwin of the Florida Solar Energy Center. With well-insulated attics, however, the influence during the cooling season is rather minor.”
Another factor highlighted in Parker and Sherwin’s abstract is that the research was conducted in an area with a lot of air conditioning. This means that the powered vents may be sucking colder air up through the home’s main levels and out of the attic, raising energy expenditures and making the air conditioner work harder. If you wouldn’t put a box fan in a window while there’s air conditioning in the room, it’s unlikely that you’d utilize a powered attic vent if you’re cooling the entire house with air conditioning.
Finally, Parker and Sherwin point out that the existing residences in the study did not have exhaust ventilation, such as a ridge vent, when they were built. This is an important topic since adding any exhaust to a system that doesn’t have one, whether driven or not, is advantageous.
Weaker-powered vent devices can be just as harmful to your home’s ventilation strategy as the more powerful ones. Other homeowners have reported that lesser power vents have a propensity to swirl rather than expel air. While a steady air flow is vital for preventing mildew accumulation, the discharge of hot air from the attic is most important. And flimsy powered vents aren’t going to cut it.
On top of the ostensibly complex disadvantages listed above, there are the electricity bills. Power attic vents that are hard-wired must be plugged into your home’s power source, which will definitely raise your energy bills. Though the additional costs may seem insignificant over the course of a few days or weeks, they pile up over months and years. Traditional hard-wired systems have been transitioning to solar power over the last few years due to higher running costs.
Solar Powered Attic Vents
Solar-powered attic ventilation eliminates nearly all of the electricity expenditures associated with traditional hard-wired vents, but it does not eliminate the drawbacks that powered attic vents in general have.
Simply reducing the electricity costs has no effect on how the unit functions. The fans are frequently either too powerful or insufficiently powerful. Unfortunately, there’s no way to guarantee that you’ll get it just correctly. When used in conjunction with a good vertical ventilation strategy (such as a ridge vent exhaust and soffit vent intake), powered vents can cause damage that would not have occurred otherwise. It’s not always true that more is better!
For these reasons, it’s advisable to adopt more natural, tried-and-true roof exhaust solutions. You’re better off without a powered fan in your attic if you already have good venting, even if it’s powered by solar panels.
Roof Turbines (aka Whirlybird Ventilation)
Whirlybird is a fun term to say, and we think having a roof turbine gives you that advantage. You get to stand in your driveway, point at your home, and exclaim to your neighbors, “Look at my house!” “That’s my whirlybird, as you can see.” Wind turbines aren’t all fun and games, though; they have significant advantages and disadvantages that might affect the health of your roof and attic ventilation.
Samuel Ewart, a British inventor, first designed whirlybird vents in the early 1900s. The device was made out of aluminum blades encased in an aluminum casing “Wind from outside the home is used to rotate a cowl, or covering, which pulls air up from the attic and out of the house. Modern-day whirlybird versions are based on Ewart’s original concept.
Roof turbines require winds of at least 5 to 6 miles per hour to activate and spin the inner blades, thus they won’t work on days with only a mild breeze or none at all. If this is the only source of exhaust on your roof, you’ll have problems on hot summer days when there’s no breeze.
Even on windy days, the effectiveness of whirlybirds as a ventilation tool is debatable. They are usually smaller than a box vent or an off-ridge vent, limiting the amount of hot air they can extract from the attic. Most homes will require a number of roof turbines to have a visible impact on the roof’s exhaust for this to be an effective venting method.
Whirlybird roof turbines aren’t the most efficient way to ventilate your roof, but they do have a few advantages. They are eco-friendly and green in the first place since they do not require energy. With the exception of lubricating the unit every now and then, there is little to no care or upkeep necessary. They are also quite quiet, unlike the power vents discussed above, even on windy days with gusts exceeding 20 miles per hour.
Cupola Vents
You might be the proud owner of a cupola vent if you’re wondering what that tower-looking structure on your roof is!
Because of its cost, complexity, and the fact that not everyone has the primary problem they were created to tackle, cupola vents are one of the least prevalent types of roof vents.
The origins of cupola vents can be traced back to their use in barns. Originally, they were designed to allow a lot of air into a barn’s loft in order to assist dry hay and other crops stored there. Cupola vents were originally used as both an exhaust and intake system. One of the key reasons to employ a cupola vent in modern roofing and construction is to let extra light into an area beneath the vent.
Cupola vents are available in a variety of shapes and styles. Some have wooden louvers around the openings to keep the weather out, while others are completely open to allow as much light and air as possible into the space below.
Many Italian-style homes have multi-purpose cupola vents incorporated into the roof line. For starters, they are a type of ventilation. But, more importantly, they offer a lovely pop to the architectural design of the house. A gorgeous cupola vent may bring a lot of flair and appeal to a roof line that might otherwise be dull. Some of the more elaborate cupola vent designs include windows and enough space for a person or two to enter. What a great vantage point for spying on your neighbors!
Cupola vents are an unnecessary investment for most homeowners due to the higher price of installing a brand new cupola vent combined with similar efficiency when compared to larger box vents. Cupola vents aren’t necessary unless you’re looking for enhanced curb appeal.
A cupola vent, on the other hand, may be for you if you require additional roof ventilation and are willing to pay a premium to improve the appearance of your property. Otherwise, a few of huge box vents will suffice!