O.K. so here we go again: I have a customer with a 50 year old house in central New Hampshire who needs new shingles. The house is a cape approx 50 years old, has no soffit vents, has a gable vent on either side, appears to be plaster and lath on the 2nd floor ceiling with one scuttle hole to the attic, and has loose insulation on the attic floor. The existing shingle are curled. They want me to add a ridge vent to “make the shingles last longer”. I don;t seem to find consistant info on this subject. I have watched Dr. Joe Lstiburek’s rules for venting roofs video, but it did not address this field condition.
Any professional input will be greatly appreciated.
David
New Hampshire
Replies
The normal advice, of course, is to have ridge or rooftop vents, soffit vents, and no gable end vents. Without the soffit vents it's questionable whether ridge vents will do much good.
(From the looks of it the existing shingles are over 20 years old, and are probably near their expected lifetime.)
I second most of what was said...
Shingles are warn out...time to go...also looks like multiple layers...time to take it all off down to the deck.
Best to have soffit vents if you can get a clear path through the insulation...will help guarantee ventilation to all parts of the roof/attic space.
I actuall prefer well placed gable vents...can get much larger sizes = larger vent areas. And, even a slight wind will increase ventilation thru the attic. Also, they don't get covered in snow/ice. Just my opinion...