Can Adding Ridge Vents Lower Your Energy Bills?

Does adding a ridge vent to your roof cool down your attic? Does that vented attic help cool down your house? Save 20% on your system and your first month is free when you sign up for interactive monitoring. Visit simplisafe.com/ILTMS to learn more!
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Can a Ridge Vent Help Cool Your House?
• Can Adding Ridge Vents...
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[@Iliketomakestuff]

Save 20% on your system and your first month is free when you sign up for interactive monitoring. Visit simplisafe.com/ILTMS to learn more!

[@TheIgle]

1 year later, I'd love a follow up. Have you been able to notice a difference? Was there any issue during the winter, Etc.

[@wandameadows5736]

Ridge vents work better when you put up a radiant barrier that keeps the venting process contained & control the directing of the vented air. Radiant Barriers are pretty easy to install.

[@scaryjam8]

Roofer for 12 years here. 1. don’t reuse the old ridge cap unless you tar down every tab. Once the tar strip is broken they will NOT seal back down with the sun. 2. At the beginning and end of the ridge vent install a couple ridge cap under the ridge vent. This prevents water from getting in under the ridge vent. 3. After you do step 2 you don’t need to let the ridge vent over hang the roof any or need to lace in the ridge cap where the ridge vent ends. Just cut the ridge vent flush at the end of the roof. Then at the end where it meets the valley or you finish cap it off exactly how you did with your last one. 4. You can’t use a pneumatic nailer with ridge vent. There isn’t a nailer that has long enough nails and the nailer is likely to break the ridge vent. It is always installed by hand nailing. 5. 2.5” roofing nails is recommended for ridge vent. The nails must puncture the ridge vent, any shingle underneath, and fully penetrate the decking for maximum holding strength. This is why you can’t use a pneumatic nailer, most only go up to 1 3/4” nails. 6. As pointed out elsewhere in the comments the old vents need to be taken out. They will compete with the ridge vent and essentially cycle air in from the mushroom vent and out of the ridge vent. Reducing the efficiency of airflow from soffit to ridge vent.

[@aiworm-1]

Much Appreciated

[@smoresrock]

The difference between a DIYer and a pro. Knowing that it must be frustrating to see this kind of misinformation being spread around about your craft, thank you for being graceful enough to share that info.

[@scaryjam8]

@@smoresrock I will say normally it is frustrating. But Bob done a great job, better than most do, about doing his research before he performed this task. It definitely shows compared to most diy “how to” videos regarding roofing. He just left out a few details and didn’t know a couple small things. The biggest problem he did was reusing the old cap back. If a strong wind ever comes they will blow off. The second biggest problem is no ridge cap under the ridge vent. Any wind driven rain or rain water with enough inertia coming off the main house could drive up under the ridge vent and into the gap for the air. Whilst the second isn’t too likely to happen, it is definitely possible and will be a more prevalent issue with lower sloped roofs. Water is going to travel more laterally the lower the slope and this could be an issue to anyone watching who doesn’t add a few tabs underneath.

[@ScottyMcCraigles]

Was about to comment on these same things after being a roofer while in university for a summer job and needing to do this on reroofs and new houses. Glad to see your comment 🙂 Two things I would add are regarding the finishing cap that he put an oval/rectangle of tar on to adhere it before nailing it: Leave a small gap at the lowest point on each side of the roof cap in your tar line. This way, if any water does somehow get under the cap, it can evaporate or drop out at that lowest point. Also, it's best to use ring nails and clear silicone for the finishing cap rather than normal roofing nails and tar. The tar will eventually dry out when it's on an exposed surface and can crack, leading to a small leak around the nail head.

[@blake102989]

You must not roof much then

[@free_at_last8141]

One thing I rarely hear mentioned about installing solar panels on your roof is the added shade and air gap. You're basically putting up an umbrella over whatever portions of your roof the solar panels are sitting on. That can go a long way to reducing the roof's temperature in the Summer months.

[@victorsr6708]

That’s something I had never thought of, you’re absolutely correct. As an air conditioning guy and building science guy I can really appreciate that.

[@modernNeanderthal800]

Only worth if the installer is DIY

[@johngill5175]

This is such a great point, curious if there are any good content around figuring that out.

[@acegolfman3203]

Roof will twice as long with solar panels

[@gg-gn3re]

@@johngill5175 thermodynamics and heat transfer 101 Painting your roof white is far superior, lanco and henry both make products specifically for that. 10-25 year warranties (they have several products each)

[@ooMike22oo]

Happy to see you picked a cold day to do this, doesn't seem hot at all. 🤣Cool project and loved the drone shots! To bad you didn't see much improvement in the bedroom temps though!

[@ronlovell5374]

Ridge vents help with increasing the life expectantcy of your roof, and does allow your attic to cool faster, but the real problem is that heat rises no matter what, and your ceiling, vapour barrier and isulation also trap this heat inside the building. To complete the attic venting process the old vents should be removed and roof patched. Baffles should be installed against underside of roof sheating from where the soffit meets the attic insulation at the tops of the walls, which is easily done if you have access to attic. For energy efficiency, extra air sealing and added isulation in the attic will help with inside temps as long as theres good enough air flow above said insulation. Also balancing your hvac system for warmer months by making adjustments to move more air to upper floors and adding good blinds or darkening drapes to all south facing windows can make a huge difference as well.

[@amunderdog]

True. Increasing the life of the roof is the purpose of ridge vent. He should attempt a gable end, powered exhaust fan, to remove the attic heat. They can be but on a thermostat. If a home is not climate controlled, A hole house exhaust fan will force all the days heat out of the dwelling.

[@SomeDudeQC]

Bold of you to assume I have an HVAC system.

[@raymondjones4035]

If any of your attic is used for storage be sure to cover it with a tarp before you cut the ridge vent. We put in a ridge vent when we re-roofed our house and completely didn't think about all of the bits of shingle and sawdust that fell down into the storage area. We were cleaning the mess off of storage tubs and boxes for months.

[@rorynelson7548]

Hahaha

[@clayhughes3263]

I put ridge vents on my roof last year. That 10° attic difference will still help the overall efficiency of your house. That temperature is just some sheetrock and insulation away from your living space so it will definitely help by being lower in the summer. I had a room that was always hotter/colder than the other rooms. For years. Turned out an elbow section of ductwork in the attic on that run was broken clean through. It was hidden underneath the insulation sleeve so looked fine to the naked eye. Conditioned air was simply leaking out into the attic instead of going into the room! It was a really quick fix. Check your ductwork for leaks, that might be your only problem. But the ridge vents were still a good plan.

[@jamesbizs]

My attic fans easily made a 20-30 degree difference. So maybe he should have just fixed those instead

[@joshwiley881]

I like the outro. Thanks for being honest. My neighbor had a "hot room" during the summer and a "cold room" during the winter. They found out that the builders never put insulation over the ceiling in that room. I know you've done a ton of stuff to that room so maybe it's more of a A/C issue. Possibly having a return duct in the ceiling in that room might help keep it cooler. Keep up the good work Bob and team. I just heard Forby is moving up there. Having the team together is going to be nice. Congratulations.

[@omegamonkey5080]

Check to see if you have insulation baffles! They keep a continuous air gap between your insulation and sheathing from the soffit all the way up to the ridge vent. Not only do they help keep your place cooler in the summer, but they prevent ice dams from forming in the winter!

[@jdmracer1]

This right here. The angled part of his ceiling is packed with insulation. No air movement from soffit to ridge without baffles.

[@wagglebutt]

Yep

[@RealRionRedinger]

I was going to suggest the same thing and add to make sure that the “bird blocking” (the wood blocks between rafters) are not all solid and that every third one or so has venting holes in it. Each of those vents needs to have a insulation baffle to make a channel for the fresh air to flow through. Another option to cool your attic is to install a powered gable vent at the south end of the roof, and add a non powered gable vent in the north end. This allows the thermostat / humidistat controller on the fan to vent the hot / humid air out and draw in cool dry air.

[@EricEllenbrook]

Baffles and air seal the attic

[@_SYDNA_]

Yep. Very important and easily over looked. If he's getting that much air flow, though he's probably doing ok.

[@JohnDLBB]

10 degrees cooler in the attic right on the other side of the wall will mean your cooling system will be better able to cool the space and you should use less energy to do so. Think of the difference when it’s 90 vs 80 outside. You should also consider a radiant barrier in the attic. I have a very similar finished attic space and added a ridge vent and radiant barrier last year and it made a HUGE difference.

[@rickjames6948]

Okay, so you need a ski jacket now inside the attic in the summer?

[@LEF3133]

My current house has a tile roof and seemed to hold the heat. I had it repainted a near white gray with an additive for reflecting sunlight. Had one whirlybird replaced with a solar powered extraction fan. Turns on once the roof space hits 25 Celsius. This works well and the ac only gets a run of the days start pushing towards 40 c in Oz.

[@robertoveloz6132]

I just had my roof replaced 2 weeks ago and was told by my roofer that you can't have ridge vents and solar fans working at the same time because they basically pull air in from the solar fan and back out of the ridge vents making it impossible to cool your attic. I ended up having my 2 solar fans removed and it has make a great difference in keeping the house cool.

[@craigchingren-hamann9700]

I just installed a ceiling fan in my living room. I am hoping that is the last time I need to go into my attic. BUT I totally agree with you - make a list of things you need to do in there and do them in the fall/winter. I did my project in phases trying to do the attic stuff in the early morning or late night.

[@pingu99991]

Make sure to add some kind of vapour permeable barrier over any blown-in insulation around the soffits (and preferably over all of your insulation). With increased airflow in the roof you'll start to see your insulation get blown away from the edges of your roof and piling up in the center which will impact the insulation value - costing more to heat and cool your rooms because of losses. Even if you have fiber wool batten insulation this is a good step you can take to help with energy efficiency as it prevents a phenomenon called Wind Wash. This is where air movement over the top of insulation pulls warm air from between the fibers and lowers its R value. Ventilating an attic space is great for humidity control but you're more likely to get savings from additional insulation improvements as this will keep heat out in the summer and warm in during the winter. It can seem counterintuitive to add insulation for cooling but it's just a tool to slow the transfer of energy between two extremes of temperature. Coolboxes work because they are well insulated!

[@martinsteele345]

One hot days we turn on bathroom exhaust fans on the top floor. That pulls out the hot air and makes it much more comfortable on the really hot days.

[@greenwolf401]

When I re-roofed my house I used vented soffit and a ridge vent. Being in Wisconsin, it was fine in the summer, but in the winter, it got too cold. I did mine in phases, as I was doing most of the work myself. So for the remainder of the project, I spaced out the soffit vent and used a gable vent, somewhat reducing the airflow and it helped a lot.

[@lubintasevski5985]

I would suggest checking if the vents in your house have some that are closed or have any blockage that is preventing enough air to get in the upstairs rooms. If you have not only hot summers but cold winters, you'll want to close up the upstairs vents and open the downstairs vents to channel the hot air to the bottom floors in the winter and then do the reverse in the summer to keep the cold air upstairs to help balance the air flow. This is just something all homeowners should do. For those with a bungalow (1 floor), you won't have to do anything likely. A costly alternative would be to get a minisplit for the 2nd floor and run the vents through any open attic spaces and vent down from the ceiling. This way you can have a 2 zone system and put less burden on the main unit on those really hot days.

[@TheCHRISCaPWN]

Yeah, summer heat on a roof is no joke. Props to all the roofers, and ILTMS team, for being tougher than the heat! 🥵

[@JeffDannyBoy]

Look into some attic foil or double bubble reflective insulation, I installed some in the garage and I noticed it was only 5° warmer than outside which was a big improvement compared to it being 20° hotter, I've also heard it you double layer it with a 1in gap of dead air it can improve it more

[@tomim7187]

There are other considerations for ridge vents including moisture build up. The boys room also, probably doesn't have enough insulation and its not installed correctly plus, there is probably WAY too much air movement through the structure. AIr movement will KILL R value and make rooms very uncomfortable. Also, when adding eave vents, make sure there is MORE square/ft air opening than in the ridge vent, a critical element that a lot professionals miss. Great work Bob, you have my respect. I don't do roofs any more. Too old.

[@csinalabama]

I put in the ridge vent when I replaced my roof. I also install radiaflect on the bottom side of the rafters in the attic to guide the heat from the soffit vents to about 1 foot below the ridge vent. It has made about a 20 degree difference and my KWH usage is down about 20% from last year.

[@tcmixman]

I installed a radiant Barrier (attic foil) and it made a huge difference both in the attic and in the room. Worth checking out.

[@davidpascoe293]

Can confirm. Long, hot, dirty, exhausting process in the Texas summer, but worth it. The difference inside was immediately noticeable. Just stay hydrated while in the stupid hot attic space. I like ice water with a healthy admixture of limeade and a couple teaspoons of LiteSalt per quart. After an hour, you don’t really notice the salt.

[@michaelhale2594]

I really appreciate your video. I'm getting ready to add a ridge vent to my garage where temperatures can soar to 130 F in the summer! You provided several helpful tips that will benefit my project.

[@stevenbrowningsr1144]

Your original attic space temperature didn't really seem that hot as our attic (before additional venting) temps ran about 145 degrees during the summer with mid 90 degree outside temps. We didn't use the ridge vent, but with additional turbine vents we were able to reduce the attic temp to about 115 degrees. Where you are taking the temperature may make a difference as well.

[@MrDummy1989]

Hi Bob, I am an "Energy Advisor" for a municipally owned power company in Virginia. Thanks for the awesome content! This video was very helpful, a real world result of some of the text book training I have received. Every home is as unique as the individuals who live in them but they all have many things in common. I do believe a 10 degree difference in the attic should have some positive effect on your comfort and energy usage. Could you make a video about adding a radiant barrier in the attic? If you do I would love to watch it.

[@sheilameagher3675]

that is why you work at dawn. It is the coolest time of the day. Increase your attic insulation where you can. Specifically on the walls of the upstairs bedrooms. The increased ventilation will help over all.

[@FHL-Devils]

Yup, did one of these on my place when I built my roof 6 years ago. Roofer buddy hadn't done one before here, but just followed by instructions. I guess I was just ahead of my time.

[@kevinmiller1881]

I'm a contractor that works for realtors, engineers and inspectors and I feel you when it's hot. I've had to put in 2 attic stairs recently and I was soaked in sweat. Also, it makes you feel bad for people who do roofing all day. Also, the attic fans will help a lot. When it comes to them check to see if the blades will spin freely, if so, then you only need the temperature Guage replaced but if they're locked up then you need a new fan. Bonus rooms are notorious for having cooling problems. Get a portable air conditioner that oscillates and it will help a great bit.

[@SwampT]

I love that you take the extra time to put in both F and C Makes me understand your video much easier.

[@briangc1972]

I'm an HVAC contractor and I'm a BPI Building Analyst. Air movement in an attic will reduce the effectiveness of your insulation. The key for insulation to perform properly is a lack of air movement. The most efficient way to insulate an attic is to install baffles under the sheathing and then insulate under the baffles. Then you close any gable vents and insulate the gable ends. It sounds counter intuitive, but that system works far better than anything else. I've been in hundreds of attics around Phoenix, Az. I've seen attic temps over 160˚F. Sealed attics are typically 8 to 12˚F warmer than the house. Vented attics are always 45 to 65˚F warmer than the house. The building sciences have greatly improved in the past 30 years. We have learned than many common practices were and are the wrong way to do the job.

[@kevinglennon2770]

I really like how you did the picture-in-picture sponsor! Normally I skip over the sponsor part, but I wanted to see your technique on cutting away the old roof for the ridge vent, so I did listen to the sponsor piece. I'm totally stealing that technique for future YT videos!

[@Blakehx]

If you’re in Texas like me (105°-109° this week) then the more air circulation your attic has the better… so I’d recommend adding an attic fan (electric powered or solar or wind powered)! You can actually add an intake fan at one end and an exhaust fan up high at another end because you don’t want to create positive or negative pressure in your attic (unless your house is super well insulated from the attic which it usually isn’t). Positive pressure will push warm attic air into the rest of the house and negative pressure will pull cool AC air from the rest of your house into the attic.

[@SchysCraftCo.]

The heat is on. This is very interesting and very informational video this week. Very nice video this week guys. Can't wait to see more videos soon. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Bob and the gang. Keep making. God bless.

[@michaelburns8073]

If you have access to the underside of the roof, you should consider a radiant barrier retrofit. The reason why you didn't see much difference in the room temperature is that a good part of heat transfer to the room is through radiant heat. My house was due for a re-shingle, and I had some bad roof sheathing spots, so I opted to just do a total tear-off and replace with radiant barrier sheathing. It has made a huge difference in temperature, especially in my garage. It put much less strain on my air conditioning unit as well.

[@Dave-tn3eo]

Installed a gable attic fan last weekend and that's the best thing I have installed in the house. Made a 30 degree difference in the attic and AC was able to keep up in the upstairs rooms

[@akanesoratobu8889]

gable attic fan how many did you install to make that much difference? Im planning to do one as well, my house dosent have any soffits or ridge vents.

[@akanesoratobu8889]

does your home have soffit vents? mine currently only have one dormer vent and two whirly birds plus a gable on one side of the house

[@ruffmade7735]

We had a similar situation with an upstairs room that gets pretty hot (attic space above & on one side), but also has garage below it. I found in our case that just insulating the aluminum garage door dropped the temperature in the garage significantly, which also dropped the bedroom temperature noticeably. Not sure what's under this room, but worth looking at. Also - radiant barrier & additional blown in insulation in attic should help as well, but definitely wait for cooler weather to do that! (BTW - Here in Texas we're regularly at triple digits and around here 80%+ humidity, so we know hot!)

[@josephdionisio6947]

I second RuffMade’s comment about the top room of a garage having temperature variances. I insulated my garage door last summer and noticed a significant change in the bedroom above.

[@Deathcroak]

Came in on break from cleaning several roofs barely sweating then seeing his vid lol sorry bud. I do all my roof work in the morning because Texas gets hot. Always put new shingles.

[@awlthatwoodcrafts8911]

We have 2 bedrooms above our garage, one of them being my office. It definitely gets warm on those rooms during the summer. I've been wanting to insulate our garage door thinking I'd get the results you described. I figured if I could lower the temperature in the garage by 15-20 degrees, I could possibly reduce the temperature in the rooms above the garage by 2-5 degrees. During the hottest part of the afternoon, I've measured our garage door to be between 135 and 145 degrees with the air temperature in the garage right around 100 degrees. At that same time, the temperature in the rooms above are typically 81-82 degrees, and that's with the thermostat downstairs set at 72. Reducing the bedroom temps by say, 3 degrees, by insulating the garage door, would be a very noticeable difference.

[@ruffmade7735]

BTW - To insulate my garage door, I used a reflective radiant barrier material (like the ones used in car sunshades) and attached it flush with inside of door panels. That leaves an air gap inside the door panels themselves to help further insulate. Not sure if this is ideal, but just in the interest of information. I've also seen some folks use rigid foam or bat roll insulation, so YMMV.

[@josephdionisio6947]

@@ruffmade7735 Home Depot also sells garage insulation kits that are made and precut to fit inside the panels. I think I did some minor trimming on mine then I also put on some hvac tape to really seal it in.

[@Rhyzal_]

Besides soffits vents and a ridge vent, you also need baffles inside your attic. These are pressed along the line of the roof to keep your insulation from blocking the soffits. If your insulation covers your soffit, you block the "path" that the air needs to travel between the soffit and the ridge vent.

[@dwaynerobinson7629]

If that room faces south, it's gonna be hot. Sun orientation makes a huge difference. Here's why We all know, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west BUT the tilt of the Earth during summer takes the sun on a southern trajectory during its path. This means south facing elevations get more direct sunshine in summer.

[@jwydubak9673]

One of main reason to install ridge vents (as far as I read about roofs) is to remove humidity from the roof structure. Especially if you install insulation. In such case remember to leave some space (2-3 cm, this depends on the length of the roof from the ridge to the gutter) between the insulation (mineral wool) and the sheathing. This will further reduce temperature in the attic and probably in the boys' room to.

[@scottbates5099]

1984 Cape Cod PA home owner here. Our upstairs is a furnace in the summer. A ridge vent isn't going to do anything for you room temps. Get those attic fans working and get some ceiling fans in your rooms. Maybe consider some extra insulation on the other side of the room walls. Also if you have central air just double check that the return vents actually go somewhere. In our master bedroom the return vents are just holes in the wall that don't go anywhere. When the system is running you can hold a piece of tissue paper on the vent and it will just fall off.

[@Inkling777]

Thanks for the helpful advice. On a hot day the peak of my attic gets to 140. Unfortunately. whoever did the roofing put about twice as much ridge venting over my garage as over my living spaces. The venting for the latter is grossly inadequate. I've decided to wait until the shingles need replacing to fix that. For now, I'm protecting living areas with 16" of blown-in insulation covered by attic foil. That latter makes a 10 degree above and below difference.

[@maketheconstitutiongreatag5038]

Check the intake at the soffits as well. There may be inadequate air flow there from insulation or undersized holes/vents.

[@jason-windsor]

Can’t wait for your next video, “Installing a Mini-Split in a Second Floor Bedroom”.

[@dhammer5645]

As an owner of a house referred to as a story and a half, the half story upstairs is notoriously hard to maintain a temperature the same as the main floor. It has to do with the sloped ceiling. The ceiling is only like 6" at most away from the shingles especially in "older" homes which absorb alot of heat from the sun. Also the slope ceiling is typically hard to keep vented as there isn't enough room for insulation and an air gap between the insulation and the roof deck, which is needed to keep ventilation. Hope this helps

[@discodubber85]

One thing I found in researching this topic for my own house is this: There are 3 types of vents in your roof: intake vents, exhaust vents, and utility vents. Intake lets cool(er), fresh air into the attic, exhaust lets hot, stale air out, and utility vents are for things like bathroom vents, water heaters, plumbing, and furnaces. We are only interested in the first two right now. There are several types of both intake vents (soffit, drip-edge, fascia) and exhaust (ridge, turbine, box, gable, and powered fan- both solar and mains electric), and as Bob said you need both intake and exhaust. However, each subtype of vent is designed to work as the only one of its type, so combining a ridge vent with gable or turbine vents actually interferes with the effectiveness of both vents, so you’ll want to remove the other vent (seal up gable vents) before adding a different one (ridge vent). Bob, you might want to make sure your gable vents are sealed off, then see it your ridge vents are working better.

[@josephmauldin3]

When we had our roof redone we had ridge vents installed. One thing they did was to cover the gable vents up on the inside. That forces a better airflow out the ridge vent. Also it dropped our attic temp down by about 20 degrees. It didn't change the inside temperature much, but it made a significant drop in our electric bill!!!! By adding the ridge vent our ac was able to operate more efficiently. We already had soffit vents in place so we didn't have to add those.

[@skip741x3]

wow! I dont doubt ur sincerity but this feedback is in direct contradiction to another commenter here who Had ridge venting and went to a gable end powered fan setup...he claimed there was a 20 plus degree Lower attic temp With the powered fans vs ridge venting.

[@Anakreo515]

This is exactly what I'm planning on doing on my porch roof. Thank you!

[@garageworker]

You might want to take out the old roof vents. The ridge vents work on convection, the heat needs to raise through the roof. Also, how well this works is gonna depend on if there is any vent space in the wall. They make plastic under roof vents that go in the wall to allow for air movement. If the wall cavity is stuffed full of insulation the air won’t move and it can be bad for your roof decking. Also, grab an old couch cushion and use the foam inside of it to kneel on. It won’t slide on the roof and insulates you from the heat.

[@jonahclem]

Yes! The old vents could be causing competing ventilation, especially if they are powered vents.

[@WreckDiver99]

Yep...get rid of that vent. It can cause lots of issues...the heat escaping coming right back in and such. Worked as a roofer for a summer and that was one of the things the crew taught me, if you are putting in a ridge vent, get rid of all vents on that roof where the ridge vent is.

[@Bward216]

You do not want wall vents. A) you can compromise integrity of the wall bearing ability. B) you create an easy channel for fore to spread rapidly up and throughout your house.

[@lordrichard8184]

Make sure the insulation in the attic is not blocking your soffit vents. That’s a very common problem and could be part of the issue. But having that 10 degree drop will help your roof to last a little longer since it doesn’t get so hot

[@sapelesteve]

Nice work Bob & at least now you have more ventilation in your attic! Also, I am fairly certain that on a hot day it will indeed be hotter on the roof! Stay cool! 😉😂👍

[@bigonprivacy2708]

Your exit intro or extro earned a new subscriber. Also like your honesty on the kitchen cabinet builds (should your or shouldn't you). Great content. Thank you!

[@irrision]

When you have the house re-roofed consider adding 2" rigid foam under the roof or tear off the roof decking in the problem area, remove the insulation, spray foam and add vent baffles.

[@CiaranDoyle]

Another way to cool your roof: solar panels. The air gap between the panel and the shingles acts like a beach umbrella. Great in the summer - but watch out for the avalanche in winter because all the snow comes off once you have finished shoveling the driveway (special feature). Obviously way more expensive than a ridge vent but was a surprising benefit besides lower electricity costs

[@shadowforge]

$25,000 worth of Solar panels that may or may not pay for themselves (search KZbin for Solar scam, there are a lot of news reports on it now) vs $200 roof vents.... its not even a comparison

[@JPEricksonYouTube]

How did you know I’m currently working to vent out my attic. I’m going to TRY to get my attic fans working first…but this might be my Step 2. Thanks as always for this amazing content.

[@Veany]

Adding curtains made a huge difference in the heat temp for our second floor. It’s crazy.

[@ezcobar33]

that's a super interesting experience you make here, I like this concept of this video.

[@jlm08742]

replacing those attic fans will probably make a notable difference, it'll draw air through the soffit out the roof

[@xivix6710]

I work in construction in a desert-like environment where temps goes to +40 °C, and we have a mid day break during summer so no one is hospitalised. If you want to work in the summer without issues then ovoid cotton and get some moisture wicking clothing preferably white in color, cover your head and neck, and pick a day where the humidity is low and spray some water on yourself and you're good to go for few hours as long as you're hydrated. I know that you can't wear what I just described because your shooting. But I'm just throwing an info for anyone who needs it.

[@joegoble2134]

Huge kudos to Bob for tackling this project. It looks like it was hot.

[@ghettopenny]

I really appreciate this video because I recently replaced a 22 square roof on my mom's 1970 ranch style home with gable vents. Everyone kept saying "aren't you going to put in ridge/soffit vents!?!" It has had a traditional capped ridge for 50 years without an issue. Adding the ridge vent just adds cost and risk of water entry during high winds in our area.

[@michaelodom7203]

Have you considered a mini-split AC for that room and then isolate it from the main system? There is likely a flow problem with your main unit to that room and it may be easier and more efficient for that area of the house to be on a separate unit.

[@wes7235]

I love the pool noodle pads on your ladder. Genius!

[@Megs658]

I actually just had a new roof with ridge vents installed earlier this week. When the roofer was going through what their plan was for the roof he made mention that the ridge vents they install won’t make a huge difference to the inside of the house. I had the round vents previously if anyone was curious.

[@jimharper6073]

Before you cut out the ridge with your saw... cover all stored items in your attic.. The saw will create a big mess that you may not want on your stored items..

[@MonteFleming]

Even though it didn't lower the temp in the room, lowering the attic temp by 10 degrees should save on AC.

[@MissCathexis]

One thing to be aware of is that mice love to chew into plastic roof vents. You may need to install a metal mesh to prevent their ingress.

[@redpeterpanda]

Between 5 am and 10 am is the coolest time of the day, I've been working outside in these times to stay cool this summer

[@winhousewhisperer]

Studies indicate exfiltration minimally affects attic temperature. Shingle color matters, a lot. Attic fans are a bad idea. Attic venting only was intended for managing moisture, not radiant heat. Because of this, having just a ridge vent is okay for adequately managing moisture, especially in winter months if your interior enclosure isn't air sealed at the attic. Insulting the roof surface (exterior or interior) would be more effective at reducing heat in the attic.

[@VeniseGrr]

I'm only 43 seconds in but I must pause to thank you for that Celsius conversion :D

[@relex28]

love your honest reviews !

[@dgeo0392]

Good video, nice to see I'm not the only one that sweats... beats heat exhaustion. Good job.

[@stanleytolle416]

Allot of the time you need to up grade your soffit vents. Make sure you have self closing vents with screens to protect the house from ingress of flammable material if there ever is a fire in the area. With out such protection a fire next door or worse a fire storm can allow embers to get into the house and set it on fire. I would have also put in a fire screen on the ridge line too.

[@-B.H.]

We actually just did this on our house as part of an overall roof repair. Already our attic doesn't feel like an inferno anymore during hot days.

[@Jamestorn48]

Thanks for this. I actually already I a ridge vent and was wondering how much it was helping as it was installed before we bought the house.

[@johanlaurasia]

You already have venting (not ridge venting), but vents none the less (and soffit vents as well). The ridge vent basically just took the load off of the existing vents, hence there was little change. Had you had no venting, and added the ridge vent, there would have been a big difference. At this point, you're more than well vented, so you might want to consider something like what they call a whirlybird vent, a wind-driven vent that draws air out of the attic, and actively draws in more in via the soffit vents. A 3rd option would be a powered roof vent that actively draws air in like the whirlybird, but it's powered... either by running power to it or also there are solar powered versions these days as well.

[@donrozwick7367]

thanks for sharing

[@lawsoncampbell4382]

If you are venting common attic space, I would recommend never installing the venting on lower ridges, only the at the highest peak. If venting is installed on varying levels, the lower of the vents can actually end up serving as intake, pulling in more air. If it’s not common or shared attic space then that shouldn’t be an issue though. In terms of the ridge cap shingles, generally your want to run a few on either side of the opening first before installing the venting, then lay the ridge vent to overlap over the installed ridgecap.

[@Bruceskyy]

Would this apply if he had 3 different attic spaces like he mentioned? He did 4 caps so he probably doubled up on one, but besides that would it be an issue?

[@lawsoncampbell4382]

@@Bruceskyy if they are in fact separate attic spaces, then no it really wouldn’t be a factor. Just if it’s common attic space, you have to make sure venting isn’t installed at different levels

[@tylersanders6080]

You know what doesn't suck....working on the Ghia😉 hope she's coming along nicely👌🏻 Great video!

[@HyperactiveNeuron]

Damn Bob LOL! I live in KY too and you sure picked a hot month to do this. I WISH I could do this for my mom but her roof has a 40 degree pitch and just no. She needs an attic fan too. It's the exact same story with the upstairs bedrooms. You could argue no one sleeps there but it's also driving up her HVAC costs.

[@mamanzanares]

Thanks for this epic video! This video was recommended to me by YT again, now a year later. Coincidentally, now is when we’ve had a few storms here in San Antonio, and am having my roof inspected for damage. I wondering if I can add this improvement to the roof if and when it gets replaced. Can we get an updated video now that we’re a year later?!

[@matt_1984_]

Bob, check for return air in the rooms having issues. If there's no way to push the old air out, then its harder for the newer conditioned air to go in.

[@gorak9000]

Most rooms have this giant opening into them that allows air movement - called a DOOR. Even if the door is closed, the gap under the door is usually sufficient to allow return air to flow. Obviously not as easily as if the door is open, but enough that the room will ventilate properly. Probably the main problem is that room doesn't have a big enough supply vent to keep up. I have one room like that too with a vaulted ceiling, and it's on the hot side of the house - the vent in there is the same size as the other rooms, and there just isn't enough flow.

[@hankbender2]

@@gorak9000 relying on door undercuts for return air often is not enough. supply air ducting pressurizes the rooms, return air ducts depressurizes the house. if you only rely on undercuts the room pressure will effectively stop supply air from entering the room. in a perfect world each room would have the exact size return for the supply duct cfm. i do agree that the supply duct is probably undersized as is often the case for loft rooms but installing a dedicated return will most likely increase airflow far cheaper than installing more supply ducting

[@AronGreen]

Would have been awesome to measure your air conditioner usage before/after on the same type of days. You may find it lowered your electric bill.

[@greatpix]

Adding two attic fans that exhaust out the side of the house is another idea. Safer to install and do any repairs on, if you've got access to the attic areas you mentioned. However, using air convection to exhaust hot air and bring in cool air costs nothing, adding a fan or two will cost, unless you go solar powered fans.

[@josevilla7442]

Roofer here for 1 days I spay foamed my attic in an old apartment I rented I sprayed every corner where the trusses met the drywall and where every dry wall met another also random cracks i put all the insulation back and some because the old wasn’t covering enough the old was sagging under at the level of the bottom cord of the trusses not good. Made a big difference before If you touched the inside ceiling you could feel the heat after is was warm but not nearly as hot

[@lizzynarnia9520]

I know the tape measure running away wasn't helpful to the project, but it made me laugh so much

[@richardpetty9159]

Been there….😊

[@MCsCreations]

Pretty impressive work, Bob! Well done! 😃 And since you're having so much fun in the roof... 😬 How about putting solar panels there as the next project? 😬 Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@rmd6502]

We have an attic fan, it brings the temp in the attic down about 30ºF as you noticed also. The difference is with the AC off in the house it actually feels like it cools down a bit when I turn the fan on. Might be psychological though...

[@_SYDNA_]

The reason I installed ridge vents on my roof was to avoid cooking my shingles. If your attic gets too hot underneath the shingles have nothing to help them resist the heat they absorb and they wear faster in the sun. The theory as explained to me is that the asphalt gets it's oils baked out prematurely and wears faster. The roof I replaced got "cooked" in some of the heat vulnerable areas and you could see a network of little pock marks in those areas. We're pretty energy conscious nowadays but a primary purpose of roof vents is to protect and/or preserve the shingles. If you saw the temperature drop in those tight attic spaces you accomplished the primary mission. In the living spaces, inside your envelope of house insulation you may not see as much change, as you noted. Attic ventilation does make a difference in terms of cooling, particularly if you have a well placed powered fan, but protecting the roof and its structure is their primary, bare minimum function. Good attic ventilation also helps fight wood rot from moisture build up in the winter: A lot of bathroom fans vent into the attic and not through the roof. Without adequate ventilation, water can excessively condense on the roofing nails In winter and cause problems. My guess is that you did yourself a favor and added a few years to the life of your roof given the tight, hot attic spaces you showed us.

[@blake102989]

You cannot reuse old ridge cap and you have to take out and close off those old vents other wise it’s canceling itself out and venting even less. Also vent doesn’t go all the way to the edge it should be about 2 ft back off the edge

[@audiovideophile5317]

What about winter? Don't you want to keep that hot(tor) air in the attic?

[@josephverbosiii5764]

Most likely an inadequate insulation problem. You also need venting in the area of the roof where the rafters have drywall on them ( angled part of ceiling /wall) from the top to the bottom for proper airflow from soffit to ridge.

[@netposerx]

Not taking a leaf blower up there before you laid down that ridge vent got me good!

[@byronvision2589]

We didn't have window screens on our 3rd floor so the risen-heat never escapes properly. Maybe a proper awning over your boys wide-open window will shade the sun and vent the quickest. Our home also came with a Breathe system that vacuums out stale air to the roof and dehumidifies.

[@Josh19998]

I haven’t watched you for years. I’ve missed so much

[@zachheinz9683]

More than likely you don't have sufficient return air pulling from that room back to your furnace. If you could add another return or two up there (high on the wall) it would make a big difference. Second floors are always the hardest to cool because heat rises, so you can never have too much return air coming from the second floor.

[@scioli700]

This. 👆 Hot air rises like Zach said. All the warmer air from downstairs rises up into your upstairs.

[@mostchilldude]

lack of a return vent in the hvac system can make the rooms feel very warm even if it's cooling.

[@MrJonaotan]

Please keep us updated on what you do. I also have an attic area like yours and it is uncomfortably hot

[@kylehofmeister6906]

Well, I'm no roofer but I do know a little physics and temperature typically moves from hot to cold. This would mean that if the peak of attic was at the same temperature as outside, you wouldn't get any heat transfer to the outdoors... The bad news is that in winter, hot air rising and meeting the cold outside air through the vent, you might actually pump the hot air out of your house... I don't know if that's true but you might want to look into it.

[@norcalniner]

Great info! I’m sorry it didn’t solve that hot room issue

[@jmackinjersey1]

As for your ends, you are supposed to have the lower part of the ridge Under the ridge vent at least 12 inches, and NEVER have the lower ridge cap laying UP onto the raised ridge vent. You are creating an opening where water can and will flow down under the lower section of ridge cap. Also, NEVER REUSE ridge caps, or pretty much any shingle for that matter. The tar/glue is a One and Done, not just for water, but also for wind and of course Ice/Snow. Ridge caps or just plain shingles are relatively inexpensive. A lot less expensive than the water damage that will happen when reusing old shingles.

[@alanwasserman8176]

Check to make sure that the roof fans are large enough to force out the heat in the attic space, from what I saw they look a bit smaller then the attic space