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Roof vents are probably the last thing that most homeowners worry about. However, there are a coupled of very important issues with your attic ventilation that could be fixed by adding the right style of roof ridge vents or roof vents to your roofing system design.

Proper attic ventilation helps to keep the attic cool in the summer and prevent moisture buildup during the winter. These are very important benefits, because they can prolong the roof of your home, and prevent problems like moisture damage, rust, overheating, mold, mildew, and bacteria buildup in your attic, and your home.

Here’s a quick tutorial on the evolution of attic ventilation in homes that should give you a better understanding of the topic:

Back when dwellings were designed without walk-up attic spaces, it was common to install louvered roof vents into gables at the end of the attic on each side of the home. Before then, ventilation in attics came in the form of windows that could be opened and closed to allow ventilation.

Gable vents served the purposes of attic ventilation quite well, but in areas with a lot of snow, the snow tends to enter between the louvers and get into the attic, causing moisture problems, rust, and other problems associated with moisture buildup. 

Additionally, the screen portions attached on the inside part of the louver vents often would deteriorate with time, giving easy access insects, small birds, and rodents that could then climb into the attic through the holes.

Nowadays we have smaller attic spaces with less accessible stand-up space. This caused problems at first because heat leaving from the warm areas of the house would get trapped in the attic, melting the snow on the roof, and causing erratic temperature changes which lead to ice damming. 

After building code changes started requiring more insulation, the addition of soffit vents became popular. The tendency was to add them along with existent roof or gable vents. 

With additional roof or gable vents and correctly placed soffit vents, attics could be cooled by a consistent flow of air from the soffits up and then out the upper part of the roof. This worked to cool the home in summer months and keep attic free of ice-damming and moisture issues in the winter.

Now that more advances methods are available for ventilating the attic, like roof ridge vents and roof vents, there are just a couple factors to watch out for.