Ventilation is a very important part of the roofing system.
Essentially, it enhances air circulation while reducing moisture levels.
Ventilation improves energy efficiency, which makes it essential for manufactured homes since they tend to suffer most from unreasonably high levels of moisture.
Indeed, insufficient ventilation reduces energy efficiency and can result in serious moisture problems.
For this reason, you need to understand whether your manufactured home will benefit from any form of attic ventilation.
One of the most common questions is: Do Manufactured Homes Need Ridge Vents?
Yes. A ridge vent is a vital addition for manufactured home construction. By allowing warm, humid air trapped under your manufactured home roof to escape, ridge vents help in creating a comfortable environment in your home. Besides, they ensure no mildew develops in your attic or any other part of your manufactured home. A small investment in ridge vents will make your manufactured home comfortable while saving on energy costs.
Interestingly, ridge vents offer complete and consistent venting without allowing water and snow to flow into your attic.
They also blend with the rest of the roof for a seamless look.
Since manufactured homes are designed with peaked roofs, ridge vents are ideal for keeping the attic ventilated.
Experts will also recommend ridge vents when replacing your manufactured home roof.
Whether your replacing the roof of your manufactured home or installing another roof on the existing one, you might consider installing ridge vents.
What Is A Ridge Vent?
Working like a vacuum, a ridge vent facilitates constant airflow through all rafters; therefore, allowing warm air and moisture to escape from the attic of your manufactured home.
Ideally, installing a ridge vent in your manufactured home improves functions that enhance comfort.
Ridge vents, and any other roof ventilation for that matter, get the heat out of your attic space; therefore, making your rooms cooler. Besides, they help extend the life of your roof and shingles.
The Role Of Ridge Vents In Manufactured Homes
Buying a home is a significant investment, and probably your largest lifetime investment.
Moving into a manufactured home can be a pleasant experience. However, you will need to maintain proper moisture levels for your home to retain a great shape and last for significantly longer.
To effectively ventilate your manufactured home, particularly the attic, you need to understand how your home is built and ways to keep it as good as new.
Basically, manufactured homes are constructed inside climate-controlled home building facilities to ensure they are not exposed to moisture and other elements that may cause damage.
The construction process ensures that manufactured homes are constructed more efficiently while ensuring improved comfort.
Regardless of how your manufactured home is constructed, it is likely that heat will accumulate under your roof.
Without proper roof ventilation, the heated air stays there until it finds a way to escape or until it diminishes.
Since ridge vents are continuous on the roof, they provide a way for hot, humid air trapped in your attic to escape continually.
Manufactured homes usually have low profile ridge vents, which flawlessly blend with the rest of your roof for a seamless look. The ridge vents play an indispensable role in helping you live in a healthy and comfortable environment.
Just like an air conditioner cools and dehumidifies the inside of your manufactured home, so does the ridge vents- allowing hot plus humid air to escape.
For this reason, it is a no-brainer to say that you don’t necessarily need other ventilation to ensure steady air circulation.
Unlike other air conditioners, ridge vents operate 24 hours 7 days a week, ensuring your home is optimally ventilated for healthy airflow and ultimate comfort. Besides, they ensure no mold grows inside your attach and home.
Why Do You Need To Install Ridge Vents?
In essence, you need ridge vents to enjoy comfort thanks to constant air circulation.
The excessive heat trapped in the attic of your manufactured home can damage shingles, necessitating frequent replacements.
Without a way to escape, moisture formed in the presence of heat can condense and create damage to roofing materials. With ridge vents, you will forget all these roof and attic problems, plus you will reduce energy demands.
Ridge vents are labor-intensive and a little bit pricier to install.
However, their effectiveness will, in the long run, save you money through reduced utility bills to cool and heat your home. To reduce the temperature of the interior of your home,
you may consider installing a manufactured home. It will effectively let heat escape from your manufactured home attic.
Proper roofing is more than putting on the shingles.
Whether you live in a warm or cold climate, venting your home properly with ridge vents plays an indispensable role in making your roof system last longer and prevent other probably expensive issues from materializing.
Pros
The practical benefits of installing ridge vents in manufactured homes include:
- They reduce moisture that can potentially degrade the roof system and damage its structure.
- Ridge vents help save energy and, consequently, money.
- Since high heat can bake shingles and cause them to prematurely age, ridge vents help your shingles last longer.
- Ridge vents reduce indoor temperature extremes and are perfect when mated with soffits and insulation.
- Ridge vents ward off cold-weather condensations and lower the likelihood of ice dams.
- Roof ventilation enhances the effectiveness of your insulation during cold winter months. It preserves ventilation by preventing dripping from condensations.
- Ridge vents can help keep every room in your manufactured home at even temperature for total comfort.
- Ridge vents are designed to prevent rodents from entering your attic.
- They aesthetically please, thanks to their incredibly low-profile.
- Ridge vents do not rely on other systems, which makes them an inexpensive way to keep your attic ventilated. Although they work perfectly with soffits, they do not necessarily need them to operate.
- Roof ventilation helps improve air quality in your rooms.
- With ridge vents, you don’t need to worry about electric or mechanical failures.
Ideally, ridge vents and other forms of roof ventilation improve the health of your attic and roof, just like breathing keeps you healthy.
Unlike breathing, which is an automatic process, incorporating ventilation in your roof requires a conscious effort by its designer.
When ventilating your attic, don’t forget to install proper insulation at its bases; after all, insulation is the defense line against thermal transfer between your rooms and the attic.
Cons
- Ridge vents can potentially leak, especially if you live in a region that experiences windy rains.
- They are labor-intensive and relatively costly to install compared to other forms of roof ventilation.
- They are not suitable for all roof designs. Ridge vents are specifically designed for manufactured homes with pitched roofs.
How Do Ridge Vents Work?
Roofing professionals agree that ridge vents are the most effective and inexpensive roof vents available. However, they need to be paired with soffits that are clear of insulation and baffles.
Ridge vents create a natural air exchange process that combines various fundamental principles. Well, this is how it happens.
The hot air naturally rises and escapes the ridge vent.
After the hot air escapes, the positive airflow across the ridge of your manufactured home creates a venturi effect, letting hot air escape while naturally pulling fresh air into the attic.
For superior results, ridge vents need to be coupled with adequate soffit ventilation to allow enough fresh air into the attic.
Since ridge vents are permanently fixed on your roof, the natural air exchange process is continuous and is responsible for keeping the interior of your home at ideal temperatures.
Ridge vents are also continuous of the roof, which provides better and evenly distributed airflow.
How To Install A Ridge Vent: Seven Steps
Ridge vents are low profile and almost unnoticeable; therefore, they won’t interrupt the roof line.
Here are steps to install one and keep your manufactured home ventilated.
- Remove the shingles caps: To effectively remove ridge caps, remove the nails holding the cap in place.
- Using a utility knife, cut the shingles back 3 inches to expose the wood decking along the ridge.
- Cut the ventilation opening and make it at least 1 inch from the ridge on both sides.
- Cover the exposed decking by installing new field shingles.
- Install your ridge vent with respect to manufacturer instructions. Make sure to use the recommended nails to secure the vent fully.
- Install asphalt shingle caps over the vent.
- When installing ridge vents, keep in mind that it is a labor-intensive project. If you are not up for the challenge, you should call a professional to do it.
Conclusion
Your manufactured home needs to breathe.
Since the attic is where all the heat from your room gets trapped, installing a ridge will be a sure way to keep the attic and your entire house cooler.
You can install ridge vents and soffit vents for enhanced ventilation.
