Ridge Vent
Also called: continuous ridge ventilation
🏠 Roof & Attic — a term you may see in your inspection report.
What is a ridge vent?
A ridge vent is a continuous vent running along the peak of a roof, letting hot attic air escape along the whole length of the ridge rather than through scattered individual vents. It only works if there's matching intake air at the soffits — a ridge vent with blocked soffits is close to decoration. There's also a specific installation failure worth knowing about: the vent can be installed over decking that was never actually cut open underneath, in which case it does nothing at all.
- What it does
- Continuous exhaust along the roof peak
- Depends on
- Matching intake at the soffits
- Sneaky failure
- Installed over decking that was never cut open
- How I check
- From inside the attic, looking for daylight at the ridge
What it actually is
A vented cap along the peak, usually covered by ridge shingles so you'd never know it was there from the street.
Why it matters in East Texas
Common on newer roofs around here, and generally a good system. The failures I find are almost always about the other half — soffits packed with insulation or painted over — rather than the ridge vent itself.
What I do when I find one
I look at it from the roof or by drone, and then I check it from inside the attic, which is the only place you can tell whether the decking was actually cut. Daylight at the ridge means it's working; a solid deck under a ridge vent means somebody skipped a step.
What it means for you
If the decking was never cut, that's a real finding and worth raising, because the homeowner has been paying for ventilation they never received.
More roof & attic terms: Kick-Out Flashing · Attic Ventilation · Soffit & Fascia · Roof Decking Delamination · Vapor Barrier
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