Types of Attic Ventilation

Soffit Vents

• Soffit vents are located in the soffit, which is the flat surface underneath the roof where the roof and top of the wall meet. The soffit vents draw fresh air into your attic from the outside, pushing out air at the gable or ridge vents. Cold air pulled into the soffit vents during the winter helps keep the attic cold, which prevents snow from melting too fast and refreezing, which can create ice dams that can damage your roof. The insulation in the ceiling between the attic and top floor helps block this cold air from the rest of your home.

Gable End Vents

• Gable end vents are vents installed in a home's gable. The gable is the triangle-shaped portion of the wall underneath an angled roof. Gable end vents are designed to have a decorative appearance, as they are plainly visible on the gable. They are available in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, and you can purchase a vent that fits your home's decor and attic size. Gable vents work best when used in conjunction with other systems like soffit vents and ridge vents; but unlike the other passive systems, you can install a small fan behind a gable vent to help ventilate the attic.

Ridge Vents

• A ridge vent is a metal strip placed along the peak of a roof; it allows air to flow out. (The ridge vent is why the shingles along the peak of the roof look higher than the other shingles.) Ridge vents allow the air drawn into your attic through the soffit vents to be carried out. The process of thermal convection circulates the air inside the attic by causing warm air to rise and cool air to sink, and the ridge vent assists this process by drawing air out of the attic. This is accomplished when wind flows across the ridge vent, creating an area of low pressure which causes the higher-pressure air in the attic to escape through the ridge vent.

Roof Vents

• Roof vents are vents that sit on the top of your roof near the peak. Roof vents are available in several styles, including saucer-shaped vents, dome-shaped vents and turbine vents, which have slats in the sides and are designed to rotate to help improve airflow. Turbine vents are wind-powered; as the wind blows, it rotates the turbine and draws more air out of the attic. Solar-powered roof vents are also available for installation. These vents have a solar panel located on top used to power a fan that pulls air out of the attic.