Q & A - Attic Ventilation Without Soffit Vents

The attic needs a balanced intake with exhaust for it to breathe properly.

Tyler asked, I do not have any ventilation on the soffits of my home. Is there a roof vent that can be installed near the eave to allow air to enter my attic?

Your timing is freaky. I am estimating a roof this week with the same issue. In fact I just yesterday picked up a sample to show the customer whose house is in the picture. As you can see it has no intake ventilation. The attic needs a balanced intake with exhaust for it to breathe properly. Attic ventilation not only keep you house cooler in the summer but keeps the shingles from reach those high temperatures that can cause early failures. The accepted rule is 1 sq. ft. of airflow per 150 sq. ft. of attic about living space. Having a vapor barrier in the attic can raise the multiplier to 300 sq. feet.

The product I found to work well for our roof here in Sacramento CA is The Edge™ by Air Vent.

It is a rooftop attic vent is installed with the shingles and has internal baffles and filter provide weather protection. It allows nine sq. inches per linear foot of net free air, to enter into the attic. It has a similar design to its brother The Shingle Vent II. The installation is easy and keeps roofer up on the roof doing their thing and not under the eaves cutting holes for screen vents. The drawing below is not to scale and may differ from the product but is being used to help understand the system we are discussing.

This vent is sandwiched between the upper felt and shingles and lower felt and plywood panels. The vent has inlets at the lower edge, allowing air to enter the system and move through the large outlet holes at the bottom next to the roof, and into a cutout strip of plywood that has been removed. The air is thus able to enter from the outside environment through the inlets at the lower edge of the vent and pass through the holes in the plywood sheathing into the attic. The vent is installed without modification to the eaves, and it does not protrude beyond the eave so that it does not degrade the appearance of the home.

The Edge™ pasted the Ice Dam Test Using third-party testing, The Edge™ Vent was intentionally covered under an ice dam—withstanding 30 days of freeze/thaw cycles.

I believe this is a nice option to have when ventilation has challenges like no soffit or eave vents. More information about The Edge™ can be found on their website or YouTube. I have included a short video of the sample product here.

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