4 Key Decisions - Step 6: Ventilation Demo

Thank you for tuning in for this recording of Isaiah Industries for Key Decisions Sales Presentation. This portion of the sales process comes after steps 1 through 3 have already been completed. Those are the introduction and needs analysis, the exterior inspection, and the interior and attic inspection. In this episode we will cover Step 6, the ventilation demo. Great, two questions down and two to go. Like we discussed when inspecting your attic, every roofing install should include a plan to properly ventilate the attic space, bringing air in at the eve and exhausting it out near the ridge. This consistent air flow is key to protecting your home and pocketbook from the dangers of heat and moisture. Proper ventilation protects against two problems created by excess heat in the attic. In the summertime without air flowing through the attic, a state as the stagnant air gets incredibly hot. Most of us have experienced being in a hot attic in the summertime. This heat conducts into the living space, forcing our air conditioners to run harder and costing us dearly on our cooling bills. In the winter time, when we are heating up our homes, some of this heat inevitably escapes the living space and rises into the attic. Proper ventilation catches this heat and exhausts it outside. Without proper ventilation, this heat reaches the underside of the roof deck and warms the roof. If the roof is covered in snow, the snow will begin to melt unevenly. This melted snow, now water, will run down the roof until it hits a cool spot, often the overhang at the eve edge, and re-freeze as ice. This is called an ice dam that will damage the roof and gutters and eventually force water underneath the roof system and inside the attic and walls. No roof is designed to be a pool liner. Proper ventilation protects our homes from catastrophic damage. It also protects from the dangers of moisture. Most homeowners are surprised to learn how much moisture we create living inside our homes. Cooking, cleaning, bathing, and laundry all create moisture. And the average family of four creates two and a half gallons worth of it every single day. Some of this moisture used to escape through the walls of our homes, but after upgrading our doors and windows over the years, most is carried by rising warm air up into our attic. With proper ventilation, the airflow catches this moisture and exhausts it outside. Without it, the moisture stays in the attic and creates all sorts of problems. It first saturates the insulation, compromising its r-value and ability to contain heat in the living space during the winter time, which dramatically increases your heating bills. Even worse, the excess moisture will eventually rise beyond the insulation, condense on the backside of the roof deck, creating the perfect environment for mold. We are sure to conduct a thorough attic inspection and specify an appropriate ventilation package to be sure our customers are protected from these dangers. Any mold can contribute to serious health issues and will require thousands of dollars to remediate if it's caught before the home becomes unsalvageable. And ice dams can cause catastrophic damage to the roof, gutters, walls, and whatever is on the ground below in the middle of winter, the worst time to be dealing with issues. Every home is unique in the amount of ventilation it requires in the package events that will best meet its needs. Building code requires a ratio of one square foot of ventilation per every 300 square foot of attic footprint. We will calculate this requirement and then convert it to square inches to determine the number of events you will need. Every vent has an NFA rating, which stands for Net Free Airflow, which is the square inches of ventilation it provides. We will divide that into your code requirement to make sure the package is perfectly tailored to your home. Let's first calculate the amount your home needs and then we will determine the best package for your roof geometry. Now that we know the amount of ventilation you need, we can determine which package will best meet your needs. The first variable to consider is your predominant roof geometry, whether you have a gable or a hip roof. So pause from the script for just a moment. Here we will then deviate based upon gable or hip roof geometry. I'll first read the gable scripting and then we'll come back and I will read the hip as well. Your roof is framed as a gable, which directs us to which options are available. For gable roofs, most of the industry opts for Ridge vents to exhaust the warm moist air out of the attic. This is a gap in the decking left on each side of the ridge to release air from the attic that is then funneled through a vent installed over top. As with anything, there's a wide range of quality and performance among the vents on the market. The lowest being, any product that is improperly installed. It is all too common for us to inspect an attic where a ridge vent is installed, but the decking is not cut back from the ridge. Or the underlayment is installed over the gap in the decking, preventing any air from exhausting out the attic. Most roofers know they're supposed to install a ventilation package, but few understand why. The entry-level ridge vents on the market are flexible, fibrous products that are rolled down the ridge prior to the ridge caps being installed. Installers like them because they take practically no extra time or effort to install. The problem is this mesh-like material is compressed when the ridge caps are installed on top. You must fasten the caps down tight to the roof deck otherwise they'll blow off in the next storm. But when compressed, the vents airflow is dramatically reduced. The next level up are products made from rigid plastic. They are sold and installed in four foot lengths. The plastic does not compress like the rolled options, and many do have baffles molded onto the outer edge to increase their efficiency. But the challenges, they're still plastic. The sun's UV rays will eventually break down the plastic, leaving it vulnerable to water infiltration and wind damage if the critters don't chew it up first. To protect our customers from these future challenges and failures, we have chosen to offer an all-aluminum product called High Flow Ridge Vent. It costs more than plastic, but the aluminum is guaranteed to never rust or corrode and is immune to the sun's harmful UV rays. The Kynar paint finish, the premier architectural paint coating on the market, carries a 30-year fade-in chalk warranty. With an NFA rating of 20 square inches per lineal foot, High Flow provides significantly more ventilation than the alternatives. But the most important feature is this integrated baffle on the outer edge. It makes the difference even more dramatic. When the wind hits this baffle, it kicks up and over the vent. Following the Bernoulli principal, the same principle that explains how an airplane wing creates the necessary lift for flight. Negative pressure is created inside the vent, sucking even more warm moist air out of the attic. This turns an otherwise passive vent into an active one, supercharging your ventilation to save you money on your energy bills and protect your home from mold and ice stamps. Using the NFA rating of 20 square inches per lineal foot, your home would require this amount of lineal feet of High Flow to meet the code requirement. Does that sound like the best option to you? Your roof is framed as a hip, which directs us to which options are available. With hip roofs, you must often consider one of the off-the-ridge vents on the market. You might have noticed ridge vents on other homes in the neighborhood, but the closer a hip roof is to square, the less likely it has enough ridge for a ridge vent to meet the home's ventilation requirement. Your home does not have enough ridge, so we will take a look at the off-the-ridge options. These were the products used on all homes for many many years before ridge vents became popular. As with anything, there is a wide range of quality and performance available. The lowest being any product that is improperly installed. It is all too common for us to inspect an attic where vents have been installed, but the hole was never cut through the decking, or the underlayment was left installed over top. Preventing any air from exhausting out of the attic. Most roofers know they are supposed to install a ventilation package, but few understand why. The most popular off-the-ridge option is the typical box vent. When installed properly, these can be in effective form of ventilation, but they still pose a couple of key challenges. Most roofing contractors are always trying to save a few bucks, so cheaper versions made of plastic rather than aluminum have become popular. The sun's UV rays will eventually break down the plastic, leaving it vulnerable to water infiltration and wind damage. If critters don't shoot it up first. The even bigger challenge though is that each box vent only provides 50 to 55 square inches of ventilation, meaning the average house would require 12 or more box vents to meet code requirement. Contractors don't like that many holes and homeowners don't like to look at that many vents, so rarely are enough ever used, leaving the home vulnerable to mold, ice dams, and sky high energy bills. To protect our customers from these future challenges and failures, we have chosen to offer the all aluminum or event. It costs more than plastic, but the aluminum will never rust or corrode and is immune from the sun's UV rays. It provides 113 square inches of ventilation, over double the NFA of traditional box vents. But the most important feature are these integrated louvers circling the outer edge, makes the difference even more dramatic. When wind hits these louvers, the air inside the vent begins to spin, creating a mini cyclone that sucks even more warm moist air out of the attic. This turns an otherwise passive vent into an active one, supercharging your ventilation to save you money on your energy bills, and protect your home from mold and ice dams. Using the NFA rating of 113 square inches, prevent your home would require this number of ore events to meet the code. Does that sound like a better option to you? Great, now we're down to the last decision. What product will best meet your wants and needs for years to come?