Patent Application
20220081910
This disclosure is generally directed to roof vents including ridge vents for buildings including residential structures.
In many geographical areas, wind driven rain is a common source of damage to a building or a home. Wind driven rain damage is difficult to repair and preventing such damage in the first place is highly preferred.
The present state of the art provides ridge vents that are typically made of a lightweight material which is easily damaged by wind and hail. Furthermore, present ridge vents allow insect entry into the home. In addition, many ridge vent designs can be damaged by birds that tend to use ridge vents to perch. Present ridge vents are also typically mounted directly on a roof surface permitting wind driven rain to enter and damage a home. Such damage is also typically not covered in homeowner insurance policies.
Accordingly, there is a need for ridge vent designs that can prevent wind driven rain as well as address varmint, hail, and bird damage and prevent insect entry into the building.
The present disclosure provides ridge vents that are highly resilient to damage caused by wind driven rain. The disclosed ridge vents may be installed on the ridge of a roof and permit proper ventilation into an attic, while preventing wind driven rain from entering an attic and causing damage to the insulation and drywall ceiling. The disclosed ridge vents may also provide a barrier up from the roofing material.
Thus, the disclosed ridge vent may be disposed with a barrier above the roof. In embodiments, the barrier may be about 1/12 of an inch to about 2 inches above the roof. The vents may be on an underside which prevents water entry into the building. An attached flashing may also prevent water from entering the structure at the roofline, for example, from wind driven rain.
The disclosed ridge vent generally includes a central structure with an air space connected to the roof ridge, disposed on the ridge of a roof with adjacent arm sections emanating from the central section. In embodiments, the arm sections may run roughly parallel with the roof line although this is not required.
The central section and adjacent arm sections contain air space allowing warm air to rise up the central section and then to flow into adjacent arm sections and escape out of vents located on the underside of the arm sections (facing downward). Thus, a feature of the disclosed ridge vents is that the vents are disposed facing downward and facing the roof. There may be filters, for example, metal mesh filters, covering the vents to prevent animals, birds, insects, etc., from entering the structure.
Other features and aspects will be apparent from the following detailed description, the drawings, and the claims.
Throughout the drawings and the detailed description, the same reference numerals refer to the same elements. The drawings may not be to scale, and the relative size, proportions, and depiction of elements in the drawings may be exaggerated for clarity, illustration, and convenience.
The following detailed description is provided to assist the reader in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the methods, products, and/or systems, described herein. However, various changes, modifications, and equivalents of the methods, products, and/or systems described herein will be apparent to an ordinary skilled artisan.
The present disclosure provides ridge vents that may be installed, for example, on the ridge of a roof of a building. The disclosed ridge vents allow ventilation to the attic without permitting wind driven rain to enter the attic. Wind driven rain can cause significant damage to a building including damage to insulation and drywall ceiling.
The disclosed ridge vent creates a barrier up from the roofing material on the roof while simultaneously making it next to impossible for wind driven rain to make entry into an attic. The air vents on the ridge vent may be disposed on the underside of the ridge vent on a downward slope with an air gap between the underside and the roof. In embodiments, the gap may be between about 1/12 of an inch and about 2 inches above the roof surface. In embodiments, the vents may be sloped away from the attic entry. The shape of the vents is not particularly limited and may be circular, rectangular, square, or any other suitable geometric shape.
In embodiments, the disclosed ridge vents may be made of any sturdy material making it less prone to animal or bird damage such as a strong plastic, composite, or metal. Sheet metal is preferred. In embodiments, the ridge vents may also have a filter, for example a mesh filter, which hinders insect bird, and animal, entry into the building.
In embodiments, there may be an attached flashing installed under the roofing material. The attached flashing may prevent water from seeping under the roofing material and into the building or attic. In embodiments, the flashing may be a 5″-inch flashing.
In embodiments, the disclosed ridge vent could be made of any material commonly used in the art of ridge vents, for example, plastics, composites, steel, sheet metal, and other metals and alloys. In preferred embodiments, the disclosed ridge vent is made of sheet metal. In preferred embodiments, the sheet metal is powder coated for corrosion resistance.
In one example, the ridge vent could also be an aluminum ridge vent which is a lightweight material that can be mounted on the roof surface. In embodiments, the ridge vent could be a shingle over ridge vent, e.g., a rubber frame mounted to the roof surface on the ridge with shingles installed over a frame. In embodiments, the roof vent could be in the style of a ridge cap for a metal roof. In this embodiment, this would be a cap, for example, on the ridge of a metal roof.
In embodiments, since warm air expands and rises, the warm air rises up the air space in a central section of the ridge vent and flows out of vents on the undersides of the arm sections. It is thus apparent that the disclosed ridge vent will allow warm airflow out of the building, while simultaneously preventing rain and moisture from entering the structure. In particular, wind driven rain will be prevented from entering the structure since the vents are located on the underside of the arm sections.
As used herein, sheet metal is generally metal formed into thin, flat pieces. Sheet metal can typically be cut and bent into a variety of shapes. Thicknesses can vary significantly; extremely thin sheets are considered foil or leaf, and pieces thicker than 6 mm (0.25 in) are considered plate steel or structural steel. There are many different metals that can be made into sheet metal, such as aluminum, iron, (ferrous), brass, copper, steel, tin, nickel, and titanium. An alloy with good corrosion resistance would be preferred. A preferred thickness of sheet metal for the disclosed ridge vent would be 20-gauge.
As used herein, a mesh filter refers to any metal, plastic, or composite filter capable of blocking insects, birds, and other animals from entering a structure through the vents. For example, the mesh filter may be a metal screen mesh with holes small enough to block insects. Any filter capable of blocking insects, birds, etc., from entering the structure without impeding airflow out of the structure can be used.
As used herein, flashing refers to thin pieces of impervious material installed to prevent the passage of water into a structure from a joint or as part of a weather resistant barrier system. Metal flashing materials generally include lead, aluminum, copper, stainless steel, zinc alloy, and other like materials.
in one specific example, a roof vent includes a central section disposed on the ridge of a roof with a central section with an air space approximately 3 inches wide. The ridge vent includes 2 arm sections with air spaces connected to the central section airspace approximately 1½ inches in height. The arm sections are sloped to be generally parallel with the roof line and to allow water runoff. The arm sections extend approximately 5½ to 6 inches from the midpoint of the central section along the roof line. The length from the end of an arm section to the central section is approximately 4 inches. There are a plurality of vents of generally rectangular shape disposed on the underside of the arm sections. There is an air space of approximately 2 inches in between the roof and the underside of the arm sections.
There is a screen mesh filter on the underside of the arm sections sufficient to block birds and insects from entering through the vents. There is roof flashing connected to the central section and disposed under the shingles and below the arm sections of the ridge vent. There are end caps on each end of the arm sections sealed and secured. The roof vent is made of 20-gauge sheet metal and powder coated (with the exception of the vent area).
While this disclosure includes specific examples, it will be apparent after an understanding of the disclosure of this application has been attained that various changes in form and details may be made in these examples without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims and their equivalents.
