To vent or not to vent

[CraigE]

Hello guys and gals.
In my double wide I have a gable type roof that is right above my front door but does not extend beyond the roof edge. My front door is not recessed like other DW mobile homes. This gable roof is running opposite of the gable (lenght wise) of the mobile home. Does this make sense? I was wondering if this area should be vented or has anyone tore into one of these to see if they left the decking off under there so it vents back into the original part of the roof.
Thanks Craig

[JD]

I am assuming that your living room has a flat ceiling and not a cathedral type. Cathedral ceilings would require ridge cap venting where a flat ceiling could use ridge cap venting or plain passive vents.

I do agree with your point on venting this area. I think you have brought up a very good point. That roof would have the same moisture and heat build up problems as the rest of the roof. That being said, I usually don't see roof vents on these overlayed gable sections.

Making it look nice with passive vents could be a challenge. Since it is a smaller area, maybe you could get by with smaller rectangular vents rather than the 14" square ones you see all the time. I know there is a specific formula for the amount of venting required, but some has to be better than none.

With ridge cap venting should have some type of venting near the eaves. You would have to look at how this gable is built to see if you can add them. Even without a flow though system, hot air moisture will still be able rise out of the ridge vents. Again, some is better than none.

This is just my opinion on your question not a reply in regards to codes, cold weather areas or anything to do with math. It would be nice to get other opinions on this or maybe even some engineering type facts.

JD

[CraigE]

Thanks for the reply JD
All my ceilings are cathedrial type. I have talked to a few builders of stick built homes and they said they simply left the decking out from underneath the overlayed gable so it would have air movement. Mine is fairly large and definately could trap alot of heat in there if not vented.

My whole house seems to be strange. From the factory it never had any type venting on the shingle side. All the vents are under the eves. There was originally 2 on each end of the house under the eave close to the ridge row(to let heat out). There are only 2 intakes under the eaves in the front and back of the house. Seems that is no where enough.

I have removed the vents under the eve close to the ridge row and took temp readings. The air coming out of the attic cavity seems to be around 120 degrees. Of course this during those hot Texas summer days. Lots of heat build up in there.

Seems if I ever redo my roof (metal or shingle) I need some extra ways to vent that heat.