I had the chance to flip through the latest FHB this morning while waiting for a visit from the city inspector, and the magazine article on venting an old roof, coupled with the recent discussions of ventilation, have me thinking about how little I really understand and a possible way to fix a problem that got built into our remodel a few years back.
The problem is that the master bedroom, which has a cathedral ceiling built up in standard southern California fashion out of 2x12s, gets really hot. I had originally thought there was not enough AC ducting to the back of the house, but checking with a neighbor who does that for a living indicated that he thought we should have enough duct area and flow volume. He suggested we might want to zone the bedroom to try to get more cool air in there. However, the sheer amount of heat radiating off the ceiling made me think there was something else going on. I think I finally tracked it down to the vent holes in the upper walls under the roof extension being blocked during construction.
Background: in the final stages of finishing our house, our contractor was moving his business to Arizona and had his dimwitted 20 something kid overseeing the final finish work on several of his last projects, including our house. Some things he was messing up I caught, but one that escaped me was that the stucco crew, aside from doing a mediocre job, stuccoed over the vent holes in the upper side walls of the bedroom wall on both sides of the extension. I didn’t realize what the holes were for and didn’t think of it until I noticed a ridge vent over the cathedral ceiling while cleaning pine needles off the roof last fall. Since then I had been contemplating cutting open the vent holes in the stucco, which would have left a mess and probably made the stucco job look even cheesier, but the article on rooftop intake for a ridge vent is making me think this would probably be an easier and quicker way to fix the problem.
Anybody work with this type of venting, and is the retrofit and rework of the roof as straightforward as shown in the article? And what questions should I ask a roofer to make sure they can install this and relay the shingles so I don’t get roof leaks where the shingles are taken up? Roof work is outside my comfort zone for DIY stuff, and I want to get someone in who I can trust.
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“Though I don’t think” added Deep Thought “that you’re going to like it.”
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Greetings El,
This post, in response to your question, will bump the thread through the 'recent discussion' listing again which will increase it's viewing.
Perhaps it will catch someone's attention that can help you with advice.
Cheers
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Not ever too much good news about stucco in general
I haven't yet read the article, but if you have fiberglass batt insulation in the cathedral ceiling, the venting probably won't make a significant difference.
I do, but there is an airspace above it. It was installed that way to set up a convective flow path to the ridge vent with the source being the covered vents in the stucco.jose c.
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"Though I don't think" added Deep Thought "that you're going to like it."