Attic Venting - Sometimes They're Not Even...

From the files of "You can't please everyone all of the time..."

As I've discussed prior, attic ventilation is very important. You need 1 square foot of net free ventilation for every 300 square feet of attic space. In knee wall areas, you need proper ventilation through the gable ends - typically one on each side. Well...

We had a disgruntled community action agency client that didn't like the fact that we installed gable vents on one side of the house "out of line." Yes, one of the gable vents was a good foot lower than that other one. She was incensed that we ruined the look of her house. Per community agency guidelines, we were to install these vents as instructed - one per knee wall side. However, the home's structure had a different roof line on one side, and the knee wall attic space on that side was half the size of the other one. What does this mean? It means the center point of the knee wall space was considerably lower than that of the other side. In order to make the other side even, we would have had to put the vent below the insulation.

We explained it to the agency - and they, of course, completely understood. The client still doesn't get it...and probably never will...