What are the pros and cons of a ridge vent?
Short answer. Ridge vents exhaust air evenly along the whole peak, have no moving parts, sit low and nearly invisible, and add fewer leak points than a row of box vents. Their downsides are that they need ample soffit intake to work, can underperform or leak if installed wrong, cost more to retrofit than a single box vent, and may not provide enough area on hip roofs with short ridges.
Pros
- Even exhaust: air leaves from the highest point along the whole attic, not from a few spots.
- Looks: almost invisible from the street, which HOAs and buyers like.
- Fewer holes: one continuous slot at the peak, where water runs away in both directions, instead of several cutouts in the field of the roof.
- No moving parts or power: nothing to squeak, seize or burn out.
- Wind assist: baffled designs use wind passing over the ridge to help pull air out.
Cons
- Intake dependent: with blocked or missing soffit vents, it does little or pulls conditioned air from the house.
- Short ridges limit it: hip roofs may not have enough linear feet.
- Installation sensitive: an uncut slot, an overly wide slot, short nails or a cheap unbaffled vent can mean poor airflow or wind-driven rain.
- Does not mix well: gable vents, box vents or power fans nearby can short circuit it.
- Retrofit cost: adding one to an existing roof means replacing the ridge cap shingles.
Bottom line
For most gable and cross gable homes with real soffits, a properly installed ridge vent is the best passive exhaust. On hip roofs or houses without intake, weigh the alternatives first. Compare the options in ridge vent vs box vents and the theory in roof ventilation basics.