My log home has a standing seam metal roof with a 12/12 pitch. I did not discover until some months after it was installed (and the installer had gone bankrupt when the housing bubble burst) that the ridge vent is incorrectly done. While it looks fine, there is no vent material (or whatever it's called) to allow airflow while blocking rainwater and critters. I've seen the stuff in rolls at Home Depot; what is the best way to install it? I really don't want to drill out all the rivets and remove the ridge cap if I don't have to - given the pitch, getting up there (and staying up there) is a chore. One of the roofers actually slid off during construction, and it's almost 30 feet to the ground. Can I (or somebody I would hire) just wedge the material in the openings and fasten it down somehow?

 

Is it an active ridge vent? The log home I had used roofing panels which were insulative (probably 6" thick consisting of 2x6 T&G, aluminum faced 4" rigid foam and 1/2" OSB all glued as a unit. No air circulation possible, making a ridge purely decorative. How is yours built? Do you have circulation? Attic?

 

Yes, it is an active vent. The house has a cathedral ceiling, but there are soffit vents and baffles in the rafter bays. The roof itself is just metal, nothing like what you describe.

 

I think the material you've seen in home centers is the ridge vent. A stiff, open spun material typically used with asphalt shingles. It's laid over the slot in the ridge and cap shingles are nailed down over it.

What type of ridge vent do you have now? If you don't have a ridge vent then there is nothing easy that can be added or stuffed in... because you don't have a vent in the first place. You would need to remove and possibly replace your current cap with a vent.

 

With cathedral ceilings you probably have no way of seeing what they did without removing the existing ridge cap, or at least a section or two. Insulating and venting a cathedral ceiling is something that needs to be done correctly to avoid moisture problems from inside as well as outside.
How to Build an Insulated Cathedral Ceiling | GreenBuildingAdvisor.com

Also note, some ridge vents do not use the fiber type material you may be expecting to see from the outside. Here is one picture as an example.
Metal Roof Ridge Vent | Hi-Perf Standing Seam Version | Metal-Era

Bud

 

Thought I previously explained, but see now that I didn't. I do have a vent - the ridge cap is open on both sides (about a 3/4-inch gap) the entire length of the roof. Therein lies the problem. Bats, water, and who knows what else get in there occasionally.

 

That may or may not be a ridge vent. Because of the ridges and the straight ridge cap you will have a gap under the cap between ridges. On some it's just a ridge cap to prevent water from entering the top of the roofing while on others it's also a ridge vent. It can be very difficult to tell the difference without getting up there and even then sometimes you have to pull off a section of the cap to see. Before climbing up there though I'd give it a look through binoculars or a rifle scope. Maybe that will let you seen clear enough to tell.

 

It is indeed a real ridge vent. My wife and I built this house by ourselves, so I know what's there and how it is constructed. We didn't install the roof itself only because I had no skills, experience, or tools for doing a metal one.

 

Do you know for sure that the style of ridge vent up there does indeed use the fiber material?

Bud

 

No, I don't. But it's nothing like the Metal-Era vent referenced in your earlier post. It looks similar, but was manufactured on site. There are no internal baffles or anything else to redirect air and block critters and rain. It's basically a 3/4" x 40' opening on each side of the peak. That is seriously not acceptable and I need to fix it somehow.

 

Assuming they used pop-rivets they are not difficult to drill out if they are aluminum. Stainless steel would be more difficult but still not that bad. Or a small grinder to take the top off. Working up there would be the same as the masons who create a platform. In your case several over the top assemblies to support planks on one or both sides.

I've pondered a bit on how one might stuff some fiber material in there and haven't come up with anything worth attempting. Given the staging work involved for a DIY, you might ask for a couple of estimates from some roofing companies as they work on these slopes all the time and have what it takes.

Bud

 

I second the idea of contacting a roofer familiar with your style of roofing. My thought is that anything that you can stuff into the openings will be just as easy for the bats, birds or others to remove.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I have made an inquiry to the company that makes the Metal-Era vent. Though we built this house ourselves, I will defer to the the pros for whatever solution we come up with. At my age (67) I don't need to be messing around on such a steep, slippery roof.