Precipitation resistant ridge vent
A precipitation resistant ventilator for a structure enclosing an interior space. The ventilator encloses a space that is in communication with the structure interior space. A thin sheet of air permeable water resistant material is disposed within the ventilator interior. The thin sheet of air permeable water resistant material forms a barrier that excludes the entry of precipitation and other foreign matter into the roof structure while still allowing air exchange.
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This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/826,651 filed Apr. 16, 2004 which is, in turn, a continuation of Ser. No. 10/636,178 filed Aug. 7, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,913,530, which is, in turn, a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/209,851 filed Jul. 31, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,354 and application Ser. No. 09/651,071 filed Aug. 30, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,882.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to roof ventilators folded from a blank of corrugated plastic sheet material having a top panel and two vent panels. More particularly, it relates to a roof vent of corrugated construction including an internal filtering material to exclude precipitation, debris and vermin from entry into the vented roof.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONIt is a common practice in the construction of structures to ventilate gable roofs by providing a vent along the roof ridge. Ventilation apertures are formed in the construction process by leaving or cutting an open slot along the ridge through the sheathing material covering the roof. Heated air rises and escapes at the ridge taking with it moisture that may have accumulated within the roof. The flow of wind over the ridge of the roof assists in the extraction of moisture and heated air by creating a zone of relatively reduce pressure as it crosses the ridge. Soffit vents enable the entry of fresh exterior air into the roof to replace air that has left through the ridge vent. Soffit vents are openings in the soffit material covering the undersides of the overhanging eaves of the roof.
Ideally, a ventilated roof provides for an unrestricted outflow of air through the ridge vent and inflow through the soffit vents. However, without protection of the ventilating openings, wind blown precipitation, debris and insects enter the roof and encourage damage to the structure through mildew, rot and infestation. A ventilated cap is therefore placed over the open slot in the ridge and attached to the roof along each side.
Therefore, many types of vent caps have been developed in an effort to provide free flow of air while excluding rain, snow and insects. Louvers, baffles and screens have been standard features of roof vents for decades.
Snow, in particular, is a great concern. It has a small particle size and is lightweight. Wind can carry snow upward and into roof vents readily. Snow particles may bypass louvers and deflectors that prevent the entry of most rain. As much as two feet of wind driven snow has been reported to have passed through roof vents and accumulated inside roof structures.
A number of ridge vent caps employ filtering material to restrict the entry of precipitation and foreign matter. Filtering materials include porous foams and fibrous materials. Examples of the use of porous foams include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,830,059 issued to Sells, 5,673,521 issued to Coulton et al. and 4,876,950 issued to Rudeen. Both closed cell foams and open cell foams have been utilized. Open cell foams have the benefit of allowing greater airflow but tend to absorb a substantial amount of water. Closed cell foams absorb little water but restrict airflow to a greater degree. Foam products, in general, tend to deteriorate with age and exposure to the elements.
Fibrous materials enjoy wider use as roof vent filters. Examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,902,432 issued to Coulton et al., 5,830,059 issued to Sells, 5,561,953, 5,425,672, 5,352,154, 5,167,579 all issued to Rotter. These patents and others disclose the use of mats of randomly aligned synthetic fibers to exclude vermin and the elements from roof vents. The Rotter patents disclose roof vents made entirely from mats of randomly aligned synthetic fibers. Fiber mats may suffer from compression, for example, under a snow load, and add expense and complexity to the construction of roof vents.
Another approach to preventing the entry of precipitation and foreign matter into vents is to employ check valves structured to close at a predetermined wind speed so as to stop the inflow of air and precipitation. Check valves have moving parts and are prone to the possibility of wear and blockage and when they operate ventilation is restricted. They also complicate the manufacturing process. U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,805 to Sells discloses a check valve ridge vent.
In recent years the use of corrugated plastic sheet materials to manufacture roof vents has presented to the marketplace a variety of inexpensive, strong, durable ridge vents which may be applied in sections or as a continuous roll. Ridge vents of this type are typically applied along the peak of a roof and covered by a row of shingles. They are thus referred to as “shingle over roof vents.” Some have sufficient structural integrity such that they can be fastened to the roof with a pneumatic nail gun without crushing the vent.
Examples of corrugated plastic ridge vents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,651,734 issued to Morris, 5,934,995 to Morris, Kasner and Stoll and 5,947,817 to Morris, Gosz and Stoll which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
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- Wind deflectors are sometimes installed along with the vent in order to restrict the entry of rain and snow into the vent. The installation of wind deflectors requires an additional step in the installation process with an attendant increase in time and expense.
The applicant is aware of a single example of a corrugated ridge vent employing a filtering material to exclude precipitation and the like. U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,834 issued to Sells discloses the use of a flexible, air permeable, moisture repelling, woven or nonwoven fabric covering the outer side of the vent passages to resist the penetration of moisture into the vent passages. The fabric filter is held in place by a perforated metal flashing attached either to the roof or to the vent.
Considerable complexity is added to the manufacturing process in order to incorporate the flashing into the vent. The presence of a rigid or semi rigid flashing may also prevent or complicate the rolling of the vent for transport and reduce ease of application. Additionally, the filtering fabric is exposed to the elements. Sun and wind may accelerate its deterioration.
It would be desirable to produce a ridge vent of folded corrugated plastic construction that effectively excludes wind blown precipitation and other foreign matter. The process of manufacturing the ridge vent should be as simple as possible. It would be preferable for such a ridge vent to require no flashing to support the filtering material. The ridge vent would ideally be possible to produce either in a continuous roll or in discrete sections. It would be preferable that filtering material be protected from exposure to the elements to maximize its life.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention largely solves the above problems by providing a shingle over ridge vent that effectively excludes the entry of precipitation and foreign matter into the roof space. The ridge vent is sturdy, easily manufactured and readily installed. In addition, the filtering material that excludes precipitation is protected from factors that speed its deterioration.
The ridge vent is constructed of corrugated weather resistant material having a convoluted intermediate ply. Airflow passages in the convoluted layer are linearly oriented generally perpendicular to the long axis of the ridge vent.
The material is cut and scored so that it may be folded to have a single top panel extending its entire length. At either side of and below the top panel a plurality of folds create a plurality of stacked layers of the corrugated material with a plurality of airflow passages therethrough. A routed groove may extend the length of the bottom side of the top panel of the ridge vent to facilitate bending the ridge vent to conform to different roof pitches and to provide an additional exit path for air flowing out of the ridge vent.
A sheet of air permeable, water resistant, woven or nonwoven fabric or other membrane is applied to the bottom side of the vent. The filtering fabric is bonded to the corrugated material in the vicinity of the peak of the vent and on the bottom sides of the stacked, corrugated vent material. When the ridge vent is applied to the roof ridge the filtering fabric forms a tent like structure such that any accumulated rainwater drains out through the bottommost layer of the stacked side vent portions of the ridge vent.
The enclosure of the filtering fabric inside the ridge vent protects the fabric from exposure to sunlight and other factors that encourage deterioration.
The ridge vent may be produced in lengthy continuous rolls or discrete sections for installation. Discrete sections of ridge vent may be stacked flat or folded then stacked for shipping and handling. Multiple sections may be butted together end to end to cover a lengthy ridge application.
The vent material is unrolled or unfolded and disposed along the roof ridge so as to straddle the precut slot in the roof sheathing. The ridge vent may then be secured to the roof ridge with fasteners such as nails. It may be caulked as necessary. An individual skilled in the art will appreciate that if a roof is substantially irregular such as a corrugated metal roof or a tiled roof that a resilient conforming material may be placed beneath the ridge vent to provide a tight seal between the ridge vent and the roof. An end plug of resilient foam or other appropriate material may be inserted and secured in the end of the roof vent to close off the opening there. The ridge vent then may be covered with shingles nailed directly through the ridge vent into the roof sheathing.
The ridge vent 10, as depicted in
Top panel 30 also presents an exterior surface 50 and an interior surface 52. Interior surface 52 may include a routed groove 54 usually extending generally parallel to long axis 36. Routed groove 54 extends through bottom ply 42 and into intermediate ply 44 defining inner openings 56 of airflow passages 46. The outer edges 58 of top panel 30 define the outer openings 60 of airflow passages 46.
Vent panels 32 are disposed under the outer edges 58 of top panel 30 in a stacked fashion. They contain a multiplicity of airflow passages 46 oriented generally transverse to long axis 36. Vent panels 32 may be formed by scoring and folding a sheet of three ply material 38 as depicted in
Alternately, vent panels 32 may by cut separately and stacked beneath the outer edges 58 of top panel 30 and secured together and to top panel 30 with fasteners 62 or adhesive. Thus airflow passages 46 are formed extending from exterior edges 64 to interior edges 66 of vent panels 32.
Filtering fabric 34 is secured along the interior surface 52 of top panel 30, preferably in the region of the routed groove 54, and on the bottom side 68 of the lowermost vent panel 32 extending the length of the ridge vent 10. Adhesives, fasteners, heat fusing or any other suitable technique may secure filtering fabric 34 to the ridge vent 10.
Filtering fabric 34 may be of any thin, air permeable, water resistant, sheet material. Woven or nonwoven fabrics may be employed as well as air permeable water resistant membranes that are not of fabric. Preferably, filtering fabric 34 allows passage of about 75 percent of the air that would flow were it not present. The filtering fabric 34 may be a nonwoven spunbonded material of randomly arranged synthetic polymer fibers.
Referring to
Alternately, as depicted in
Referring to
Once in place, the ridge vent 12 may be secured to the roof 12 by fasteners such as nails or by adhesives. Nails may be applied directly through top panel 30 where it overlies vent panels 32 and into roof sheathing 18. A ridgeline (not shown) of shingles 22 may be applied directly over ridge vent 10.
As can be seen in
In the embodiment depicted in
Referring to
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential attributes thereof; therefore, the illustrated embodiments should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being made to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A vent for conveying air between a structure interior and the environment, comprising:
- a top panel having an interior surface and a multiplicity of discrete top panel air passages providing for fluid communication between the structure interior and the environment;
- at least one vent part with a bottom surface and in a contacting relation with the interior surface of the top panel, the at least one vent part defining a plurality of discrete vent part air passages providing for fluid communication between the structure interior and the environment; and
- a filter material secured to the bottom surface of the at least one vent part and to the top panel.
2. The vent of claim 1, in which the top panel comprises a weatherproof three-ply material.
3. The vent of claim 2, in which the three-ply material comprises a pair of outer plies and a series of cross walls disposed between the outer plies.
4. The vent of claim 2, in which the three-ply material comprises a pair of outer plies and an intermediate ply disposed between the outer plies, the outer plies and the intermediate ply defining the plurality of top panel air passages.
5. The vent of claim 4, in which the intermediate ply is generally convoluted or fluted.
6. The vent of claim 2, in which the at least one vent part comprises at least one layer, the at least one layer comprising the three-ply material.
7. The vent of claim 6, in which the three-ply material comprises a pair of outer plies and an intermediate ply disposed between the outer plies, the outer plies and the intermediate ply defining the plurality of vent part air passages.
8. The vent of claim 6, in which the three-ply material comprises a pair of outer plies and a series of cross walls disposed between the outer plies.
9. The vent of claim 1, in which a plurality of spaced apart vent parts are present.
10. The vent of claim 9, in which at least one of the plurality of vent parts comprises a plurality of layers, each of the plurality of layers constructed from a weatherproof three-ply material.
11. The vent of claim 1, in which the top panel is characterized by a longitudinal axis and in which the multiplicity of top panel air passages and the multiplicity of vent part air passages extend generally transversely or generally perpendicularly to the top panel longitudinal axis.
12. The vent of claim 11, in which the top panel comprises a route defined therein, the route generally parallel to the longitudinal axis.
13. A vent, comprising:
- a top panel having a multiplicity of discrete top panel air passages;
- a vent part contacting the top panel and having a bottom surface, an interior surface, and an exterior surface and formed from a three-ply material with a pair of outer plies and an intermediate ply disposed between the outer plies to define a multiplicity of discrete vent part air passages, each of the vent part air passages extending between the interior surface and the exterior surface; and
- an air permeable filter attached to the vent and positioned to filter air being conveyed through the top panel air passages or the vent air part air passages.
14. A device for venting a structure, comprising:
- a top panel having an interior surface and comprising a multiplicity of discrete top panel air passages;
- a plurality of vent parts, at least one of the vent parts contacting the top panel interior surface, each of the plurality of vent parts having a bottom surface, an interior edge and an exterior edge and comprising at least one layer of a three-ply material, the three-ply material having a pair of outer plies and an intermediate ply disposed between the outer plies so as to define a multiplicity of discrete vent part air passages, each of the multiplicity of vent part air passages exposed at one of the interior edges and one of the exterior edges; and
- a filtering material extending between the top panel and the bottom surface of one of the vent parts.
15. A method of venting a structure with an interior and with a vent placed over an opening in the structure, the vent comprising a top panel, at least one vent part, and an air permeable filter material, the top panel having an interior surface and a multiplicity of discrete top panel air passages, the at least one vent part having a bottom surface and contacting the top panel interior surface, the at least one vent part comprising a weatherproof material defining a multiplicity of discrete vent part air passages, the filter material secured one of the at least one vent part and to the top panel; the method comprising allowing air exchange between the structure interior and the environment via the top panel air passages, the vent part air passages, and the filter material.
16. A method of constructing a vent, comprising:
- contacting a vent part to a top panel, each of the top panel and the vent part comprising a weatherproof material defining a multiplicity of discrete air passages; and
- securing an air permeable filter material to the top panel and to the vent part.
17. The method of claim 16, in which the filter material is secured to a bottom surface of the vent part.
18. The method of claim 16, in which the contacted top panel and the contacted vent part comprises a weatherproof three ply-material defining the multiplicity of air passages.
19. The method of claim 18, in which the three-ply material comprises a pair of outer plies and an intermediate ply disposed between the outer plies so as to define the multiplicities of air passages.
20. The method of claim 19, in which the intermediate ply is generally convoluted or generally fluted.
21. The method of claim 18, in which the weatherproof material comprises a pair of outer plies and a series of cross walls disposed between the outer plies to define the multiplicities of air passages.
22. The method of claim 16, in which the vent part comprises a plurality of layers made from the weatherproof material.
23. The method of claim 16, in which a route is defined in the top panel so as expose the air passages defined in the top panel.
24. The method of claim 16, in which a plurality of vent parts are contacted to the top panel.
25. The method of claim 16, further comprising securing the vent part to the top panel.
26. A method of installing a vent, comprising disposing the vent over an opening in a roof of a structure, the vent comprising a top panel, a vent part, and a filter material, the top panel having an interior surface and a multiplicity of discrete top panel air passages providing for fluid communication between the structure interior and the environment, the vent part with a bottom surface and in a contacting relation with the interior surface of the top panel, the vent part comprising a material defining a plurality of discrete vent part air passages providing for fluid communication between the structure interior and the environment, the filter material secured to the bottom surface of the vent part and to the top panel.
27. The method of claim 26, in which the top panel comprises a three-ply material.
28. The method of claim 27, in which the three-ply material comprises a pair of outer plies and an intermediate ply disposed between the outer plies, the outer plies and the intermediate ply defining the plurality of top panel air passages.
29. The method of claim 26, in which the top panel comprises a pair of outer plies and a series of cross walls disposed between the outer plies.
30. The method of claim 27, in which the intermediate ply is generally convoluted or fluted.
31. The method of claim 27, in which the vent part comprises a plurality of layers, each of the plurality of layers comprising the three-ply material.
32. The method of claim 31, in which the three-ply material comprises a pair of outer plies and an intermediate ply disposed between the outer plies to define the multiplicity of vent part air passages.
33. The method of claim 26, in which a plurality of opposed spaced apart vent parts are present.
34. The method of claim 33, in which one of the plurality of vent parts comprises a plurality of layers.
35. The method of claim 26, in which the top panel is characterized by a longitudinal axis and in which the multiplicity of top panel air passages and the multiplicity of vent part air passages extend generally transversely or generally perpendicularly to the top panel longitudinal axis.
36. The method of claim 35, in which the top panel comprises a route, the route generally parallel to the longitudinal axis.
37. The method of claim 26, further comprising securing the vent to the roof.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 6, 2008
Publication Date: Jul 31, 2008
Applicant:
Inventors: Richard J. Morris (Prior Lake, MN), Scott Charles Van Wey (Crystal, MN)
Application Number: 12/074,872
International Classification: E04D 13/17 (20060101); F24F 7/02 (20060101); E04D 13/00 (20060101);