Contoured Mesh Ridge Vents
Ridge vents and deck covers are disclosed that have a fibrous mesh mat and a moisture barrier. The mesh mat may be contoured to define a variety of structures and may have regions of relatively higher fiber density and regions of relatively lower fiber density. Solar cells may be exposed on the ridge vents to collect solar energy when the vents are exposed to sunlight.
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Priority is hereby claimed to the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application 61/740,085 filed on Dec. 20, 2012 and bearing the title Contoured Mesh Ridge Vents.
TECHNICAL FIELDThis disclosure relates generally to attic ventilation and more specifically to open weave mesh material that can be used to cover a ridge slot along the ridge of a roof or a hip slot along a hip of a roof to provide attic ventilation.
BACKGROUNDTo ventilate an attic space, it is common to form a ridge slot in the roof deck extending along a ridge of the roof and to install a ridge vent over the ridge slot in conjunction with installation of soffit ventilation. For hip roofs, it is common to form a hip slot along a hip of the roof and cover the hip slot with a hip vent to provide ventilation. This disclosure will be couched primarily within the context of ridge vents for ease of explanation, but the invention is applicable to hip vents and indeed other attic ventilation devices. A ridge vent permits heated air from the attic below to pass by convection through the ridge slot and through the vent while preventing ingress of water, insects, and vermin into the attic. One common type of ridge vent is the so-called rollable mesh ridge vent. One rollable mesh ridge vent that has been commercially successful is the ridge vent and system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,579 of Rotter entitled Roof Vent of Synthetic Fiber Matting. This patent is hereby incorporated fully by reference. Generally, the Rotter ridge vent is a unitary sheet construction of randomly aligned synthetic fibers that are open and blended, randomly aligned into a web by airflow, joined by phenolic or latex binding agents, and heat cured to produce an air-permeable mat with a substantially constant fiber density throughout. The vent is fabricated in substantial lengths and is rolled into a roll for storage and shipment. For installation, the vent is unrolled along a roof ridge covering a ridge slot and secured to the roof decking on either side of the slot. Ridge cap shingles are then installed atop the ridge vent to form a moisture barrier and to present a traditional appearance. Warm air from the attic below passes through the ridge slot, flows through the mesh mat of the ridge vent, and exits along the edges of the ridge vent to ambience.
While the Rotter ridge vent has proven successful, it nevertheless suffers from certain inherent shortcomings. For example, the fibrous mat material of the Rotter ridge vent has a substantially constant fiber density throughout, and is air and water permeable throughout. Thus, ridge cap shingles are required to prevent water from penetrating through the mat and into the attic below. The Rotter ridge vent also has a constant thickness throughout, even though not all regions of the ridge vent require this thickness for the vent to function properly. There is thus a certain waste of material in such regions of the Rotter ridge vent. Centering the Rotter ridge vent across a ridge slot also can be imprecise since an installer generally centers the mat by eye, which can result in more of the mat on one side of the ridge slot than on the other side of the ridge slot. The Rotter ridge vent also lacks wind baffles found on more expensive injection molded plastic ridge vents, and such wind baffles can improve ventilation efficiency. These are only a few examples of shortcomings of the Rotter ridge vent.
Needs exist for fiber mesh attic vents and ridge vents in particular that address these and other shortcomings of traditional mesh ridge vents such as the Rotter ridge vent. It is to the provision of a variety of mesh-type ridge vent configurations that address these and other needs and that provide other advantages that the present invention is primarily directed.
SUMMARYBriefly described, a plurality of mesh-type ridge vent configurations are disclosed that each provides certain benefits not currently found in commercial fiber mesh ridge vents. The disclosed ridge vents may incorporate regions having relatively lower fiber density to allow air to ventilate efficiently and regions with higher fiber density to form moisture barriers, support structures, or other structures of the vents. Disclosed vents may have integral moisture barriers, alignment tabs, special contours for functional and aesthetic advantages, interlocking ends, solar panel integration, ambient light admittance, and other unique features representing enhancements and improvements over traditional Rotter style fiber mesh ridge vents. These and other aspects, features, and advantages of the disclosed ridge vent configurations will become more apparent upon review of the detailed description set forth below taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures, which are briefly described as follows.
Reference will now be made in more detail to the drawing figures, which illustrate a variety of ridge vent and deck cover configurations according to the invention. The disclosed products incorporate air permeable portions formed from a sheet, strip, or mat constructed of randomly aligned synthetic fibers that are open and blended; randomly aligned into a web by airflow, air-laid techniques, needling techniques, or other means; joined by phenolic or latex binding agents; and heat cured to produce an air-permeable mat. Such a mat is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,579 of Rotter entitled Roof Vent of Synthetic Fiber Matting. This patent is hereby incorporated fully by reference. The terms mat, mesh, fibrous mesh, and similar terms may be used throughout this disclosure to refer to air permeable fibrous mats.
The various ridge vents and deck cover configurations disclosed herein also contemplate a fibrous mat in which selected portions of the mat are formed with a relatively higher fiber density and other portions of the mat are formed with a relatively lower fiber density. Varying fiber density within fibrous mats can be achieved in a number of known ways such as through needling techniques and/or covering or exposing, as needed, classification apertures in the distribution devices of an air-laid system, or by the use of air streams, water jets, and the like to move fibers to desired locations before the binder is applied and/or cured. Regardless of the technique, the result can be a fibrous mat with higher fiber density in some portions of the mat and lower fiber density in other portions. Some of these fabrication techniques also can be used to create structures such as notches, channels, support features, wind baffles, and the like as a part of the fabrication process.
The term “moisture barrier” will be used in the detailed description below to refer to a layer or layers of material on or in a fibrous mat that are substantially impervious to water or moisture. This term should be understood to encompass any structure or structures that can be used to prevent penetration of water including, without limitation, a coating of water resistant material applied by spraying, rolling, calendaring, or otherwise onto a fibrous mat; a membrane attached, affixed, bonded, or adhered to the fibrous mat; a layer of high fiber density on or in the mat; a layer of fibers containing sufficient amounts of resins to close the spaces between the fibers; a water impervious mat of fibers adhered or otherwise fixed to an underlying air permeable fibrous mat; and any other structure or material that forms a barrier to the entry of moisture. For the sake of clarity and brevity, the term “moisture barrier” when used below is intended to encompass any and all of these structures, materials, and techniques for substantially preventing the passage of water and moisture, whether used alternatively or in combination with each other.
The invention has been described herein in terms of preferred embodiments and methodologies considered by the inventors to represent the best modes of carrying out the invention. It will be understood by the skilled artisan; however, that a wide range of additions, deletions, and modifications, both subtle and gross, may be made to the illustrated and exemplary embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention set forth in the claims.
Claims
1. A ridge vent comprising:
- an elongated moisture barrier having a central portion and opposed edge portions;
- a fibrous mat material depending from and extending along the length of the elongated moisture barrier;
- the fibrous mat material defining at least a first region of relatively lower resistance to the flow or air and at least a second region of relatively higher resistance to the flow of air;
- the at least one second region extending generally along at least one of the edge portions of the moisture barrier.
2. The ridge vent of claim 1 wherein the moisture barrier comprises a coating.
3. The ridge vent of claim 1 wherein the moisture barrier comprises a membrane.
4. The ridge vent of claim 1 wherein the membrane comprises a layer of fibrous materials that is sufficiently dense to prevent penetration of water through the layer.
5. The ridge vent of claim 1 wherein the first region comprises an air gap.
6. The ridge vent of claim 5 wherein the air gap extends generally along the central portion of the moisture barrier.
7. The ridge vent of claim 6 wherein the air gap is generally V-shaped to accommodate folding of the ridge vent along its central portion.
8. The ridge vent of claim 1 wherein the at least one second region comprises a second region extending along one of the edge portions of the moisture barrier and another second region extending along the opposite edge portion of the moisture barrier, the first region being defined between the second regions.
9. The ridge vent of claim 8 wherein the second regions are contoured.
10. The ridge vent of claim 9 wherein the second regions are contoured to define spaced apart transversely extending notches.
11. The ridge vent of claim 8 wherein the first region comprises an air gap.
12. The ridge vent of claim 8 wherein the first region comprises a region of fibrous mat material having a density less than the density of the fibrous mat material in the second regions.
13. The ridge vent of claim 1 wherein the moisture barrier is scalloped to mimic the look of ridge cap shingles.
14. The ridge vent of claim 13 wherein each scallop has a land and a riser and wherein the riser is air permeable to provide ventilation through the risers.
15. The ridge vent of claim 13 wherein each scallop has a land and a riser and further comprising an overhang extending outwardly from each land to form a gap with the next adjacent land, the gap sized to receive an edge of a ridge cap shingle.
16. The ridge vent of claim 1 wherein the at least one first region is disposed beneath the elongated moisture barrier and the at least one second region is located outboard of at least one edge portion of the moisture barrier.
17. The ridge vent of claim 16 wherein the at least one second region is contoured to define a wind baffle outboard of the edge portion of the moisture barrier.
18. The ridge vent of claim 1 wherein the at least one first region projects downwardly from the moisture barrier a distance greater than the downward projection of the at least one second region to define a plug extending generally along the central portion of the moisture barrier, the plug configured to fit into a ridge slot.
19. The ridge vent of claim 18 further comprising a longitudinal gap extending along the length of the plug to accommodate a ridge beam extending along the ridge slot.
20. The ridge vent of claim in claim 1 further comprising solar energy collectors disposed on an upper side of the moisture barrier.
21. The ridge vent of claim 1 further comprising windows extending through the moisture barrier and the mat material to admit light through the ridge vent to be directed to the interior of a building.
22. A ridge vent comprising an upper layer that is substantially impermeable to water and a lower layer of an open weave mat material that permits a flow of air therethrough, the lower layer comprising a first region that is relatively less resistant to a flow of air and a second region that is relatively more resistant to a flow of air.
23. A ridge vent as claimed in claim 22 wherein the lower layer has a contoured bottom surface.
24. A ridge vent as claimed in claim 22 wherein the first region comprises a gap.
25. A ridge vent as claimed in claim 22 wherein the first region comprises a less dense open weave mat material and the second region comprises a more dense open weave mat material.
26. A ridge vent as claimed in claim 22 wherein the upper layer is contoured to resemble ridge cap shingles.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 19, 2013
Publication Date: Jun 26, 2014
Applicant: Building Materials Investment Corporation (Dallas, TX)
Inventors: Sudhir Railkar (Wayne, NJ), Adem Chich (Kearny, NJ), Walter Zarate (Prospect Park, NJ), Dave Scott (Grove City, OH)
Application Number: 14/133,926