Roof Ventilation

[Guest Grasshopper Lofts]

Whats peoples thought on the best for of roof ventilation, i have a pent roof sloping front to back and want to add some kind of ventilation but im stumped. Any advice would be appreciate

 

 

thanks

[just ask me]

few pics would be helpful but maybe put chimleys in

[OLDYELLOW]

few pics would be helpful but maybe put chimleys in

beat me to it

[Tony C]

Cut out a series of 2'x 2' squares in the loft roof towards the highest point and lay these sheets over the top http://www.wickes.co.uk/Bitumen-Corrugated-Sheet/invt/240039

[chris h]

www.askthebuilder.com.

turbine vents

[Guest vander mungo]

Whats peoples thought on the best for of roof ventilation, i have a pent roof sloping front to back and want to add some kind of ventilation but im stumped. Any advice would be appreciate

 

 

thanks

if were talking about a felt roof then leave it alone,you,ll only cause water problems and dampness.add vents bottom front and top back this will get a good circulation of air going works for me

[Guest Grasshopper Lofts]

will get some pics tomorrow its a felted pent roof sloping front to back, i have vents on the sliding doors there is also a 2.5ft over hang at the front and gaps all along the ridges where the roof battens are if that makes sense but there isnt any vents at the back of the loft as its right up against a load of tall conifers. (about a 2ft gap between loft and conifers)

[just ask me]

we will be able to give better adie with pics

[bombersbullets]

cheap way over lap your ridge tiles

[Guest Brian.Duffy]

This is my roof ventilation all the fittings and extractor fans are in the attic of the loft.

 

 

I have a vent on the front of each section as shown below.

This is the vent closed for when I darken the loft but the air can still get trough the gap.

 

 

And this is it open when I lift the darkness.

 

 

These are the extractor fans I use theres very little noise out of them and they extract a lot of air theres one each end of the loft.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Brian

[pjc]

Is there an air gap between roof and back of the loft Damian?

[Guest Brian.Duffy]

Is there an air gap between roof and back of the loft Damian?

 

Hi m8 there is know other gaps in the loft just the hole in the roof where the pipe comes down that extracts the stale air from the loft.

Its basicly a square box with a hole in the roof and a vent at the bottom it should be air thight other than that.

 

Cheers,

 

Brian

[Guest Grasshopper Lofts]

Is there an air gap between roof and back of the loft Damian?

hi phil there is to a certain extent but teh back of the roof is basically but up against the rear of the loft there isnt an over hang at teh back liek there is at the front

 

This is my roof ventilation all the fittings and extractor fans are in the attic of the loft.

 

 

I have a vent on the front of each section as shown below.

This is the vent closed for when I darken the loft but the air can still get trough the gap.

 

 

And this is it open when I lift the darkness.

 

 

These are the extractor fans I use theres very little noise out of them and they extract a lot of air theres one each end of the loft.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Brian

 

 

thanks for the diagrams mate does your loft have an apex or pent roof

[pjc]

Can you lift the roof so you have a 2" air gap along the front and back between roof and verticle panels?

[Guest Grasshopper Lofts]

Can you lift the roof so you have a 2" air gap along the front and back between roof and verticle panels?

im going to atempt to do it tomorrow mate will let u know how i get on, its nailed down so may be a struggle

[Guest Brian.Duffy]

hi phil there is to a certain extent but teh back of the roof is basically but up against the rear of the loft there isnt an over hang at teh back liek there is at the front

 

 

 

 

thanks for the diagrams mate does your loft have an apex or pent roof

 

It has a pent roof m8.

 

Brian

[Guest Owen]

In order to have a ventilation system that works on a pent roof, you need to lift the roof so that you have a 4" gap all around the top. The roof must overhang enough to prevent rain blowing in and there should be battons screwed to the underside of the overhang to act as rain guards. Then you will need to fix 1/2" wire netting to the underside of the overhang to prevent creatures getting in.

[holmsidelofts]

Below i will try to explain the ventilation i now have on my young bird loft. This system was designed by ronnie williamson and i was impressed by what i saw when i saw it on a dvd.

Originally my loft had an apex roof but i could never get the air flow right. you could always smell birds in the loft, the droppings if left for any length of time would get mould on them. So i decided a change was needed, so off came the apex roof and on went a sloping roof, the roof slopes from front to back. The roof consists of half inch ply, covered with galvanized steel sheets.

 

 

on the galvanised sheets you have have a raised profile and a channel profile, on each of the raised profile you cut out the top of the ridge with an angle grinder for about 18-20 inches in length.

 

 

You then attach battens the full length of the roof one at the front of the holes you have cut out and one at the back, this is secured and sealed to the main galvanized sheet. this is done to take the section galv roof ( we use translucent sheets but in the end we had to paint them as they effected the amount of light entering the loft when it was darkened). this goes on top of the battens and is secured down. this prevents rain entering the main galv sheets. as the main sheets have a channel in them the rain runs down there and not on the ridge of the sheet. you can see this in the picture below where the rain is flowing its in the channel and not on the ridge.

 

 

Once thats done its time to move inside the loft, what you now have to do is make holes in the roof underneath the holes in the ridge of the galv you just cut. this is to allow the air to go out through the roof.

 

See picture below:

 

 

As you can also see theres a vent that runs right across the full length of the back of the roof this is the same at the front of the roof.

There is also a low level vent at the front of the loft to let in air at low level.

 

The principle is that air will enter the loft at low level and as it rises its warmed up by the birds in the loft as this air rises it has to have somewhere to leave the loft. under this system the air can now leave the loft through the holes in the roof. As you will notice the holes are above the poles we use as perches ( these have now been changed back to standard box perches to give us a little more room.

 

 

The transformation to the loft as been staggering. you get really good air flow without drafts. The holes in the roof actually pull out the stale air as you will see in the video clip below of a feather thats trapped in the hole. As i was filming this there was no draft coming into the loft. I should also mention that half the front of the loft is covered in filon translucent sheets. and we have position the loft so that the sun rises on the one side of the loft and spends all day on the front of the loft, this i feel is important in maintaining an even temperature in the loft.

 

video

 

 

I have not raced out of this loft yet but now have 50 extremely healthy pigeons living in there at the moment and im extremely impressed how much of a difference this roof has made. its a time consuming project but well worth the effort. And just look at ronnies results 56 irish national wins, there are also a lot of big names adopting this system to.

[Roland]

I'd raise the roof a foot onto a few blocks. Cover the whole loft roof then with frames covered both sides with 1/2 wire mesh. These frame works are fitted complete over all. (Pigeon Pete may have some still competatively priced... I have a spare roll incidently, but am not touting and that's for sure. Doing no harm here, and may well be useful as some later stage). Then make frames to fit between the wired mesh roof, again covering both side with wire mesh. The roof needs to over lap. And really should slope towards the front so nothing - cats etc. can hide from view. Dig a foot deep, 6 - 9 inches wide where the rain will fall and fill with gravel. Instantly clears away any and all wet.

[Guest newcomer]

This is my roof ventilation all the fittings and extractor fans are in the attic of the loft.

 

 

I have a vent on the front of each section as shown below.

This is the vent closed for when I darken the loft but the air can still get trough the gap.

 

 

And this is it open when I lift the darkness.

 

 

These are the extractor fans I use theres very little noise out of them and they extract a lot of air theres one each end of the loft.

 

 

Could you tell me about the extractor fans, cost and details, and how noisey are they, also where did you get them, or where could I get them.

 

Cheers,

 

Brian

[holmsidelofts]

Hi newcomer.

I have in the past had mechanical ventilation in the loft, Steven van breemen of holland is one of the experts on this and i used to write to him quite regularly before email became the norm. Mechanical ventilation does work there is no doubt in that, i to have tried it and have very good success with it. But for me i wouldnt go back to it now. to do it correctly there are formulas you have to work our and the best method is a tube running the full length of the loft in the roof space with a extractor fan on the end, there has to be different size holes cut in the tube and they have to be spread out over the length of the tube, this will then insure that the amount of air it pulls out is equal across the whole loft, attached the the end of the tube is a mechanical fan thats run on timer switches and it can altered the speed the fan runs and at what intervals it runs at. Get it right and you can keep hundreds of birds in a loft very healthy, i have personally seen this ventilation system first hand at stevens lofts when i have visited him. i also had it on my own loft and had excellent result not only in club but fed combine and national racing. But i have moved away from it now due to cost, its not cheap to run a proper size extractor fan. if you dont get the right size one all you do is waste your time and money as it wont exchange enough air to be effective. I have worked in the past in the air extraction industry and understand this.

 

That is the reason why i moved over to the ronnie williamson design ventilation system ( see photos above in my previous response). In my opinion its as equal to any mechanical ventilation system and it does cost you anything once you've done the work to the loft.

Check out jim jenners secrets of champions 4 dvd on loft building to see this ventilation system on ronnies lofts and you'll see why its so good. I have found the environment on the loft spot on. The dropping dry out to completely nothing i have 50 pigeons in a 3 compartment 24 foot loft and i dont believe in being tooclean with youngsters as they have to build up there natural immunity to common diseases and in the past i have had fungus grow on droppings that have been down a week or 2 but i litterally can go for months and the droppings just fully dry out with no fungus and you cant smell anything in the loft its that good.

 

Its the best thing i ever did and i cant wait to fly youngbirds out of it this year.

So im not knocking mechanical ventilation as i know first hand if done correctly it works. but give ronnies ventilation system a try and you wont regret it.

[Guest Dorset-lad]

Cut out a series of 2'x 2' squares in the loft roof towards the highest point and lay these sheets over the top http://www.wickes.co.uk/Bitumen-Corrugated-Sheet/invt/240039

 

Hi Tony have you found this works ? im tempted to do what holmsidelofts has done but if what you are saying works it would be easier for me Regards Brian

[Chris061]

I was wondering if there is anyone else that tried this type of roof ventilation system ? I live in the US and i am currently building a new loft and this is the roof design that i have chosen, I was just wondering what peoples thoughts are about how big the holes in the roof should be and air inlets at the bottom of the loft?

Thanks in advance !