Roof ridge ventilator

A ridge ventilator for location along a roof ridge which defines at least one slot opening at the ridge for the passage of air through the roof surface, said ventilator comprising:

• (a) an elongated support member adapted to be located longitudinally over and straddling the slot along the ridge, said support member including:
• (i) a cap element support portion running along the longitudinal axis of said support member,
• (ii) two longitudinally-oriented side walls, each wall connected to and depending vertically downward from the support portion, each said side wall having at least one vent opening therethrough, and
• (iii) two longitudinally-oriented skirt portions, each skirt portion connected to and depending from one of the side walls at an angle generally conforming to the slope of the roof,
• (iv) wherein the side walls and cap element support portion to define a longitudinally oriented channel between the side walls;
• and
• (b) air-permeable vent material positioned in and along said channel, substantially filling the channel between the side walls.

An elongated support member for straddling the vent slot of a roof ridge venting system and supporting capping elements over the slot, comprising:

• (i) a cap element support portion running along the longitudinal axis of said support member,
• (ii) two longitudinally-oriented side walls, each wall connected to and depending vertically downward from the support portion, each said side wall having at least one vent opening therethrough, and
• (iii) two longitudinally-oriented skin portions, each skin portion connected to and depending from one of the side walls at an angle generally conforming to the slope of the roof,
• (iv) wherein the side walls and cap element support portion to define a longitudinally oriented channel, said channel being adapted to contain air-permeable vent material between the side walls.

A method of installing a ridge ventilation system on a sloped roof covered by tiles and which roof includes an open slot disposed along its ridge, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) installing tiles in rows running across the slope of the roof from the bottom edge of the roof toward the ridge, omitting the top row of tiles on each side of the ridge;
• (b) forming an elongated support member from a generally rectangular flat sheet having plurality of grooves there on and perforations there through, said forming comprising the substeps of:
• (i) folding each lateral side of the sheet approximately 90.degree. in the same direction, each fold being made along one of a pair of crease lines parallel to and equally spaced from a longitudinal center line of the sheet, to form an elongated member having a ridge tile anchoring portion running along its longitudinal axis and two longitudinally-oriented side walls, each wall connected to and depending vertically downward from the anchoring portion, wherein the side walls and anchoring portion define a longitudinally oriented channel,
• (ii) creating at least one vent opening through each side wall by bending outward from each side wall one or more flaps perforated in the sheet along crease lines provided there on,
• (iii) forming two longitudinally-oriented skirt portions, each skirt portion connected to and depending from one of the side walls, by bending each side wall outward at one of a plurality of parallel crease lines at an angle approximately equal to the pitch angle of the roof, said crease line being chosen from the plurality of crease lines according to the desired height of the side walls,
• (c) positioning an air-permeable vent material in and along said channel, substantially filling the channel between the side walls,
• (d) positioning the support member longitudinally over and straddling the slot along the roof ridge,
• (e) securing the support member in said position by inserting fasteners through the skirt portions into the roof,
• (f) installing the top row of tiles on each side of the ridge such that the tiles overlap the skirt portions, and
• (g) installing overlapping roof tiles on and along said anchoring portion and anchored to the support member by fasteners passing through the tiles into the anchoring portion, such that the ridge tiles are aligned longitudinally over the slot and extend over the top row of tiles on each side of the slot.