vinyl over gable end lovres

[ren ramsey]

How many of you are reporting and what are you saying when you see gable end lovres that they have installed perforated vinyl siding over? It would seem to me that without any other means of ventilation like a ridge vent, the ventilation for the attic has been reduced.

[Rick Cantrell]

Say what you find:

The gable vents have been covered with perforated vinyl siding, which reduces the ventilation of the attic.
Recommend that a qualified contractor be obtained to calculate actual vent area needed and make corrections as needed.

[Harry Janssen]

Was there adequate venting? or not.Other wise do not worry about it.

[ren ramsey]

I try to limit how much I refer out without some type of decent explanation as too why I am referring it out. I do refer out most things to the other " specialist" contractors, don't get me wrong. But I would like to say why with a little more meat' ie, in the case of the gable vent," the ventilation has been reduced because the lovres provided x air flow and have now been reduced by x% due to the perforated vinyl." There is still some but there has been a reduction. Of course that being said, gable end vents are not the greatest ventilation system if that is all there is.
As far as was there enough ventilation I told them no and explained to them about ridge vents and soffit vents. Every time I refer something out, I am aware that now I have added to someones work load or stress factor. I get that "it is what it is", but sometimes it just simply does not get done or gets overwhelmed by bigger things in the report unless it is the big thing, which roof ventilation seldom is.
As far as determining if there is enough ventilation or not, sometimes that can be hard to justify. In this case, all there was present was the gable end vents covered over by the vinyl and a perforated vinyl over the soffit. NO way of knowing if the soffit actually had ventilation behind the vinyl. But the issue for me was the wood looked great. 1984 house and the wood looked practically new, a little darker, but not remarkably so. hen I tell them that it needs more ventilation, I have to be prepared for the question," well does the wood look darker or have you seen any evidence that it is causing harm?"

[Jerry Peck]

Ren,

You would need to know, or at least be able to estimate, the square footage size of the attic; then know or estimate the size of the gable vent and the reduction factor for its louvers (i.e., metal louvers are presumed to have 75% net free vent area and wood louvers are presumed to have a 25% net free vent area of the overall vent area); then you would need to know or estimate the net free vent area of the ventilated soffit/siding over the gable vent; after that it is simply a math problem. ;)