TL;DR
A ridge vent is a continuous exhaust vent installed over a slot cut along the roof peak, letting attic heat and moisture escape at the highest point while a baffle and filter keep out rain and snow. Working with soffit intake, it drives passive convection across the entire underside of the roof—the balance the IRC's 1:150 or 1:300 ventilation ratios assume.
What it means
A ridge vent is a continuous exhaust vent installed over a slot cut along the roof peak, letting attic heat and moisture escape at the highest point while a baffle and filter keep out rain and snow. Working with soffit intake, it drives passive convection across the entire underside of the roof—the balance the IRC's 1:150 or 1:300 ventilation ratios assume. Shingle-over versions disappear beneath cap shingles, and they outperform isolated box vents on most gable roofs.
Where it sits in the glossary
Ridge vent is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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