# Roof Ventilation



## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

One thing I never notice is roof ventilation on homes in the PI such as roof vents, soffits, dormers, etc on your standard PI house. Is this only done on higher end homes? Would think if air could be circulated into the ceiling space with the hotter air being sucked out if might help a little with cooling.


----------



## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

Having the entire attic sealed is a fire hazard. Most homes here have the roof raised about 4 inches to let air in. Even so, ya need about 6" of good insulation inside to be able to aircon the place.


----------



## Billfish (Apr 13, 2013)

cvgtpc1 said:


> One thing I never notice is roof ventilation on homes in the PI


 The nipa huts are all ventilation, especially in the wet season


----------



## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

Billfish said:


> The nipa huts are all ventilation, especially in the wet season


Yea for sure. I owned a good nipa hut home in Masbate province years ago. Actually it was the pest place I have ever lived here in the islands. No electric power, running water, and not even a phone on the island at that time. But I had a great nipa hut to live in. Rainy season was nice and cool and it stayed dry for the most part. If an area of the roof started to leak, ya just move one of the leaves that make up that roof and no more leak. Extremely primitive but fantastic and a lot better home than the cement box we have here now.


----------



## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

Jet Lag said:


> Yea for sure. I owned a good nipa hut home in Masbate province years ago. Actually it was the pest place I have ever lived here in the islands. No electric power, running water, and not even a phone on the island at that time. But I had a great nipa hut to live in. Rainy season was nice and cool and it stayed try for the most part. If an area of the roof started to leak, ya just move one of the leaves that make up that roof and no more leak. Extremely primitive but fantastic and a lot better home than the cement box we have here now.


We have soffit vents but they are woefully inadequate. When we remodel the house I will do something about it.

Many years ago we were visiting relatives on ****** and I went for the customary lunchtime lay down in the Grandfathers house. After a while of laying under the tin roof with the sweat running down me I started to wonder where everyone had gone. Finally I got up and went in search and found everyone next door in the nipa hut all as cool as cucumbers.


----------



## Bluesdude (Jun 30, 2012)

Jet Lag said:


> .... If an area of the roof started to leak, ya just move one of the leaves that make up that roof and no more leak. Extremely primitive but fantastic and a lot better home than the cement box we have here now.



I'll never forget the first time I slept in a nipa hut with my wife. In the middle of the night it began to rain and I was getting dripped on. Being a nipa novice, I woke my wife and told her, honey I'm being dripped on. She looked at me, smiled, stood up and squeezed the nipa grass together where it was dripping. Leak fixed. Lesson learned.


----------



## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

Bluesdude said:


> I'll never forget the first time I slept in a nipa hut with my wife. In the middle of the night it began to rain and I was getting dripped on. Being a nipa novice, I woke my wife and told her, honey I'm being dripped on. She looked at me, smiled, stood up and squeezed the nipa grass together where it was dripping. Leak fixed. Lesson learned.


Yea that's quite an experience. Takes time to kinda get use to the "different" ways of living like that. We even had a family of bats living in the roof material right outside above the door. They found out that we would not hurt them and they just stayed feeling safe there. Sure reduced the numbers of mosquitoes we had to contend with..


----------



## JimnNila143 (Jul 23, 2013)

One of the things that can help a lot, especially a house with a tin roof, is a wind driven exhaust turbine. If they are properly mounted and sealed so they don't leak inside they will cut the cost of electricity, especially if you have air conditioning. A lot of the better quality homes are made of cement filled cinder blocks which retains a lot of heat or cold, depending on living conditions. If you can remove the heat it makes living conditions a lot better.


----------



## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

JimnNila143 said:


> One of the things that can help a lot, especially a house with a tin roof, is a wind driven exhaust turbine. If they are properly mounted and sealed so they don't leak inside they will cut the cost of electricity, especially if you have air conditioning.


Exactly, but have never noticed these in the PI.


----------



## jon1 (Mar 18, 2012)

One of my neighbors put one of these on his house to help with the heat in the rafters. I had one in my house in Florida and it worked OK. The rafters were still above 110 in the afternoons and not fun to work in. 

I am thinking about an attic fan that has a timer. My house has grated vents under the eaves. This way it would suck cool air in from the cross flow points (front and back doors) up into the attic and out the vents. I would bet that it would cool off the attic in less than an hour and could be shut off. I imagine that I could even get fancy and put an automated thermostat on it and have it turn on at a specific temp.


----------



## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

jon1 said:


> One of my neighbors put one of these on his house to help with the heat in the rafters. I had one in my house in Florida and it worked OK. The rafters were still above 110 in the afternoons and not fun to work in.
> 
> I am thinking about an attic fan that has a timer. My house has grated vents under the eaves. This way it would suck cool air in from the cross flow points (front and back doors) up into the attic and out the vents. I would bet that it would cool off the attic in less than an hour and could be shut off. I imagine that I could even get fancy and put an automated thermostat on it and have it turn on at a specific temp.


Those are good ideas. We have decided to buy one fire sprinkler (like in shopping malls) and have it installed with PVC pipe on the roof of the bedroom that is airconed. When the sun comes up -- it goes on and at night off again. Our attic is well insulated but that light water spray on the metal roof will help hold down the heat that the aircon has to fight and should lower the electric bill around 30%.


----------



## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

Jet Lag said:


> Those are good ideas. We have decided to buy one fire sprinkler (like in shopping malls) and have it installed with PVC pipe on the roof of the bedroom that is airconed. When the sun comes up -- it goes on and at night off again. Our attic is well insulated but that light water spray on the metal roof will help hold down the heat that the aircon has to fight and should lower the electric bill around 30%.


Are you charged a flat rate for water like some other province areas are? In Samar it's 300P/month where we go.


----------



## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

cvgtpc1 said:


> Are you charged a flat rate for water like some other province areas are? In Samar it's 300P/month where we go.


There is a monthly minimum charge of some kind. However, my wife works for the local water company and free water is a benefit of her employment so no worries..


----------

