What does a ridge vent look like in a picture?

From the street

Stand back from the house and look at the top horizontal line of the roof. A ridge with a shingle-over vent sits about an inch higher than a plain ridge and looks a little thicker in profile. At the gable ends you may see the dark end of the vent material under the last cap shingle. A plain ridge with no vent hugs the roof tightly.

Up close

• The cap shingles are nailed through a plastic or fiber mat that lifts them about an inch above the deck.
• Along each edge of the vent there is a fine mesh or filter fabric, sometimes visible as a gray or black line.
• Underneath, a slot is cut in the decking on each side of the peak. You cannot see it from outside, but from the attic you will see a line of daylight along the very top.

Common look-alikes

Box vents, also called turtle vents, are square hoods spaced along the slope near the ridge. Turbines are round spinning heads. Off-ridge vents are short rectangular units a foot or two below the peak. Ridge vents are the only ones that run continuously along the peak itself.

Getting a real picture of yours

The most useful set is a photo from the attic of the ridge slot, a zoomed photo of the ridge from the ground or a drone, and close-ups of the vent ends. A good roof inspection should include all three. For what an inspection covers, see what to expect from a roof inspection, and compare vent styles in ridge vent vs box vents.