It’s a reasonable question — and the honest answer is that more ridge vent isn’t always better. Here’s why.

Ridge vent should be installed based on what your attic’s ventilation calculation actually requires — not across the full ridge by default. The goal is a balanced system where intake and exhaust are matched to your attic or footprint square footage. Installing more exhaust than your intake can support doesn’t improve ventilation — it just creates more penetrations in your roof than necessary without any performance benefit.

Here’s the calculation that drives the decision: we determine the total net free area required for your attic or footprint based on its square footage, split evenly between intake and exhaust. From there, the length of ridge vent needed is determined by which product we’re installing — our high profile Lomanco ridge vent exhausts 18 net free area per linear foot, and our standard profile exhausts 11. The math tells us exactly how much ridge vent your roof needs. Sometimes that’s most of the ridge. Sometimes it’s less.

What we won’t do is install more ridge vent than your intake can support, or less than your attic requires. Both create problems — one short circuits the system, the other leaves your attic underventilated. The right answer is the one the numbers point to, not the one that looks the most complete from the ground.