Detroit Roof Pros provides professional roof & rafter-bay ventilation in Detroit, MI for residential and commercial properties across southeast Michigan. This is the page where we most often disagree with the last contractor who was here. A ridge vent cut into a story-and-a-half roof with no continuous path beneath it does not ventilate anything, and in some houses it makes matters worse.
Ventilation is a path, not a product. Air has to get in at the eave, travel up a clear channel held against the sheathing, and leave at the ridge. On a bungalow the upstairs walls interrupt that path: the knee wall meets the rafters partway up the slope, the bay above the sloped ceiling is packed with insulation, and there is no channel left for anything at all to move through.
Cut a ridge vent into that and you have made a hole at the top of a heated space with no makeup air below it. What rises to feed it is warm indoor air leaking past can lights, the knee-wall door and the top plates, and it arrives at cold sheathing carrying moisture with it. That is how a well-intentioned vent produces the very stains it was sold to prevent.
The code sets the geometry we work to. Michigan's residential code requires an airspace of not less than one inch between the insulation and the roof sheathing in vented enclosed assemblies, which means a two-by-six bay gives you four and a half inches for insulation, not five and a half. Site-formed baffles in every bay, eave to ridge, is the work that makes a ridge vent real.
The second legitimate answer is to stop venting on purpose. Michigan's code also recognizes unvented enclosed rafter assemblies, and in climate zone five the air-impermeable insulation has to be a class II vapor retarder or carry one against its underside. Closed-cell polyurethane applied to the deck underside, detailed correctly and inspected, works well on a finished half-story and is frequently the only honest fix available.
Which one you get depends entirely on what we find, and sometimes the answer is neither of them. If the sheathing is dry, the plaster reads dry through a winter and there is no ice building at the eaves, we will tell you to leave a working assembly alone and spend the money air sealing the knee-wall doors instead. That visit costs you an inspection fee and nothing else.
Our licensed and insured team brings the right materials and equipment to every job — rafter-bay ventilation baffles, closed-cell spray polyurethane at the deck underside, knee-wall access panels, shed-dormer cheek-wall step flashing, plaster-and-lath ceiling planes, square-edge 1x6 board sheathing — and backs the work with a written workmanship warranty. We serve Detroit and nearby communities including Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Livonia, Redford.
What We Handle
Everything our roof & rafter-bay ventilation in Detroit covers
One crew, one point of contact, and the full range of roof & rafter-bay ventilation work in Detroit, MI. If it is on this list we do it in house rather than handing it to a subcontractor:
- roof ventilation Detroit
- ridge vent story and a half
- rafter bay baffles
- knee wall air sealing
- net free ventilating area
- unvented roof assembly
- class II vapor retarder
- soffit intake blocked
- cathedral ceiling ventilation
- condensation on sheathing
- attic ventilation Michigan
Not sure which one describes your situation? Describe it in plain words and we will sort it out — or browse the rest of our Detroit services.
Materials, equipment and how we do roof & rafter-bay ventilation
The difference between roof & rafter-bay ventilation that lasts and roof & rafter-bay ventilation that gets redone in three years is almost always preparation and materials, not the finish you see on day one. We work with rafter-bay ventilation baffles, closed-cell spray polyurethane at the deck underside, knee-wall access panels, shed-dormer cheek-wall step flashing, spec them to the job instead of to the invoice, and write the material grades into the free estimate so you know exactly what you are buying.
Every Detroit job runs the same way: site walk and measurements, written scope and fixed price, protection of the surrounding area, then the work itself with a daily clean-up. Years of roofing work in southeast Michigan means we have already met whatever your property is going to throw at us — awkward access, older construction, an HOA with opinions.
Where we do roof & rafter-bay ventilation outside Detroit
Detroit Roof Pros covers Detroit and the surrounding communities of southeast Michigan. Crews run out to the same nearby cities every week, so an out-of-town job does not mean an out-of-town price.
- Roof & Rafter-Bay Ventilation in Dearborn, MI — Wayne County, population 109,976
- Roof & Rafter-Bay Ventilation in Dearborn Heights, MI — Wayne County, population 63,292
- Roof & Rafter-Bay Ventilation in Livonia, MI — Wayne County, population 95,535
- Roof & Rafter-Bay Ventilation in Redford, MI — Wayne County, population 49,504
- Roof & Rafter-Bay Ventilation in Garden City, MI — Wayne County, population 27,380
- Roof & Rafter-Bay Ventilation in Wyandotte, MI — Wayne County, population 25,058
Start on the Detroit Roof Pros homepage for a free estimate, or call (844) 511-2320 and describe the job.
Why Detroit Chooses Detroit Roof Pros
- ✓We label every roof plane attic above or finished space above before we price anything, because that is what decides whether a repair or a replacement is the honest answer.
- ✓The inspection happens indoors as well as outdoors. A pin moisture meter on plaster at the knee-wall base finds what a scuttle-hole inspection structurally cannot reach.
- ✓Deck work is priced as its own line. Square-edge 1x6 board sheathing is renailed where sound and overlaid by the section where it is not, with the square footage stated.
- ✓Ventilation is quoted as a path, not a product. If the wood soffit behind your aluminum was never cut open, a ridge vent has been drawing on nothing for years.
The standards behind roof & rafter-bay ventilation
Quality here is not a matter of opinion — it is written down. The roof & rafter-bay ventilation work we do in Detroit follows published industry standards: NRCA publishes the Roofing Manual, the industry's reference for details and slope minimums, and Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association sets the shingle application and ventilation guidance the warranties reference. If a contractor cannot tell you which standard a detail comes from, that is worth asking about before you sign.
Every roof & rafter-bay ventilation project in Detroit gets the same attention, whether it is a single room or a full commercial job. We show up on schedule, keep the site clean, and stand behind the work — the estimate is free and there is no pressure.
Ready to get started? Call (844) 511-2320 for a free roof & rafter-bay ventilation free estimate in Detroit, or request a quote and we'll get right back to you.