Suitability of Wooden Shingles for Ventilated Roofs: An Evaluation of Ventilation Efficiency

Featured Application The findings are highly relevant for the roof restoration and maintenance of historic buildings. Wooden shingles are a traditional roofing material on many culturally important building artifacts. Currently, the roof space of many traditional buildings is used for residential purposes and, consequently, cold roof constructions with ventilation layers are applied. In this study, it is evaluated whether the moisture content of wooden shingles is adversely affected by such constructions, compared with unvented shingle roofs over cold attics and whether a temporary closing of the ventilation gaps at the eaves contributes to a lower wood moisture content. Various sensors were installed in and around a building with wooden shingles on a ventilated roof and temperature, air moisture, and air speed in the ventilation layer were measured throughout a year. The findings show that the air speed in the ventilation layer can be adjusted from 0.06 to 0.25 m/s depending on the layout of the eaves. A hygrothermal model was applied to evaluate the effects of different ventilation operation modes and cardinal orientations of the roof on the moisture content of the wooden shingles. The results show that roof ventilation results in a 1% lower shingle moisture content on average than an unventilated roof over a cold attic. Finally, it is shown that the wood moisture content repeatedly reaches dangerous levels above 25% throughout a year, which is worse on north-facing roofs and, hence, measures to increase the dry-out are relevant.