I have a house that was designed with a vented attic. The soffits are vented but the builder failed to vent the roof ridge line as indicated in the plans. The roof is a Gerard metal roof with no practical way to add roof venting. The house is located in a mild climate less than 1000’ from the sea. There is no snow but, the house is subjected to strong winds and driving rain. It is not air conditioned. Other than hanging the builder, should I leave it as is or seal the soffit vents?

Talk to the builder and the roofing vendor.

If your home has an architect, talk with them as well.

Likely what you will need to do is install a solar vent fan (or two). Either through the roofing (least desirable) or at the gables.

I have talked to the builder and roofing vendor. No architect involved. I changed the topic to “Vented roof” vs.”Vented attic” as there is no attic. The ceilings are cathederal.

I have talked to the builder and roofing vendor. No architect involved. I changed the topic to “Vented roof” vs.”Vented attic” as there is no attic. The ceilings are cathedral.

If that's the case, I'd leave the setup as-is until it's time to replace the roofing.
Sealing up the soffit vents leaves a void area inside the roof assembly which could become a condensation problem.
While the setup isn't optimal for cooling the roof surface, it's better than an uncooled roof surface.

Just curious, Are there continuous vents in the rafter bays?

Posted By ChrisJ on 16 Jan 2020 02:46 PM
Just curious, Are there continuous vents in the rafter bays?

From the sound of it, there are soffit vents, but nobody ever ridge-vented it before putting the roof on.
So you have a bunch of ventilation cavities that go nowhere.

This will likely result in hot spots higher on the roof.

Yes