Ridge vents and the necessary soffit vents use physics to ventilate an attic space. The air in an attic is warmer than ambient(outside) air because it is warmed by the house and the sun. Warm air is lighter than cooler air, so warm/hot air rises. The soffit vents admit cooler air to displace and allow the hotter air to rise. The ridge vent is placed at the highest area of the roof. That means the hotter air has easy escape to the outside. Adding anything---more roof vents, gable vents, or fans actually decreases the efficiency of the ridge vent system, which only needs Mother Nature to work no matter what the weather/heat/ conditions are. The reason some folks think ridge vents need help is because the system---ridge vent and correct number/area/placement of soffit vents is incorrectly designed of the soffit vents are partially or fully plugged. A musty odor can be caused by mold inside the walls, which could have been helped by a leaky roof over that room. Replacing the roof may correct the leak, but will do little if nothing to correct the mold growth/smell.

Yes, the venting is along the entire ridge. The roofer did this when I replaced the roof--I had talked to him about how hot the upstairs was in summer in spite of the pot vents, and he suggested a power vent--which he installed in addition to the ridge vent. Mine is not in the old eave vents, but is through the roof. He did not block the eave vents or tell me I needed to (but they were pretty well blocked by the replacement siding already). It also was/is very noisy--enough to awaken us when it came on at night. He replaced it, saying it was a faulty unit. Still noisy, and as we got into autumn it was coming on in the middle of the night when temps fell to around 40F. He couldn't explain why. I was worried that it would be pulling heat out of the house when I wanted to keep it! So I called the company that makes the vents. They told me that one reason it was so noisy was that it was designed for a much larger attic than mine (which is only about 500sf), and very likely was not getting enough airflow. That is also when I learned that mixing venting systems causes neither to work effectively. They told me some things to do to the stat to keep it from coming on at inapprop. times too. The radiant barrier insulation is very light, it comes in big rolls and looked like foil-coated bubble wrap (at least the type I've seen). It is stretched across and stapled to the bottom of the rafters--the plywood is laid on the top of the rafters--this leaves a channel for airflow between, from the soffit to the ridge vent. So if you have rafters you can add the barrier. I remember how hot it can get in SOCal and how expensive utilities are--I would add the barrier if I had the coin to do so. Don't see why coastal rea would be an exclusion though.

Southern California is a BIG area with many micro-climates. If you are near the coast, you will get foggy, wet cold brrrrr days. If you are in the High or Low dessert, you will have days of freezes and maybe even snow. If you are in a really mild area, it may not get cold enough for a fireplace. We have 3 fireplaces in our home. All wood burning. The issue here is there is no option for gas or propane, and electric would cost a fortune to redo all 3, so, we hang in there with wood. The upstairs master bedroom has the best one! Floor to ceiling rocks with an oak mantel, and a rock seat. We use it New Years Eve with the blinds open for the city light views and the TV on too watch the ball drop. We fall to sleep listening to the fire crackle and pop. The best feature of our home is our entertainment center / man cave. We call it the Pub. It does have the fully stocked bar, big screen TV, recliners, bar tables and stools, and a granite bar surround with stools outside. Everyone who walks in says, "This is my favorite room! I wish we had one of these!" It DOES NOT have a fireplace! christopherh is correct. A fireplace is a cool thing, and those electric ones are cheap. I saw them at Big Lots one day, and they looked amazing. With 3 already, no need for others......

Of course, this is just speculation on my part but it appears as if the roofer that did the job installed the ridge vent as a dummy ridge vent and didn't intend to have it functioning. I say this because when the owner of the company came here, he expected to just go in the attic and cut away the underlayment. He came back down from the attic after a while and said that he couldn't cut it from inside the attic, it was just too hot up there and he couldn't get to it well enough. Well....I went up there and there are no obstructions keeping him from getting in there and cutting out that plastic...BUT what I did find is that he had cut into the plastic so I looked inside the hole....what I saw was not what I had expected. What I saw was the backside of shingles with only a small opening of about an inch. So not only was the plastic there, the shingles were not installed in a way that you would install them to put on that ridge vent. So he is going to have to take it all off and actually saw out the shingles to make a hole for the air to escape. All the while he kept saying that it isn't even required for there to be a ridge vent over this garage. So I don't know if they were being deceptive or if it really was an oversight. I guess only god knows the answer to that one...HA! But I do know what it looks like. Also, I doubt the company owner knew this because he wouldn't have cut the plastic opened had he known because he had fully intended to just cut it opened.