Retrofitting Attic Ventilation

Making your home more energy-efficient involves making improvements in different areas, such as replacing old windows, purchasing new, more efficient appliances and adding insulation. Another step that you can take is to improve the ventilation in your attic. Attics can become very hot during the summer, which can make the rest of the home feel hotter. This can be especially true in older homes that have little or no ventilation. You can install a passive roof vent to help improve the ventilation and cool your attic.

Hammer
Nail
Ladder
Safety harness
Utility knife
Pry bar
Reciprocating saw
Safety goggles
Roofing cement
Roof vent
Galvanized roofing nails
Clear silicone adhesive
Roofing nails

Instructions

- 1
  Mark the location of the roof vent by driving a nail through the roof sheathing from inside the attic. This lifts up the shingles on the roof, making the nail easier to spot. Center the nail between two of the rafters so that you cut only through the sheathing and not the rafters. Place the vent 2 to 3 feet down from the peak of the roof.
- 2
  Climb up to the roof and draw a circle around the nail that matches the diameter of the hole at the bottom of the roof vent -- the part that will be attached to the roof. Center the circle around the nail.
- 3
  Remove the shingles inside of the circle by cutting through them with a utility knife along the circle then prying them up with a pry bar.
- 4
  Cut the circular area where you removed the shingles out of the roof with a reciprocating saw.
- 5
  Place roofing cement on the shingles around the edge of the circle.
- 6
  Lift up the shingles around the top half of the circle with the pry bar, and remove the nails holding them in place. This allows you to slide the flashing (the flat metal part) of the vent underneath the shingles.
- 7
  Install the roof vent by sliding the top of the flashing underneath the top shingles and pressing the bottom of the flashing against the shingles on the bottom of the circle.
- 8
  Drive galvanized roofing nails through the flashing and into the roof.
- 9
  Cover the heads of the galvanized nails with clear silicone adhesive then run a thick bead of the adhesive along the joint between the shingles and the flashing.
- 10
  Replace the roofing nails you removed around the top edge of the circle.

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