How to Fit a Solar Powered Fan Ventilator

Drive a nail through the roof where you are installing the fan from inside the attic.

Climb up to the roof and find the nail. The shingles should be raised in that area.

Measure the diameter of the inside edges of the fan and draw a circle onto the roof shingles that match the diameter, centering it over the nail. You can do this by using a builder's crayon tied to a string that is half the diameter (the radius), or make a simple scribe by driving a nail through the end of a dowel and placing the dowel over the nail in the roof so the scribe nail matches the radius.

Cut through the shingles along the scribe line with a utility knife and pry them off the roof with a pry bar.

Drill a pilot hole through the roof along the edge of the circle where you removed the shingles. Cut through the roof with a reciprocating saw, beginning in the pilot hole.

Pry the nails out of the shingles that are around the edge of the hole.

Apply roofing cement to the shingles around the edge of the hole. This helps set the fan into position and prevents leaks.

Move the fan into position over the hole, sliding the flashing underneath the shingles on the top half of the hole. The flashing is the flat metal part around the base of the fan.

Apply a thick bead of roofing cement to the shingles underneath the flashing and screw the flashing to the roof with galvanized nails.

Apply a thick bead of caulking around the edge of the flashing and on top of the screw heads.

Drive roofing nails back into the shingles where you removed them.