How to Vent Attic Spaces

Ensuring that your home's attic is properly vented is a good way to keep your electric bills down. Attics that have inadequate ventilation will keep extremely warm air trapped above your living spaces, which will then make it much harder to cool during warmer months. By installing a few simple vents on the underside of your roof overhang, you can greatly improve ventilation in your attic.

Ladder, if needed
Chalk line
Circular saw
Chisel
Hammer
Pry bar
Soffit vents, 8 feet in length, 3 inches wide with mounting screws
Drill with screwdriver bit

Instructions

- 1
  Climb onto the roof or use a ladder to reach the soffit, or underside of your roof overhang.
- 2
  Make two 8-foot-long parallel lines with a chalk line, spaced 2 inches apart on the soffit.
- 3
  Bore a hole with a drill bit and determine the thickness of the soffit. Most soffits will be 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch thick. Set the blade depth of your circular saw to this thickness.
- 4
  Cut along both of the chalk lines with your circular saw. Knock out the end pieces of wood between the lines with a hammer and a chisel. Use a pry bar to pull out the soffit material that you just cut.
- 5
  Position a 3-inch wide, 8-foot long soffit vent over the hole in the soffit. Have a friend help you hold it in place, centered evenly over the hole.
- 6
  Screw the vent in place to the soffit with mounting screws or sheet metal screws if the vent did not come with its own mounting screws. Space each screw 12 to 14 inches apart along the outside edges of the vent.
- 7
  Repeat Steps 1 through 6 above for each additional soffit until you've installed vents on all of them.
- 8
  Go into the attic and remove any insulation that is sitting on top of the vent holes you cut. The insulation will block the airflow, so make sure you can clearly see the hole and vent cover of each vent you installed below.

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Ventilation