How to Install Roof Vents in an Insulated Garage

While they are usually insulated, many garages and attics are not connected to a home's heating and cooling systems, which means that they can become hot during the summer. You can reduce this problem by installing a roof vent in your garage. This allows some of the heat trapped inside your garage to escape, cooling the garage, as well as the rest of your home if the garage is attached.

Hammer
Nail
Ladder
Roof vent
Utility knife
Pry bar
Drill
Reciprocating saw
Roofing cement
Galvanized roofing nails
Roofing nails
Silicone adhesive

Instructions

- 1
  Drive a nail through the interior of the garage roof where you want to install the vent. Choose a spot between two rafters, 2 to 3 feet from the peak of the roof.
- 2
  Climb up to the outside of the roof and locate the nail you drove through. The roof shingles in the area should be raised by the nail.
- 3
  Place the roof vent on top of the roof, centered over the nail. Trace the bottom edge of the vent onto the roof.
- 4
  Remove the shingles by cutting through them with a utility knife along the trace line and prying them off of the roof with a pry bar.
- 5
  Cut through the roofing paper on the roof with the utility knife, using the edge of the shingles as a guide.
- 6
  Drill a hole through the roof sheathing next to the shingles. Cut through the sheathing with a reciprocating saw, starting in the hole you drilled and following the edge of the shingles.
- 7
  Place roofing cement onto the shingles around the edge of the hole.
- 8
  Position the vent over the hole by sliding the flange of the vent underneath the singles that are around the top edge of the hole and placing it directly on top of the shingles along the bottom edge of the hole. The flange is the flat metal part around the base of the vent.
- 9
  Nail the flange of the vent to the roof with galvanized roofing nails.
- 10
  Nail any loose shingles onto the roof with roofing nails.
- 11
  Run a thick bead of silicone adhesive along the edges of the flange to seal the joints, and place a thick dab on top of each nail on the flange.

Two Kinds of Attic Ventilation

Should Attic Vents Be Blocked in Winter?

Ventilation