Adding Vent To Sealed Attic

Sealed attic construction by excluding vents to the exterior can be a good way to exclude moisture laden outside air from attics and may offer a more easily constructed alternative for air leakage control at the top of residential buildings.

Adding vent to sealed attic.

If you ve got an older home and it needs more insulation you ve got the perfect opportunity. Photos 1 6 show how it s done. With the help of an assistant raise the vent up to the soffit and center it over the cutout slot. When you re done sealing your attic bypasses push the insulation back into place with an old broom handle or stick as you back out of the attic.

Direct all exhaust fans and vents to the exterior. Then finish up by sealing the access hatch with self sticking foam weatherstrip photos 10 and 11. Hot air exhaust vents located at the peak of the roof allow hot air to escape. Adding attic vents is a simple matter of cutting holes and installing vents.

First the fumes and chemicals which are connected with keeping a car or using power tools means that you need to draw these away from the rest of the house and second heat build up in an attached garage will also make the house. Though it s against building code to vent any kind of exhaust to an attic space many home builders have gotten away with this shortcut. Never cover attic soffit vents with insulation use rafter vents and soffit vents to maintain airflow. Position and fasten the vents.

Apply self adhesive foam weatherstrip tape to the top edge of the stop. Mark the roof venting locations from the attic where you can see the rafters and avoid placing roofing vents over them. Screw holes through both flanges. Next lay the strip vent down on a flat wood surface such as a plywood sheet or long 2 x 4 and drill 1 8 in dia.

By removing the old insulation you ll expose the ceiling. For best performance vented attics need a balanced amount of intake vents and exhaust vents in a quantity determined by the attic s square footage. Intake vents located at the lowest part of the roof under the eaves allow cool air to enter the attic. But before you cut any holes plan the locations of the attic vents.

When you have built an attached garage you will need to think about adding some ventilation to the area ventilating garages properly is vital for two reasons. If you ve got a vented attic that gets hot in the summer your first option is leave the attic vented and make sure the ceiling is air sealed and insulated as well as possible. Attic ventilation is usually pretty simple. However if your attic has blocked soffit vents and is not well sealed from the rest of the house attic fans will suck cool conditioned air up out of the house and into the attic.

Space the holes 12 to 14 in. Attic fans are intended to cool hot attics by drawing in cooler outside air from attic vents soffit and gable and pushing hot air to the outside.