How To Vent An Attic

October 31, 2020

The attic needs a balanced ventilation system with as much air entering through the intake vents as leaves through the exhaust vents. Space attic vents evenly and mark the locations by driving nails up through the shingles Photo 1.

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The exhaust vents are installed along the ridge the highest point of the attic.

How to vent an attic. That placement allows the hottest air to be removed from the attic. Attic ventilation has several purposes as we will soon reveal. Attic Venting Process To choose the proper ventilation system for your attic youll first need to know the total area of your attic.

Normal vented air likes to enter the attic lower down near the bottom third of the attic and as it passes through it will exit higher up near the top third of the attic space. Most building codes require a ratio of 1150 ventilation space to attic floor space. Try to keep it close to the fan location.

How to Properly Ventilate Your Attic To properly ventilate an attic two types of vents are needed. Ventilation can be accomplished using various products and techniques. Leave the drill bit sticking through the roof so you can find the hole.

However setting up a proper venting system can prove problematic without the right knowledge beforehand as there are factors you must take into consideration and specific calculations that must be done to fully benefit from the setup and keep structural damage and other issues at bay. Start in the attic and drill a hole through the roof in the desired vent location. Intake vents which are located at the down slope edge of the roof aka eave s and allow fresh air into the attic.

To determine the area multiply the length times the width in feet. A well-designed attic ventilation system takes advantage of that movement in two ways. Then divide the total area by 150 to find the total amount of vent space needed for your attic.

Using Gable Vents. It must also circulate. Ventilation of attic spaces is required by most building codes as well as by roofing material manufacturers and the National Roofing Contractors Association NRCA.

Wear a dust mask while working in the attic and lay planks or plywood across rafters so you dont step though the drywall ceiling below. 1 Since warm air rises an effective system will include exhaust vents at or near the ridge. Ventilation is not needed in attics with spray foam insulation because sealed attics that have spray foam applied on the underside of the roof sheathing the attics ceiling should be airtight ie they are thermally and physically closed off from the outside world.

Typically you would have a gable vent on each end of the attic. Before we explore how to ventilate an attic space it is prudent to understand how much ventilation is needed. How Attic Ventilation Works Attic ventilation works on the principle that heated air naturally rises primarily utilizing two types of vents.

To vent an attic without soffit vents installing a gable vent by how to install an attic fan with fiction mixing exhaust vent types attic ventilation roof Gable Vent Installation. For this reason the square footage of vent space at the base of the roof and at the peak. Ideally the intake vents are installed along the edges of the roof at the lowest point in the attic in the soffits.

One is to route it over to a soffit vent and attach it to the back of the soffit vent but this can work against your exhaust fan because thats actually an air intake so not as good as other methods. When applying spray foam in lieu of fiberglass or cellulose however youre creating what is known as a sealed attic space. For proper ventilation it isnt enough for air to simply get into your attic.

For an attic without soffit vents you may have the option to use gable vents instead.

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