Installing Venting Through Cold Attic

A 30 x 40 ft.

Installing venting through cold attic.

The number of vents in your roof will depend on the size of your attic. Attach the roof vent to the duct that is from the top of the roof. Soffit vents the narrow horizontal section on the underside of your roof eaves. The attic is usually colder than the rest of the house during the winter and that can create a problem for a dryer vent.

You can attach the pieces together in all the holes by using the clamps that you have. Installation first requires a wood frame made of 2x4s installed from the attic between two studs. Attic for example has an area of 1 200 sq. The standard is one square foot of venting for every 150 square feet distributed evenly between the soffit and roof vents.

Your roofer will build this frame just a little larger than size of the vent leaving 1 8 inch of extra room on each side. Then aim for about 1 sq. Having a vent in each side of the gable was the typical attic ventilation configuration in older houses but today it is considered woefully inadequate for an efficient house. Venting the soffits is often done by installing continuous strip vents between the soffit boards or by adding rectangular and round vents at regular spacing between the rafters the easier option for existing soffits.

There are different kinds of vents. If you vent through a soffit where attic vents are often located the moisture will get sucked back up into the attic or roof venting. Use rigid metal ducting aluminum or galvanized steel with lengthwise seams facing up and joints sealed with foil tape or duct mastic or rigid plastic pipe. Start in the attic and drill a hole through the roof in the desired vent location.

If there s blown in insulation like ours rake back the fluffy stuff with a 3 or 4 ft long 1 x 6 or use a garden rake or hoe. Try to keep it close to the fan location. Install half of the required vent area in soffit vents. Adequate attic ventilation is important to reduce your utility bills and avoid damage to the roof and attic.

If the attic is insulated with fiberglass batts just pull back any that are blocking the flow of air. Leave the drill bit sticking through the roof so you can find the hole. From up on the roof use a jigsaw or reciprocating saw to cut a 4 in. The building code lets you reduce that by half under some conditions but more roof ventilation is usually better.

The warm moist air inside the vent tends to condense on the colder walls. First determine your attic area by multiplying the length by the width. In of vent opening per 150 sq. The soffit vents are now installed but you still need to make sure there s no insulation blocking the new vents.