Merrell Attic Vents

The Merrell's called me complaining about their attic being too hot and that they couldn't get their contractor to install an attic ventilation system in their brand new home.

The contractor kept telling them that they didn't need the attic vents and later disappeared.

The attic had over 2400 sq.ft. of attic space and it radiated heat down into the living area where the inhabitants were elderly in nature.  









When it comes to attic ventilation, most people don't get it right.

One can't just slap a roof vent on and call it right, for there is a formula to figure the amount of air needed to properly vent a roof.

Most don't install enough roof vents to properly vent the attic, or don't put enough, if any, eave vents in for air to flow into it.

Too little number of intake vents could cause the roof vents to draw air out of the house itself, possibly robbing it of the a/c cooled air.












For a 2400 sq.ft. attic space, ventilation requirements called for at least three to four 14" turbine attic vents.

Since the roof had a single long ridge, we went with the minimum of three 14" turbine attic vents.

For the attic roof vents to properly draw heat out, the attic also needs to have plenty to more than enough soffit vents for fresh air to be drawn in.














Since the roof had a 12" overhang, I went with thirty 4"x16" soffit vents over using 8"x16" eave vents.

 The 8"x16" soffit vents were a little too big and didn't look right in the tight space.


This also allowed me to evenly space the vents all around the house for an even air flow.






 








So that the vents would look right and not slapped on, each side was divided by one more than the vent number to get the equidistant centers of each vent.













After I got all the intake vents on, I went up on the roof, and using the template supplied with each roof vent, cut the three 14" holes.

The homeowner didn't want all the roof vents on the same side of the roof, so I put one in the center on the back side of the roof and split the difference on each end for the other two 14" roof vents on the flip side.













I slipped the vents under the shingles over the holes per installation instruction and used the Dade County nailing pattern for high wind areas to secure the vents to the roof.

I covered each roofing nail with a dab of 30 year silicone and also put the sealant above and around the vents for added protection.

I glued the shingles that were pried up earlier back down to complete the project.








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