I use the garage door trick with the attic access. I also use a fan to push the cooler air into the attic. The smart people that designed Texas homes put the AC up there.
I have found a great way to see if your attic is performing well or not. I open the attic pull-down door and have a screen in a frame that I put over that opening. In that room, with it's door closed, I open the windows about 4". So, with that door closed, but the windows open, the hot air in the attic rises and exits with less "suction" from below and pulls cooler air from the room into the attic - thus pulling air from outside. If you're attic gets to 140/150 degrees on a hot day, the 95 degree outside air is very cool compared to the attic. If there are trees outside those open windows then better still. So I "sacrifice" that one room during the peak of summer by opening it up (per the above) and am able to drop the attic temp as a result. Cooler air being sucked into the attic all day. With a PhD in Mathematics, I have done a lot of measurement and analysis. I have concluded that the design of roofs and especially soffets is a scam - to decrease the life of the roof, increase heating and cooling expenses, increase purchases of insulation, increase need for people to hire others to seal ALL of the many holes and gaps between the attic floor and the livable space. In completely redoing, what I could, to the attic, I was appalled at how shoddy my modern house was designed. Cheaply done. Builders are only concern with volume and speed of building.
Thanks. Have a leaf rake, no cat, two garage doors - Will give the soffits a peek. 👍 Was just up in my attic: evaluating my options. Will crack the attic door check my soffits. If that works I’ll get a Cat 😀. Thanks.
Thanks for the video. I live in south Texas and bought a newly built home 1 year ago. When I open my garage attic access with the garage door open, I feel a ton of hot air being pushed down from the attic into the garage, during the hottest part of the day. I’ve asked the builder to inspect the blown-in attic insulation to see if the soffit vents are blocked. Besides that, how else can we check for proper attic ventilation?
For attic cooling or air circulation, I'm sure it's the same no matter where you are. Here in Texas, we see summer temperatures reach up to +100° for months at a time which makes attic cooling a high priority. Im sure your winters are a lot colder than ours which also rises the question "is to much ventilation going to cause my attic to be to cold in the winter?" hence a higher heating bill. I recommend you speak to locals in your area or do a little research before making any changes to attic temperature. Know this video will always be here for you. Also, make sure you read our article directly from our website (linked below) where we go a little more into detail on the subject. Thank you for your support. Cheers from Pflugerville, Tx aurumroofing.com/uncategorized/diy-instant-attic-cool-down-3-steps/
@@AurumRoofing my roof has no soffit so no soffit intake. I have gable vents at 3 locations and the ridge vents up top that were previously added due to issues with venting. It still gets hot as balls. Am I wrong in thinking that gable in and ridge vent out is not creating a proper venting pattern/air movement?
No you are not wrong, depending on how far away your neighbors house is from yours this may effect wind blockage or if their house is a 2story and yours is a 1 story house. These 2 factors may play a major role in air coming into your attic through your gable vents. Gable vents rely on blowing wind coming in through one side and out through the other. If this happens to be your case (wind blockage) then I'd recommend you install a fan into your gable vents to speed up the process. You can purchase an actual gable vent fan that's powered by electricity or solar, or maybe even running a extention coard and placing a space fan near your gable vent to pull outside air in. They are fairly easy to install from inside your attic. Hope this helps.
Wondering what to do with my furnace and water heater drafting air from my attic ? How can I use a solar attic fan without drafting my cooled air from my living space ?
Great video - the 3rd tip is great. But I am a bit curious on the installation - can you put the vent on a rafter? Most people would cut holes between rafters, and seat the vent there.
It's always best to install vents centered between the rafters, but in some cases, you have to install them over rafters. They will still vent, just not as effective as they would without a rafter in the way. Thank you for your comment!
I have put a ply floor with insulation under the ply for my attic above my garage for extra storage. While up there working I noticed no vent fan or soffits? Should I add those while working up there? I'm in the Austin area and worried about causing an issue while trying make my garage a more usable space for woodworking and creating storage above in the attic. Great videos, by the way. Patching a rot area and you had the exact video I needed. Thanks y'all.
More then likely you should add a few intec vents (750 slant back vent) and a exhaust vent either ridgevent or a solar powered fan. Intec is just as important as exhaust.
I try to tell HVAC and attic people to install screened vents on the ground floor and vents on top, but they just want to install more insulation and new AC systems.
I did something similar I bought a very powerful airking whole house fan and installed it in the garage window. Then I opened the attic access door and could just feel all the hot air being sucked out and exhausted outside through the garage window. My ac hasn’t turned on all day and it’s 95 degrees out.
For gable style attics (rectangular/squared) ridge vent is a good option, for hip roofs (pyramid) powered fans are best. Either roof with a good intec system will work effectively. Remember, intec is just as important as exhaust. Thank you for the comment.
We just turned part of 4 season porch into a bedroom. I insulated the attic space above pretty well with blown-in fiberglass. The house is old and doesn't have soffit vents so I did not install baffles. There is only one box vent on the roof so some roofers suggested adding a gable vent. They didn't seemed concerned about not having soffit vents. He believes having the gable vent should be enough. I thought for a gable to work you need it on both sides of the attic. perhaps the box vent and gable vent will work together to cool and draw air into and out of the attic?.... I live in freezing cold MN so half the year I'm concerned with keeping heat in. Any suggestions?
How much attic space is above the room? Does it have enough crawling space or perhaps walking space? Also, the walls. Are the walls properly insulated? Gable vents can be an option, you can install one on one end of the roof and use it as your intec vent while on the opposite side, you can install a powered attic exhaust fan blowing air out (some come with controls via phone apps that will help you monitor and control when needed), doing this will give you air movement and not a standing sauna in your attic space. Also, something to always keep in mind for cooling attics is shade. On hot summer days, stray animals keep cool under parked cars on driveways. They choose this area because the shade brings cooling. Shade can be given to roofs by Tree's, wooden canopy covers, metal panels, or even solar panels. Most people tend to forget that the part of the reason their a.c works less after solar panels is not necessarily the saved electricity because of the energy production but the a.c doesn't have to work as much because it's mostly covered with shade. Hope this helps. Feel free to reach out with any further questions or concerns.
@@AurumRoofing There is about 5 feet of attic space at the peak, but lowers to a few inches as you get closer to the eaves. You can crawl if you're careful. Keep in mind this was a front porch area so the other end of the attic is against the house. There cannot be a gable vent installed on the other side of the attic because that would cut a hole in the 2nd floor. There are no soffit vents and I just pumped in insulation. We insulated the walls as well as we could with R-15 faced Owen's corning fibergalss batts. We also installed a vapor barrier on the exterior walls and ceiling. My main concern is ventilation. I'd rather it be passive. I don't want to mess around with running wires for attic fans, but spending a few grand to be certain mold won't grow would be better than having to gut our renovation and possibly need a new roof in this area if mold were to grow.
That's interesting. What's the outside temperature like in your area? What type of insulation do you have? Are your windows older/door seals? Do you bake pretty often?
Lots of window with sun exposure (and no heat rejection film), dark exterior walls with light/no insulation -- will trap the heat inside. Your attic is probably well ventilated and you probably have a light-colored roof.
I use the garage door trick with the attic access. I also use a fan to push the cooler air into the attic. The smart people that designed Texas homes put the AC up there.
Great!
I have found a great way to see if your attic is performing well or not. I open the attic pull-down door and have a screen in a frame that I put over that opening. In that room, with it's door closed, I open the windows about 4". So, with that door closed, but the windows open, the hot air in the attic rises and exits with less "suction" from below and pulls cooler air from the room into the attic - thus pulling air from outside. If you're attic gets to 140/150 degrees on a hot day, the 95 degree outside air is very cool compared to the attic. If there are trees outside those open windows then better still.
So I "sacrifice" that one room during the peak of summer by opening it up (per the above) and am able to drop the attic temp as a result. Cooler air being sucked into the attic all day.
With a PhD in Mathematics, I have done a lot of measurement and analysis. I have concluded that the design of roofs and especially soffets is a scam - to decrease the life of the roof, increase heating and cooling expenses, increase purchases of insulation, increase need for people to hire others to seal ALL of the many holes and gaps between the attic floor and the livable space. In completely redoing, what I could, to the attic, I was appalled at how shoddy my modern house was designed. Cheaply done. Builders are only concern with volume and speed of building.
So what do you recommend be done to the attic? Only what you did?
Thanks. Have a leaf rake, no cat, two garage doors - Will give the soffits a peek. 👍 Was just up in my attic: evaluating my options. Will crack the attic door check my soffits. If that works I’ll get a Cat 😀. Thanks.
You'd be surprised how effective cracking open the garage door 2-3" and your attic door. Good luck!
I agree with you, nice tips
Installing on a rafter😂 i remember when i first started.
Great advice. Loved the video!
great advice
Thanks for the video. I live in south Texas and bought a newly built home 1 year ago. When I open my garage attic access with the garage door open, I feel a ton of hot air being pushed down from the attic into the garage, during the hottest part of the day.
I’ve asked the builder to inspect the blown-in attic insulation to see if the soffit vents are blocked. Besides that, how else can we check for proper attic ventilation?
Very helpful information! Thank you!
But I live in Washington state, a lot of rain. The air is quite damp, not sure whether the same principle applies
For attic cooling or air circulation, I'm sure it's the same no matter where you are. Here in Texas, we see summer temperatures reach up to +100° for months at a time which makes attic cooling a high priority.
Im sure your winters are a lot colder than ours which also rises the question "is to much ventilation going to cause my attic to be to cold in the winter?" hence a higher heating bill.
I recommend you speak to locals in your area or do a little research before making any changes to attic temperature. Know this video will always be here for you. Also, make sure you read our article directly from our website (linked below) where we go a little more into detail on the subject. Thank you for your support.
Cheers from Pflugerville, Tx
aurumroofing.com/uncategorized/diy-instant-attic-cool-down-3-steps/
@@AurumRoofing my roof has no soffit so no soffit intake. I have gable vents at 3 locations and the ridge vents up top that were previously added due to issues with venting. It still gets hot as balls. Am I wrong in thinking that gable in and ridge vent out is not creating a proper venting pattern/air movement?
No you are not wrong, depending on how far away your neighbors house is from yours this may effect wind blockage or if their house is a 2story and yours is a 1 story house. These 2 factors may play a major role in air coming into your attic through your gable vents. Gable vents rely on blowing wind coming in through one side and out through the other. If this happens to be your case (wind blockage) then I'd recommend you install a fan into your gable vents to speed up the process. You can purchase an actual gable vent fan that's powered by electricity or solar, or maybe even running a extention coard and placing a space fan near your gable vent to pull outside air in. They are fairly easy to install from inside your attic. Hope this helps.
@@AurumRoofing thank you for that info
One problem is that venting does not stop in the winter time and you are heating against a cold attic.
Wondering what to do with my furnace and water heater drafting air from my attic ?
How can I use a solar attic fan without drafting my cooled air from my living space ?
This may be a better question for an A.C. or plumbing company.
Might be just a Texas thing. In the north we have attic doors inside the house. Propping the door and a window will do the same if no ac
Great video - the 3rd tip is great. But I am a bit curious on the installation - can you put the vent on a rafter? Most people would cut holes between rafters, and seat the vent there.
It's always best to install vents centered between the rafters, but in some cases, you have to install them over rafters. They will still vent, just not as effective as they would without a rafter in the way.
Thank you for your comment!
I have put a ply floor with insulation under the ply for my attic above my garage for extra storage. While up there working I noticed no vent fan or soffits? Should I add those while working up there? I'm in the Austin area and worried about causing an issue while trying make my garage a more usable space for woodworking and creating storage above in the attic. Great videos, by the way. Patching a rot area and you had the exact video I needed. Thanks y'all.
More then likely you should add a few intec vents (750 slant back vent) and a exhaust vent either ridgevent or a solar powered fan. Intec is just as important as exhaust.
@@AurumRoofing Will do. Watching your videos on it now. Thanks for the quick response and the informative videos.
Can I install the gable fan backwards and draw air in?
That's a great idea!
I try to tell HVAC and attic people to install screened vents on the ground floor and vents on top, but they just want to install more insulation and new AC systems.
Unfortunately, some people believe that if the price tag is higher
it's more effective.
Great comment!
I did something similar I bought a very powerful airking whole house fan and installed it in the garage window. Then I opened the attic access door and could just feel all the hot air being sucked out and exhausted outside through the garage window. My ac hasn’t turned on all day and it’s 95 degrees out.
That's awesome!
if you installed Soffit Vents on the attics door, would you see similar results when cracking open the garage door ?
That's a great idea. I don't see why not...
How many exhaust vent are needed
And are you supposed to stick to one type of exhaust system
For gable style attics (rectangular/squared) ridge vent is a good option, for hip roofs (pyramid) powered fans are best. Either roof with a good intec system will work effectively. Remember, intec is just as important as exhaust. Thank you for the comment.
We just turned part of 4 season porch into a bedroom. I insulated the attic space above pretty well with blown-in fiberglass. The house is old and doesn't have soffit vents so I did not install baffles. There is only one box vent on the roof so some roofers suggested adding a gable vent. They didn't seemed concerned about not having soffit vents. He believes having the gable vent should be enough. I thought for a gable to work you need it on both sides of the attic. perhaps the box vent and gable vent will work together to cool and draw air into and out of the attic?.... I live in freezing cold MN so half the year I'm concerned with keeping heat in. Any suggestions?
How much attic space is above the room? Does it have enough crawling space or perhaps walking space?
Also, the walls. Are the walls properly insulated?
Gable vents can be an option, you can install one on one end of the roof and use it as your intec vent while on the opposite side, you can install a powered attic exhaust fan blowing air out (some come with controls via phone apps that will help you monitor and control when needed), doing this will give you air movement and not a standing sauna in your attic space.
Also, something to always keep in mind for cooling attics is shade. On hot summer days, stray animals keep cool under parked cars on driveways. They choose this area because the shade brings cooling. Shade can be given to roofs by Tree's, wooden canopy covers, metal panels, or even solar panels. Most people tend to forget that the part of the reason their a.c works less after solar panels is not necessarily the saved electricity because of the energy production but the a.c doesn't have to work as much because it's mostly covered with shade. Hope this helps. Feel free to reach out with any further questions or concerns.
@@AurumRoofing There is about 5 feet of attic space at the peak, but lowers to a few inches as you get closer to the eaves. You can crawl if you're careful. Keep in mind this was a front porch area so the other end of the attic is against the house. There cannot be a gable vent installed on the other side of the attic because that would cut a hole in the 2nd floor. There are no soffit vents and I just pumped in insulation. We insulated the walls as well as we could with R-15 faced Owen's corning fibergalss batts. We also installed a vapor barrier on the exterior walls and ceiling. My main concern is ventilation. I'd rather it be passive. I don't want to mess around with running wires for attic fans, but spending a few grand to be certain mold won't grow would be better than having to gut our renovation and possibly need a new roof in this area if mold were to grow.
Have you considered solar powered attic fans? No wires or electrical cost...
@@AurumRoofing I'll consider this as well thank you.
Awesome!!
Glad you enjoyed!
My attic was cool but my house was too warm (83), was cooler in the attic. I dont get it.
That's interesting.
What's the outside temperature like in your area? What type of insulation do you have? Are your windows older/door seals? Do you bake pretty often?
Lots of window with sun exposure (and no heat rejection film), dark exterior walls with light/no insulation -- will trap the heat inside. Your attic is probably well ventilated and you probably have a light-colored roof.
This suggestion of leaving the garage and attic doors is an open invitation to attract rats iguanas and other vermin into your home !!!
$16? LOL
While A+ for clever this will simply send your conditioned air right out of your house. The the best way to keep cool
Clearly you don't understand attic ventilation. Please stop doing these "hacks", you are going to destroy people's roofs.
I am in Texas and think his ideas are great. What are you talking about?
@@xiangli2452 trust me