Need to vent attic heat

[Albiemanmike]

Wife and I are experiencing our first summer in the new to us house. House was built in 1850 double layer brick. The second floor really heats up during the day and we have no attic venting in place to exhaust that hot air. So she wants and attic fan which seems in order. My question is do you get one that is hard wired or solar? I am kind of old school and would tend to lean towards hard wired fan. Next question is how do you install a fan in the roof? Cutting through 2 layers of brick isn't an option so it will have to be a roof mounted unit. I assume that a vent will also be required to get proper airflow? Are these typically something that can be sealed up in the winter? We live in CT so it gets pretty cold and snowy here. We have windows on either end of the attic but I am not really fond of doing a window mounted fan thing. Looking for ideas/advice?

 

[skcj213]

I also have a full mosonry house fron the same era, an italianate built in 1867, that we have been in for 14+ years. We have attic vents but not a powered fan. What we have found is that the house stays fairly cool through the day and then heats up at night as the heat from the day soaks though the bricks. Do you have A/C? We do, midwest summers would be unlivable otherwise. Our house has 12' ceilings that also help make the heat a bit more managable and allows us to avoid turning on the A/C as long as possible.

 

[BFBOB]

A quick note on solar - this is one of those rare devices that works best when you need it most. Just be sure you check out the appearance and size of the solar panel. By its very nature, it must be out in plain sight - of the sun and you. Appearance may be an issue, especially on a house of that age.
Appearance does seem to matter to you since you mentioned not wanting a window-mounted fan. How about making a new opening above one of the attic windows with nice louvers matching the trim? If the gables are brick all the way up, that might not be practical, but many brick houses have frame gables. I'd shy away from roof-mounting just because of the difficulty of sealing the opening against rain.
Put auto-opening louvers in the ceiling in a central location with a Styrofoam box covering them. My parents had the box hinged at one end and a little rope attached to a pulley with which they could pull the box up off the vent when running the fan, and lower it to insulate the opening without ever going into the attic.
If you put the vent in the current access hatch opening, be sure to make it easily openable for continued access -- sooner or later, you'll be going back up there!
Controlling the fan - can be done with a thermostat, timer, or manual switch. Take your pick; it wouldn't surprise me if there's a combination of all three in one unit. Seems a natural, but no matter what you MUST have a positive shutoff for safety. Dedicated circuit breaker would be best (if you go the AC route).

 

[abachman]

My attic fan is mounted in the hallway ceiling of the second floor of the house. It is hard wired, but manual to turn it on and off. You do need vents in the attic to exhaust the air pulled up through the house. It really works well, and was easy to install.

 

[Stuart in MN]

There's no venting at all in the attic? Usually there's at least vents in the gable ends, or someone has cut in roof vents at some point in the house's history.

Assuming it's an unfinished attic, is the attic floor insulated? A typical attic venting scheme is to have air inlet vents in the soffits, and static roof vents in the roof up close to the peak (you can also install a ridge vent, but they will be more expensive than a plain old static roof vent.) No mechanical fans are needed, the air will move up through the attic naturally. They aren't blocked off in winter, you want to keep the attic ventilated year round.

 

[Zeke]

A fan in the hallway exhausting house air into the attic is not the same as just an attic fan. But both do pretty much the same job. You wouldn't use a whole house fan in the hallway if you had AC. You would definitely use an attic fan to reduce the attic temps.

Do you have gables or is the roof a full hip? Full hip would require the fan to be located on the roof surface. And those whirlygig things work very well w/o power. If there is any gable wall I'd put a fan there near the ridge bricks or no bricks.

Either way, you will need make up air for cross flow. So you have to open up both ends though the roof or otherwise. Most houses have eave vents to allow air to come into the attic space low and a gable or ridge vent lets to hot air out drawing more outside ambient air in. One fan alone won't do much, it's a system.

 

[kbs2244]

Don’t over engineer it.

Before you go with some kind of powered vent just get some simple holes in the roof.
If that isn’t enough go to the wind powered turbine style.
So far no need for any power supply or electric extra part count.

Remember you need to supply cool air at the eves.

 

[JonnyMac]

I have 2 of these types of vent in my roof. Very simple to install, the come powder coated to match the roof colour and they never leak even in very heavy rain which is quite amazing really. As soon as I put them in i noticed a massive difference.
Plus they are less than $100 each.. Hope you can get them in the states....

 

[PT Doc]

whole house fan.

 

[RV77]

ridge vent !! It goes on the highest point of the roof.... heat rises.I will make a huge difference.

 

[Mustang51js]

Just get an attic fan from Home Depot,they are like $170 I think,basically you cut a hole in the roof between the two joists,should be about 14 inches round and then when installing you need to slide the top part under a layer of shingles. I like to get roofing tar and put that under the metal flaps then nail it down. Hook up some power and good to go.

 

[Casey69]

the attic fans (that mount to the roof) are nice when they work, but i don't see many of them lasting very long. they get the worst of the worst - hot air in the attic & always exposed to the elements.

passive ventilation might be better. old houses often don't have eve/soffit vents, so cutting those in would help, along with making sure you have enough peak ventilation using a ridge vent or turtle-type vents.

regardless, that 2nd level will always be warmer than the first. you could supplement your hvac by using a window a/c unit.

 

[rslaback]

If you go the power vent route get one that comes on via thermostat and humidistat.

 

[JonnyMac]

I live in australia. It gets hot, very hot. I have never seen any form of powered roof ventilation. Heat rises, it will ventilate by itself if you let it escape freely.