Are you handy?

[Clodfobble]

Rubber bands, a little dexterity, and a lot of patience.

[Clodfobble]

I don't know about ridge vents, but the one really important thing with gable vents is to make sure you put window screening on the inside, no matter how narrow the slat openings are. Birds can and will get in, despite manufacturer's claims. But we found our gable vents to be very effective, once we screened them.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I don't know about ridge vents, but the one really important thing with gable vents is to make sure you put window screening on the inside, no matter how narrow the slat openings are. Birds can and will get in, despite manufacturer's claims. But we found our gable vents to be very effective, once we screened them.

Absolutely. We have the heavy gauge wire screens protecting our gable vents. squirrels were chewing through them, and birds were building nests, but the wire screen stopped that.

[bigw00dy]

Another great Cellar thread!!!!

I have talked a ton of projects myself(Here are some). Partly cause I am hard-headed and not to mention lack of extra funds to pay someone else to do the work. On the Handyman scale, I would put myself around 4.5......teetering on a 5.

I do have a hoard of tools and could do it for a living. I choose not to because I have other people that depend on me( 2 kids and a wife). If I was a single guy, I think I would be in some kind of construction trade. Im not knocking the construction trade, but it can get cut-throat

[yesman065]

Wow - thanks glatt - I'm in the Philly suburbs, in a townhome (middle unit).I have soffit vents and ridge vents - The air just doesn't seem to move and its like 200 degrees up there - It is at least 20 degrees more than my neighbor who has a fan also. He says he saves about $200 a year since he got it - I have heard similar things from other neighbors as well.

[glatt]

Middle unit of a town home, huh? I guess that rules out gable vents.

Have you inspected the soffit vents? Are they blocked with insulation? If they are clear, then I guess a roof fan really is your best bet.

To be honest, this is the kind of thing I avoid. I've never cut a hole in my roof and flashed around it. I know they have those sticky rubber membranes for flashing around things like this, but I understand metal flashing is even better. Only problem with metal flashing is you need a metal break to bend it, and I'm not sure you can rent one. I'd probably use the sticky rubber membrane to seal things up, and then patch in the shingles.

Maybe somebody else will have better advice.

[Clodfobble]

Couldn't you put a fan on the inside of the attic, pointed out through your existing vents? Like glatt, I too would be terrified to have anyone but a professional cut a hole in my roof.

I've installed fan vents, soooo easy. Just drill a hole for your SawzAll, cut the hole and drop it in, caulk and go.
The new, super-light, turbine (or rotary) vents are AWESOME for problem areas! They don't rust and don't need a lot of wind to work, the new bearing systems are slick.
I used to put them in in five min. and they save serious ducats.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

I've installed fan vents, soooo easy. Just drill a hole for your SawzAll, cut the hole and drop it in, caulk and go.

I know you have done this and I haven't, but I would never trust caulk alone to keep a hole in my roof water tight. Flashing is needed.

Edit: Flashing around a fan, depending on the shape of the fan, will be much like flashing around a skylight.

[yesman065]

Great now we all agree that cutting a whole in your roof is scary baaaaddd. OK, I'll go back into the attic and check all the soffits for good air flow. It would be great to have the vent fan, but because of money I can't pay for it to be done. There must be a way to get the air moving - thats what I think the real issue is. It is so stagnant up there its unreal. I feel like throwing a box fan up there just to move the air around. Do they even make fans for this type of installation? Could I set it on a timer somehow? If I could get the air to move that has got to help - no? The upstairs of my house is also at least 5 to 7 degrees warmer than the first floor - thats what I'm also trying to rectify. The return vents are fine - I already checked them.

**Oops - I posted this before I saw rk's post.**

[yesman065]

OK, rk - So I go to Lowes, Buy the vent fan....and what else? I must need electrical and stuff and so on. Can you give me an idea so I can get a grasp of the overall scope in order to budget time and whatnot.

You can pm so this is not a total hijack. Speaking of which - does this move me up or down on the scale?

[BigV]

First off:

I DIDN'T DIE!!! YAY!

Now that I've let all the drama out of this episode, let's examine what did actually happen.

After rolling out the first course, I immediately faced the prospect of dealing with the valley. I read about different styles to handle this area, and the one that I decided on was called interwoven. Basically, the roofing material crosses the valley completely, then the next higher course is applied from the opposite side of the valley, and that is repeated until the valley is completely covered. The main benefits of this process as I see it are very complete coverage of the valley, multiple thicknesses of roofing material cover the area; and that the ends of each of the courses are all covered when woven together this way.

In the last picture of the roof, you can see I've rolled the long stretch along the gutter and up across the valley. The next course is higher up and is along the opposite side of the valley. It's just a short section and it too rolls from the eave across the valley. Then again along the long axis with another big roll.

Pic 01: Course number three just finishing. You can see the weaving effect beginning.

Pic 02: Close up of the finished edges of the start of the weaving.

[BigV]

More of the weaving.

Pic 01: Better wider shot of the valley weaving midway through (four courses in place). Notice the second course going from the upper right to the lower left has been trimmed flush with the uppermost edge of the third course. I don't know if this was a good idea or not, but it was neater. It didn't seem to me that the extra material would help since it was already underneath the uphill edge of the layer above, so I cut it.

In this picture you can also see my hillbilly MacGuyver tool bag-o-nails. The boxes were worthless. When they were dry, they tried to slide off the roof. When they were wet, they disintegrated and let all the nails slide off the roof individually. So I got a rag, folded a little pouch in it and "sewed/pinned" it up with a nail. Voila! The sag and the fabric were sufficiently rough and irregular that it just sat where it splat. I picked up the uphill corner and moved it each time.

Pic 02: Wide shot of three courses of weaving. Number 1--long course on left. Number 2--short course at the bottom. Number 3--long course on the right.

[BigV]

Course five's debut.

Pic 01: By following the regular plan to extend each course completely across the valley, course five reached the opposite lower ridge. I cemented it (not shown) and nailed it in place.

Pic 02: Valley shot, course four not visible. The valley is 90% covered at this point. I won't weave the next course, but just head straight uphill.

[BigV]

The lower 3/8 of the roof is covered now, and I'm above the level of the valley. It's all straight rolling now.

Pic 01: The first three rolls along the long axis of the roof. Looks pretty neat and tidy.

Pic 02: This is how these rolls all started (except the first cause I rolled it up backwards). I started out at the edge and tacked it into place and then began to unroll it in small increments, measuring and adjusting and tacking as I go.