Roof Vent
When we bought our place the home inspector told us we needed to upgrade the ventilation in the attic because it retains heat like crazy up there. Inadequate ventilation in the attic makes the house extra hot in the summer and keeps it nice and cold in the winter. We didn't understand exactly how extreme the problem was until we poked our heads up there one day and were exposed to the sauna that is our attic. Unfortunately it was a rather daunting task so it took us nearly 3 years to get around to it, but yesterday Theo and I installed another vent on the roof.

The first part involved climbing up into the attic to assess the cubic footage and figure out how many vents we needed. Once that was done and the vent was purchased, Theo hammered a nail through from the inside of the attic to mark the centre of the hole that had to be cut for the vent on the outside. We hauled all the gear up to the roof - with a bunch of extra trips for stuff we forgot the first time or I put away prematurely, wanting to make sure every trip up or down the ladder was the maximal efficiency. We peeled back some shingles, drilled a bunch more holes to make room for the reciprocating saw blade then got cutting. That reciprocating saw is a pretty awesome tool. Hefting that I kinda felt like I could cut through nearly anything and perhaps take over the world while I was at it. Since time was a constraint, I settled for cutting a giant hole in our roof - which just didn't seem like the kind of thing one should be doing under any circumstances. A blast of heat from the attic greeted us through the hole, letting us know just how important the project was.

Once we had the right sized hole, we put a bunch of roofing goo under the base flanges and scooted them under the upper shingles and over the lower shingles. We nailed it to the roof and put more goo over the nails and around any edges that were visible to keep moisture out. The next step was attaching the fetching chef's hat-type cap for the vent and since the holes for the screws didn't actually meet up, we had to climb down the ladder again to get the drill from the living room. We drilled appropriate holes and attached the sucker, which proceeded to spin in a highly pleasing fashion. Ta da!