Attic venting, help needed


sdkidaho

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I recently insulated my shop and put down decking in the attic space to use it for storage. The roof of the shop is just steel as are the exterior walls. The area above in the attic is not insulated so it's just the bare exterior metal up there.

The shop is quit well insulated and stays quite comfortable during the heat of the day. The attic however has at times reached over 120 degrees. I don't have any gable end vents or roof vents and am wondering what my best options are. I know I can do either but I'm not really sure how to do the gable end vents without having them off-center and looking weird, and wasn't sure about roof vents for no particular reason.

Any suggestions or guidance from someone who knows something about this would be appreciated.

One end inside:

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Other end inside:

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Front exterior:

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Rear exterior:

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Roof:

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It looks to me like you actually have a ridge vent.  It looks just like mine ;)

 

With that said, they do get warm up there in the summer and cold in the winter.  There's a few things you can do to help..  Obviously insulation would help but, you could install some solar powered roof vents as well.  You might need a few of them depending on the size of your building.

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If the ridge is vented this is only one part of the puzzle, you need make up air to be introduced. Best practice in my state (low wild fire risk) is to also vent the eave for make up air. Steel buildings like the one you show rarely have an eave and that transition is often plugged with foam to keep critters out. You could experiment with venting systems that use screen instead of foam but I am not sure these are effective in remodel situations. If you install a powered vent fan, you have some choices and it may be worth having a builder come out and talk the issue through. You want to vent in a way that the vent and make up air inlet are oriented to move as much air as possible without leaving stale pockets.

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Shaffer is correct..  Check your eves and see if those openings are plugged off.  If they're not then you just need to increase air flow..  I'd be tempted to put a couple fans as close to the eves (inside) as possible blowing towards the ridge and see if you notice a difference.

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My shop also has a metal roof, no insulation and no attic.  In the summer the metal got so hot you could not put your hand on it and the heat radiation made it impossible to be in there much past 10 am.  I put Snow Roof on it (  http://www.snowroof.com/product_detail.asp?product_id=SR104  ) and that solved the problem.  Now the shop does not get above the outside shade air temperature. 

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