The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

The good
Today I replaced one of my external vents with a 3 inch vent cover. I even had some blackjack neoprene roof sealant left over from sealing holes in a roof after removing a poorly installed satellite dish.

The bad
I started by trying to use the 4 inchvent cover. That just would not sit right. Unthinkingly I drilled and put rivnuts for 4 securing bolts then found the thing was way off where it should have been. In the end I had to scrap that idea.

The ugly
It took an awful lot of time to fit one vent cover then change and fit a better cover. The extra holes were unwelcome as I had to patch them.

As can be seen, the whole thing needs another coat of grey spray paint. It’s bedded in nicely though the self-piercing screws I ended up using were a bit on the short side. I could have put rivnuts but having put one set of rivnuts in already that weren’t in the right place, I just didn’t feel like doing it again. In any case the Blackjack neoprene should hold the thing in place nicely, with or without additional screws.

That vent is similar to the one I replaced. I like that style because there are zero moving parts. The bad thing is that they block airflow. I’d left the fan on automatic while I was on the ladder and with the cover off the vent, the fan started and the blast of air practically blew my head off. Putting my hand near the louvered vent when the fan was blowing later I could feel far more air than ever came from the mushroom domes.

There are the two vents both visible. The louvered vent is much lower profile. If I’d been smarter from the start I could have used 4 inch louvers but that would have had to be installed 2 maybe 3 years ago. It would take a major upgrade to the ventilation system to go with 4 inch vents now. The fans are 3 inch, the vents are 3 inch. Everything is set up for 3 inch and it seems to work just fine.

This is the view from the inside of the right hand vent with the dome. Inside the vent there’s a second mosquito mesh that really kills airflow.

The is the view from the inside of the newly modified left hand vent. There’s far more light visible. That’ll reduce when I respray the louvers.

As normal I’ve bought a ton of stuff and tried it before going with what I eventually found to work. I tried cutting plastic disks then buying aluminum disks. Then I tried 4 inch lovers then 3 inch. Of course I only bought one 3 inch louver so I’m going to have to order another. The louver isn’t insect proof but the interior screen is. All the exterior cover has to do really is to stop big bugs like wasps getting in and protect against rain incursion.

My back has mostly recovered but I still find it hard to bend over, bend down and pick up things from the floor. I no longer scream in pain trying to stand up.