Whole house fans?

[Indyhd]

Have one that I use mostly spring and fall, but even in the summer if you have a two story house and the upper floor is hot you can open the window in my master bedroom and only takes a minute to cool the second floor to be able to sleep.
It is definitely worth investing in.

 

[INP8riot]

I can't say I've ever seen any bugs in my attic; they all come in via the basement.

I just went in my attic a month ago and every corner in the rafters was black with house flies just stacked on top of each other. It was crazy!

 

[Brandon]

Don't usually see many bugs in attics. Dead mickeys are common.

One attic had hundreds (probably only a couple dozen) of dead pigeons, eggs and couple dozen live birds. Probably the worst 2 days working on a job.

The 2nd story attic access was centered over the stair well to the basement. Once you got in the attic, you had to go up another 10 feet. Then about 30 feet on steel rafters 24 oc to the 2 units.

I didn't move fast those 2 days.

 

[Ark]

And in doing my research there's only a few offering that have anything better than R5 rated insulation, so the options are limited.

Depending on how it's constructed, there's always the possibility of just climbing into the attic in December and throwing a couple layers of fiberglass over it. My family did that with our ceiling fan that exhausted into the attic.

We had very significant ridge vents to get away with attic exhaust and not ducting all the way out, though.

 

[JettaKnight]

Depending on how it's constructed, there's always the possibility of just climbing into the attic in December and throwing a couple layers of fiberglass over it. My family did that with our ceiling fan that exhausted into the attic.

We had very significant ridge vents to get away with attic exhaust and not ducting all the way out, though.

Most new models look like this. A fan separated from a plenum box with 8' duct.

 

[Ark]

Most new models look like this. A fan separated from a plenum box with 8' duct.

This is how we rolled, yo. Ducting was for sissies.

Loud as hell, though. Ducted is probably a lot more efficient and quiet. You could still pop the flex duct off in the winter and pack some insulation in, if you absolutely needed to, but it's probably not worth the effort compared to those old sheet steel louvers.

 

[ChristianPatriot]

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This is how we rolled, yo. Ducting was for sissies.

Loud as hell, though. Ducted is probably a lot more efficient and quiet. You could still pop the flex duct off in the winter and pack some insulation in, if you absolutely needed to, but it's probably not worth the effort compared to those old sheet steel louvers.

This is the setup that we have. Right at the top of the stairs on the 2nd floor. Works awesome! Great for the mild spring/fall days.