To reduce indoor pollution from insulation, plywood glues, gas stoves and oil-fired furnaces in a highly insulated house, it’s a good idea to ventilate the home during the day or install a heat exchanger. A heat exchanger will transfer the heat from the warm indoor air you are exhausting to the cold fresh air you are bringing in. It’s more energy efficient than opening a window.
To provide appropriate ventilation in a house with a gable roof, install louvers in both ends of the roof, letting attic heat escape in the summer and moisture out in the winter. Most people make louvers too small, not realiz-
ing that the openings lose half their ventilating area when they’re covered with screens and slats. Install louvers as high as you can on the gable so that the air at the peak of the roof can escape.
Be sure to install vents under the eaves, too. These vents work with the louvers in getting rid of heat and moisture. And consider installing ridge vents that run the length of the roof. The idea is to keep cold air circulating through your attic.
Make sure your house has adequate ventilation above the insulation in the attic. Remember that heat isn’t doing you any good in your attic. Once it has escaped the heated portion of your house, you want it gone. Heat escaping slowly through the roof will melt any snow on it and form an ice dam. And moisture stuck under your roof can lead to rotting timbers. Your roof’s only purpose is to keep the elements off your house; you don’t want it to keep heat and moisture in.
In any basement crawl space, be sure to install at least two vents, and locate them on opposite walls. One vent on every wall is better.

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