Question: Our house often gets very hot toward the end of a spring or summer day, and I have heard that an attic fan is an inexpensive way to cool off a house.

Our house is a 50-plus-year-old tract home in Goleta. Can you tell me what types of attic fans are available?

Your Handyman: An attic fan can be an inexpensive way to help cool off your home in the summer that is not very hard at all to install.

The air in your attic can rise to well over 120 degrees on a sunny day, trapping heat inside the living areas of your home that is unable to radiate up into the attic until it cools off, which in the summer may not be until the early hours of the morning.

There are basically two types of attic fans: one type that blows air out of the attic through a vent in the roof and another that vents out through a gable vent.

A house with a gable-style roof has exterior walls at the ends of the house that go up to the ridge of the roof like a triangle, and a rectangular, louvered vent is usually located on the wall near the top of the triangle.

A house with a hip-style roof has a roof that sort of sits on top of the house like a pyramid shaped cap and does not have any gables.

It is usually best to minimize the number of vents that are perforating your roof and, if you have gable vents, it is best to have an attic fan at the gable vent.

Likewise, if you have a hip roof, you will need to have the fan vent through the roof.

Most gable vents are approximately 12 inches wide by 18 inches high, and a 12-inch diameter box fan can be fastened to the attic side of the vent, ideally located on the side of the house that gets the afternoon sun.

The box fan can be purchased with a thermostat so it can be set to turn on when the temperature in the attic climbs above 100 degrees or so. Hot air is pushed out on the hot side of the house, and cool air is drawn in via the gable vent(s) on the other side of the attic, which is the cool side.

Box fans are available at most hardware stores or can be purchased online at a distributor like Grainger.

On summer days, the fan will probably turn on in the midafternoon and then run for a few hours after dark before your attic is cooled off.

The electrical supply for the fan should be controlled by a wall switch that is easily accessible near the attic access opening so the fan can be turned off when you are not going to be at home or during the winter.

If your house does not have gable vents, then you can purchase a fan unit that is designed to be installed on the attic side of the roof with a vent that pushes air up and out through the roof.

This vent needs to be installed by a roofing contractor so that it is water-sealed correctly, and it is important that the fan unit is well made so it will not fall apart or start rusting.

I have seen solar-powered roof fan units advertised for sale, but I would first research how long the battery charge will keep the fan running after sunset and what type of warranty is offered by the manufacturer.

Any vent that is installed in your roof should be of adequate quality to survive the life of the roof, which can be as long as 35-40 years for better quality roofs.

Please note that if your home is located in a Wildfire Zone, then it is a code violation to have any sort of attic or roof fan that might cause a burning ember to be drawn into your attic.

You may also want to consider getting a quote from an insulation contractor to have a new layer of insulation laid down in your attic in addition to the attic fan, which will also help to keep the home warmer in the winter months and cooler in the summer.

A large deciduous shade tree planted strategically in the yard so that it shades the roof in the summer goes a very long way to helping cool off a house without using any electricity.

Also consider a lighter colored roof when you eventually have your old roof replaced. A darker colored roof absorbs heat, and you may have noticed when traveling in an airplane that most all the roofs on commercial buildings and warehouses are white in order to reduce air conditioning costs.

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Question: The windows in our house swing out like doors and have a little hand crank with a handle that you turn to open and close the window.

Several of these hand cranks have stopped working correctly and we must go outside and push the window in to get it to close.

Do we need to have new windows installed or can the old windows be fixed?

Your Handyman: The type of window that swings out like a door is referred to as a casement-style window.

A casement window typically has a hand-operated crank at the interior bottom that is turned to swing the window in and out on its hinges.

This little hand crank assembly is just a simple gear box, and it is very common for the gears to strip after years of use or if the window needs lubrication and is difficult to close.

The crank assembly is designed to be removed, usually by unscrewing two or more screws that are located on the outside edge of the window frame.

After it is unscrewed and the swing arm is detached from the crank assembly, the unit should then slide out of the window frame toward the inside of the home.

Some units will be encased in a plastic cover or a piece of wood trim that will need to be very carefully removed prior to removing the unit from the frame.

Once you have the old crank assembly removed, take it to a window or glass shop and, in most cases, they will have a replacement unit on their shelf for sale.

We have done many replacements of casement window crank assemblies and, in most all cases, the new unit is available locally. Occasionally, it will need to be handled as a special order by the glass shop.

It is also a good idea to periodically lubricate the window hinges so the window swings easily and puts less strain on the hand crank gears.