Painter wrote:

Just moved to Houston TX this week to an inherited house. Wonderfully hot
place this early in the year. AC runs 24 hrs, we're already afraid of the
first electric bill. No wonder they wanted a $400 deposit.

Our attic has an 8" thermo-type roof exhaust fan that is set to come on at
140F. My wife says this usually happens about 11AM. Even with the AC on and
set to 74F, she says the house is unbearably hot during the day, never
getting below 84F.

From what I've been told after asking around, this house is what some call
"Dutch construction," meaning there are no soffit vents of any kind (among
other things). There are no attic vents other than a triangular louvre at one
end of the house - the end closest to the exhaust fan.

The attic is about 1700 SF. I have no idea what the RPM/CFM exhaust of the
attic roof fan is, and there is no legible mfr ID on the fan.

The attic insulation seems to be the cellulose type stuff at a depth of about
2".

My question is, what do I do to cool us further? Would adding some sidewall
vents farther away from the fan help the airflow? Small vents, like the 6x8
panels at Lowe's/HD? Or is a very large additonal exhaust fan in order?
Should I add more insulation? I'm really just stabbing in the dark here...

Painter
if you can get to the inside of the attic and have the room i would tear
out two large holes on each side of the house and put in two power vents
with louvers about 24 inches wide/high each... and keep the two fans
running most of the day and that will get rid of the heat..........
when you can get up in the attic and not get toasted with the 148 deg.
temp. you have satisfied the ventilation problem....