Energy Efficient Crawl Space Vent

Excellent quality. I was able to install from the outside but just barely. The threaded rods are just long enough with nothing to spare. The outer nuts are on the very end of the rod. I wish you would make the rods 1/2 - 1 inch longer. And the screen mesh could be a little finer to keep out insects. I glued on an extra layer of screen behind the one provided. At any rate, I am going to buy more of these.UPDATE 01/10/2016I finished successfully installing 23 of these just yesterday. I am raising my review from 4 to 5 stars. Out of 23 packages ordered, each one had all of the requisite hardware. Nothing was missing. Nothing was damaged. All parts worked as designed. This is a rarity these days: getting an item with multiple parts with all included and working properly. Well done, Battic Door. Now that the job is completed, my basement is much tighter than it was. And I don't have to depend upon malfunctioning automatic vents anymore.

These are very good vents - especially for replacement. I replaced 5 of the cheap-junk plastic ones that have louvers which open and close by a thermal spring. These vents are very easy to install, and the entire replacement for 5 took one afternoon. The design is well done and the frame even has scoring lines in case modifications are needed to make it fit. This came in handy a few times.As other reviewers have noted it is a good idea to place a finer mesh insect screening behind the main screen. If you punch holes in the new mesh where the threaded-rod posts come through, you can just leave the finer screen there forever (use a stainless steel mesh). In addition, I used a washer between the wing-nut and the back-bar for better force distribution on the soft plastic.Pros: Easy installation Very secure Attractive appearance Summer/Winter conversion quick and easy No need to enter crawlspace for anything (well I dropped a wing-nut once and had to retrieve it; they should give you extras) Appears to be well-made to lastCons: Insect mesh and washer customization almost a must. However it is worth the effort. I would rather the Winter back-plate was gray as the frame instead of white - no big deal.

These are of good quality and look nice once installed. They are installed using back nuts on a threaded rod that pulls a plastic bar snug against the interior wall of your crawlspace. The back nut system means that they will work on any number of wall thicknesses, but that universal fit makes them a little bit of a pain to install.Before purchasing these, make sure your crawl space vent holes have clearance at the top and bottom to accommodate the "lip" on these covers. Cinder block crawl spaces are sometimes designed such that a missing block in the top run (the one the rat plate sits on) serves as the vent. If that is the case, you may not be able to get them to fit. This was the case with my old farm house. I was able to make them fit by using a table saw with a fine-toothed blade to trim about a half an inch off of the top edge. This procedure is not advisable for a couple of reasons. First, the material is very hard and prone to chipping. If you do this, use a very fine-toothed blade and feed it slowly. The "saw dust" made from this material is like little bits of broken glass. Safety glasses are a must! The second reason is that the friction on the saw table tends to scratch the surface of the vent. If you do decide to trim it, be sure that your saw table is spotless (I lubricated mine with a silicone based spray after the first one got all scratched up).

most projects are not as easy as expected.... this is an exception!!! a pleasant surprisePROS:1) time to install- old 1940s brick home with old grates 1 MINUTE - including knocking out old metal grate -- placing cross bar inside and tightening down hardware- threaded rods were sufficient length for brick /block home - easily replaced with longer ones if not. - (I will probably go back and silicone caulk the back of the face plate where it butts against the brick )2) nice removable screen and covering winter plate3) looks - looks great in grey- is paintableCONS: 1) price - a bit hign but well worth it given time to install- and don't expect to replace ever again - one time cost- bought one- buying more today.2) screen hole size - think this is 1/4 inch holes- no snakes or mice will get in - but I would prefer 1/8 inch holes- bee/wasp blocking size- I have ordered some screen and the screen plate will be very easy to pop apart/ place new screen in and glue back together

I was skeptical about these crawlspace vents at first. They were actually easy to install and very sturdy. I got these for my sisters house where she only had a screen on her two crawlspace openings. We had to make them work for our particular install which was easy, we had to overcome a few things in the way of this fitting tight, but it had nothing to do with the vent itself, it was the old houses fault as we had some foundation bricks to overcome. The difference in the temperature now that these are installed is amazing. It was so cold in the house where the vents were located, and now since these vents and being able to close them up in the winter, it's much warmer. Hopefully they hold up, they are sturdy so I believe they will.