I have a half bath on 1st floor of my house with no exhaust fan. 2nd floor is finished – full bath on 2nd floor has its own ventilation fan (Baths do not lne up). I’d like to install a ventilation fan in 1st floor bath. Access to ceiling could be done, but since it is finished with sheetrock, it would be a major deal that I’d like to avoid. No access from floor above.
Underneath 1st floor bath is laundry room (washer and dryer) in interior basement room in which I also want to install a ventilation fan. Ceiling in laundry room has moveable ceiling tiles installed on metal track grid – easy access to ceiling joists.
Can I purchase a ventilation fan for multiple rooms (i.e., Fantech) and install vent(s) along baseboard under cabinet in 1st floor bath leading down to fan, as well as ceiling mounted vent(s) in laundry room? I know it’s called a ceiling fan, but is there some magic under which it only operates when it’s installed in a ceiling? With toilet and sink in 1st floor bath, primary purpose is to vent odors and secondarily, some moisture. Primary purpose in basement laundry room is the reverse, to mostly vent excess moisture.
Vent for fan would proceed straight out from fan housing in basement ceiling, maybe 6-8′ total run, to sidewall of house and vent to outside, under deck, at a point about 5-6′ above ground level.
Thanks.
Griff
Replies
If you are trying to pull warm, moist air out of the 1st floor bath, a floor mounted fan will not be as effective as a ceiling mounted fan.
Is there a way to fish a pipe through a stud bay to a point higher on the wall in the 1st floor bath - or, can you plan on patching one stud-bay-worth of drywall?
Maybe one of those fancy new studfinders that find stud centers and electrical wires would help you pick the stud bay you need and allow you to cut along the stud for an easy re-patch?
Doesn't need to be right on the ceiling, but needs to be relatively high in a regular bath, since that's where the warm, humid air ("shower air") will collect. Go into the bath, turn on the shower full hot, and watch the pattern of steam that develops -- it will get steamy near the ceiling fastest.
Odors, though, probably tend to stay low, so low-mounted might be theoretically OK for a half-bath. However, code may have something to say about this.
Edited 5/29/2005 9:40 am ET by DanH
I have seen "through the wall" or "in the wall" fans that would work mounted as high as possible, fishing the wire may be a problem. Another way I have seen in new construction is high volume in- line fan used to ventilate 2 or more baths, mounted in the attic. In your case, you could mount this in the basement, but youwill need open up an inside wall to duct it. I don't know if you will run in to problems tring to draw moist warm air down instead of up.
Forgot to mention the walls are covered in my wife's "favorite" wallpaper that she put up with great effort. BTW, that was the end of the wallpaper - they don't make it anymore or something and she only had enough to go around once.
That's part of the problem with patching the ceiling if I have to rip some out - how do I tape the end when doing so will cover a portion of her wallpaper? Can't be done as far as I know. Could put up some molding but I think it would look silly in a relatively small room.
So, I cannot disturb the walls under pain of death.
Just as well as neither she nor I care for the look of the through wall models.
While I might be able to mount an intake vent somewhere along the wall some distance above the floor (assuming I could then fish the exhaust tube up through the floor to the vent and be able to tape the joint to seal it off, what good would that really do?
As I said, I'm not really after moisture here - the only moisture will come from some small amount of water used by people to wash their hands after using the toilet - Gawd, at least I hope they wash their hands! And, it won't be steamy warm moisture, at least not in great quantity like you get when someone takes a shower.
No, this is to vent the old stinky poo left over whenever someone does a number two in the loo!
My best bet, I think, is to place the vents somewhere along the base of a double sink vanity opposite the toilet and route the exhaust pipe down maybe 12-18" to the fan. Since the vanity is built in, mostly of 3/4 stock on the inside, I can cut and dismantle enough of the floor to gain access to the cavity and floor underneath so I can route the exhaust pipes.
I was just wondering if there was any major problem with attempting to do this. So far, I'm hearing that other than being unconventional and maybe a tad less efficient at removing hot steamy moisture, it isn't. Or am I reading someone wrong?
Thanks for your responses.
Griff
There's nothing at all wrong with venting from the floor in a half bath. Fans normally go in the ceiling because that's where the hot steamy air from the shower goes, but since you have no shower, that is not an issue. Many half baths have no ventilation at all.
Methane and similar compounds are heavier than air, so mounting you exhaust intake low is good. It is better to mount it beside or behind the toilet so you are not drawing the subject fumes across the room into the breathing zone. If you put in in the vanity, you'll just draw fresh air from the door right to the vent and not draw fresh air through the breathing zone.
Thanks for the advice Wayne. Mounting the vent beside the toilet is a possibility that I'll explore. There's a closet located next to the toilet and any work done on the wallboard on the inside wall of the closet would not be that noticeable. Access to the basement would be possible as well.
Thanks.
Griff
FWIW, if you can fish the wire and duct in, it IS possible to install a ceiling fan from below, without having to redo any of the ceiling. Even easier if you have a remote fan and just need to connect the duct to a grille.And in your case it sounds like your main goal is to avoid having to redo any corner seams, and that should be easy to avoid if leave a little drywall (about 6") along the edges when you take out the ceiling.
Dan
I'm not sure what you meant when you said:
58795.8 in reply to 58795.5
it IS possible to install a ceiling fan from below, without having to redo any of the ceiling.......if leave a little drywall (about 6") along the edges when you take out the ceiling
It's possible to avoid having to redo any of the ceiling if I leave 6" along the edges when I take out the ceiling? If I take out the ceiling, how's it going to get replaced?
I'm not sure if the house has firestops built into these walls so trying to fish a line through them is iffy at present. But, I think my best option is to play in the closet next to the toilet and insert the vent in the wall some distance up from the floor. Won't be at the top because of the built in shelving in the closet - too much to disrupt all of it. But, I can get up part of the way with minimum of problems.
Griff
You combined two different statements--First I said it's possible to install a fan without tearing out the ceiling, if you can get the duct and wiring in. Just takes an appropriate amount of swearing.Second I said that, failing that, you can tear out the ceiling but leave about 6" around the edge so that you don't have to redo the corners.
Sorry, I read it with a different emphasis and misunderstood what you were trying to say. Thanks for clarifying that.
Griff
I have a similar situation, but I'm trying to get a stream of fresh(er) air into the bathroom. We don't have AC, and with a moderate amount activity its easy to sit down on the toilet and just sweat due to a total lack of air flow on an otherwise pleasent day.
I hooked up a high output fan in the ceiling to exaust, but I am also going to intall a pair of 3" tubes inside the drywall to either a handbuilt register box or a pair of circular vents in the wall.
Also look at the dryer vent section of the HW store, there are some "periscope" solutions that might help you out too.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!