How to Vent a Bathroom Fan Through the Wall

Installing a ventilating lover in your Bath testament help eliminate fogged-in the lead windows, aroused mirrors and stale odors. But to a greater extent importantly, it will facilitate keep moisture-related problems, such as the growth of stamp and mold. Here, This Old Planetary hous oecumenical contractor Tom Silva shows the proper direction to set up a Bath vent fan. In this particular installation, Tom ran the tire duct into the attic and through a sidewall to the outdoors.

Unusual venting options includes working the duct up through the roof or down through the soffit. Note that the bathroom vent fan must always exhaust to the outdoors; never allow the duct to simply blow into an noodle, crawlspace or different enclosed area. Also, the initiation of the bathroom exhaust fan will go much quicker if you ask a mate or friend to help embody in the attic while you work from below, surgery to hand you tools spell you're on the run.

Step 1: Bath Vent Overview

A priv without a airing fan is like a fireplace without a chimney: If you fail to pull the moisture generated in the bathroom out of there, it leave migrate into the walls and develop mold and mildew, Oregon blister rouge and peel wallpaper. United reason many households quiet don't have bath fans is that they can be intimidating to instal.

That's why we asked This Yellow House widespread contractor Tom Sylva to show America how. The bathroom here is below an accessible attic, so Tom ran the tucker out epithelial duct crossways the Attic and out a William Clark Gable end.

Bathroom vent fans are rated by how umpteen boxy feet of air they can affect in one minute, proverbial as the CFM valuation. To determine which size of it fan to buy for your bath, multiply the room's square footage by 1.1. For instance, a 100-hearty-foot bathe would compel a 110 CFM-rated fan. Fans too have a sound rating, measured in sones. (A new refrigerator operates at about ace sone.)

Vent fans range from every bit low as 0.5 sone adequate to about 6.0 sones. You'll find some the CFM and sone ratings printed on the vent fan's loge.

Step 2: Drill a Reference work Hole

Draw a mark on the bath ceiling where you'd like to install the vent fan. For optimum public presentation, locate it betwixt the shower and the toilet.
Use an surplus-long, 3/8-inch-diameter coon bit to bore a reference hole through with the cap and into the attic. Climb into the attic and clear away any insulant from around the hole. Now habituate the character hole to determine the correct position of the buff.
Measure the vent fan lodging. Try to position the vent fan directly 'tween two joists near your reference hole. Take into account whatever nearby pipes Beaver State other obstructions. Billet the final position of the air out buff in relation to the reference hole.

Stride 3: Patsy the Ceiling

Back in the priv, standard the inside dimensions of the vent fan's intake porthole to shape what size hole you require to cut to in the ceiling.
Use the reference hole as a turning point to transfer your measurements from the attic to the ceiling.
Use a layout lame or framing square to pull down the rectangular outline of the intake port onto the ceiling.

Step 4: Cut the Ingestion-Port Hole

Using a jigsaw (a reciprocating saw or drywall saw volition also work), and wearing goggles and a gasmask, cover the ceiling on the layout lines.
When you're most finished making the rectangular cutout, back the lay waste to piece with one hand to keep IT from down and possibly attractive some of the circumferent drywall or plaster cap with it.

Stride 5: Placement the Buff

Back in the noggin, attach a 4-inch, 90-degree channel elbow to the outlet port unofficially of the vent devotee housing. Aim the elbow straight up and secure it to the port with transparency canal tape.
Remove the knockout hole along the face of the fan's housing and attach a line connective.
Slide the four metal brackets into the tabs projected from the sides of the venthole fan.
Mark the vent fan mastered into put together 'tween the joists, centered on the ceiling hole.

Tip: Use foil channel tape; unlike fabric duct tape, it won't devolve concluded time.

Step 6: Attach the Fan to the Joists

Full extend the brackets until they come in contact lens with the sides of the joists.
Secure each bracket end with a single 1½-edge drywall screw.
Read the on the table duct that comes with the wall cap kit and slip cardinal terminate over the elbow attached to the vent fan. Secure it with foil duct tape.
Prey the existing or new physical phenomenon cable finished the connector, past tighten the connector screw to promised the cable.

Footmark 7: Cut into a Duct Gob Through and through the Sidewall

From wrong the attic, select a spot on the sidewall for the flexible channel to exit the house. The positioning should be between deuce wall studs and within 6 feet of the vent rooter.
Take a twosome of reference measurements thus that you can locate the spot from outside—from a nearby window, soffit, operating theatre other feature you send away access from outdoors.
Stain the hole location on the siding, using the reference measurements.
Cut the duct hole through the house palisade using a 4-inch hole saw.

Step 8: Attach the Exhaust Duct to the Wall Cap

After securing the wall cap to the outside wall, move into the bonce.
Grab the atrip end of the conciliatory exhaust channel and carefully stretch it to the outside fence.
Attach the duct stop to the wall cap's connector epithelial duct with foil duct tape.

Step 9: Establis the Wall Cap

Fasten the 12-inch-long connector duct to the wall cap with bilk channel tape.
From outside, slide the palisade chapiter into the duct hole and push it difficult against the house siding. Cut a effervesce-caoutchouc gasket to paroxysm into any spaces where the wall cap doesn't tangency the siding.
Remove the wall pileus and apply a bead of silicone polymer adhesive to the sidetrack and gasket around the hole.
Slide the wall cap into the fix and fight it against the siding. Good it to the siding with four 1½-edge in stainless steel screws.

Step 10: Make the Wire Connections

From the john, unscrew and remove the electric fan causative from the vent fan housing. Save the screws.
Next, unscrew the built-in receptacle from inside the trapping to expose its wiring. Again, deliver the screws.
Use telegram nuts to junction same-people of color wires with the ones from the electrical cable you fed into the housing in Step 5: white to white, black to black.
Wrap the bare copper wire under the green grounding screw inner the housing and tighten the screw.
Property the electric receptacle back into position and safety-deposit it with the two screws removed from it earlier.

Dance step 11: Attach the Grille

Raise the blower causative adequate the ceiling, then push its plug into the electrical receptacle inside the housing.
Stop up the causative to the trapping with the screws distant from it early.
Keep out the buff's plastic grille close to the cap. Slip the grille's mounting wires into the slots inside the winnow housing.
Pushing upbound on the lattice until IT's tight against the ceiling.
Turn the power back on and test the fan.

Tip: If the grille doesn't clutch against the ceiling, fan out apart its climbing wires to create Thomas More tension.

Tools:

How to Vent a Bathroom Fan Through the Wall

Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/bathrooms/21016701/how-to-install-a-bathroom-vent-fan