I recently learned a hard lesson about bathroom vents. Despite being in the venting industry, I had never taken the time to look at my own bathrooms to see how they were vented. As it turns out my home was built in the 1980s. The fans in my upstairs bathrooms (it’s a colonial with an attic) have no venting system associated with them. Therefore, whenever a shower was run, moisture would be sucked up, via the fan, and pulled into the attic. Once in the attic the moisture settled on the surrounding insulation. The end result was mold growing on several sections of insulation.
To add insult to injury, my air handler for my air conditioning is in the attic. This could mean that mold particles are being sucked into the air handler and spread throughout my house (via the duct work). Fortunately for me the solution to my problem was simple, create a venting system for each bathroom fan.
Bathroom vents are usually the same as dryer vents. They typically come in 3” or 4” sizes. The venting material is attached to the bathroom fan and the vent is run out of the home. Afterwards, when the fan is turned on the moisture from the bathroom will traverse out of the house, rather than into the insulation.
The construction for bathroom vents is nearly identical to that of dryer vents. If you find that your home has the same problem as mine did please call us today for a quote on venting your bathroom fan outside.
We have also been asked to clean bathroom vents on occasion. It is not common for these vents to become clogged with debris, but on occasion they can become clogged. The clogs traditionally occur at the end of the vent and are the result of a bird nesting inside. If you are finding that humidity is struggling to exhaust from your bathroom give us a call and we can inspect the vent and clear it of any debris.