Home Improvement DIY

You will find that modern homes are now designed to properly ventilate the rooms in your home. This is a very important thing to happen because of dampness. You may notice in the winter when it’s cold outside and you have the heating on, that the hot air rises and when mixes with cold air condensation occurs. When you get too much condensation and damp, mold and germs can multiply at an alarming rate causing all sorts of problems, not only to the structure of your home but also your health. This is why it’s imperative that you understand why and how to ventilate your bathroom.

Bathrooms, along with kitchens and basements are the most troublesome rooms in your home when it comes to damp. In your bathroom water is being used day in, day out. All the members of your family will be having either a daily bath or shower plus washing their hands when going to the toilet. The hot water used vaporises and rises to the ceiling of your bathroom. At night when the temperature drops you will then have the problem of this vapour condensing and leaving moisture to your ceiling, walls and other surfaces. If this is something that happens on a daily basis you will find that over time your bathroom will become damp. This damp will get into the fabric of your building and harbour mold which can make your family ill. This is why most homes built today are installed with bathroom exhaust fans.

A bathroom exhaust fan or vent will remove excess and unwanted moisture from your bathroom before it can turn into condensation and cause mold to grow. Another benefit is that it can remove smells from your bathroom too. Bathroom smells can be very unpleasant and rather embarrassing. Most bathroom fans will operate when either the shower is used or the bathroom light is switched on. You can even have a timer set so that it will keep working for a while after you have finished using the shower. There are even some systems which sense humidity levels and will turn the fan on so that moisture in the air is reduced to normal levels. This type of unit will be more efficient than those which are being turned on via a timer which could come when not required.

You will find that bathroom exhaust fans are rated according to how much air it can remove per minute and is measured in cubic feet per minute (CFM). The best bathroom exhaust fans should be given a rating of at least 50 CFM. The Home Ventilating Institute suggests that the best type to buy is one which can exchange air at a rate of eight times per hour or 1 CFM per square foot. The size of bathroom exhaust you buy will greatly depend on the size of your bathroom. So if you have a room which is 40 square feet you would need a unit which is 40 CFM. If you bathroom is more than 100 square feet and has a number of fixtures then this will affect your calculations. The length of ductwork also has a bearing on the type of exhaust you have fitted because the longer it is the bigger the exhaust should be.

When coming up with bathroom design ideas you need to be practical too.  There are a number of ways you can install a bathroom exhaust fan, here are the main ones for you to consider.

Ceiling Exhaust Fans – These, as you may have guessed, are placed onto the ceiling of your bathroom and take air from your home up through your roof or out through your wall.

Fan Lights- These are basically units which combine lighting with your exhaust ventilation.

Remote Exterior-Mounted Ventilation – These are placed outside of your home and pull air from outside via a duct. One of the main benefits of this is that the sound the unit makes is kept outside so you will hardly hear anything from inside your bathroom.

Inline Fans – If you don’t have the space to install an exhaust fan onto your ceiling, you should probably consider an inline fan because it is mounted on the ducting rather than the ceiling. There are two main types of inline fans; single and multi-port. With the multi-port type exhausts air from multiple areas. These are also called remote mounted fans because they are mounted remotely These units are also very quiet because they are not on your ceiling however it’s suggested you use a insulated flex duct when connecting the inline fan to the intake port.

Window Extractor Fans – If you don’t want to install a fan onto your ceiling one of the simplest methods is to install one in your window. They can either pull fresh air from outside into your home or the other way around. They can also be set to operate when humidity goes above a certain level.

Wall Fans – These are installed so that air goes through an external wall so obviously won’t be suitable for internal bathrooms. They are very easy to install largely due to the fact that no ducting is required.

Another way to provide you bathroom with ventilation is simply to keep your window open for periods of time. This is especially good when it’s hot outside and you want to cool you home a bit. Using natural ventilation via your window will also reduce the amount of time you need to keep you your bathroom exhaust fan running. Remember, before rushing out to buy any bathroom ventilation system you must calculate the square footage of you room which will allow you to decide what system to buy. Also, noise should be an important consideration because you don’t want a unit which is going to make a lot of noise. This would be very annoying especially if your bathroom was located right next to your bedroom or living room.

So if you want to know how to ventilate a bathroom you should know that some popular brands of bathroom exhaust ventilation fans include Panasonic, Broan, NuTone, Aupu Usa, Xpelair, Pro Cicuit, Waterstone, Hunter and Fantech. As you can see a basement design idea such always include exhaust ventilation fan.

 

Related Entries:

• Solar Powered Attic Fans and Vents - If you have an attic and you are keen on using renewable energy as much as possible, then you should look into buying an attic fan or vent. Besides being eco friendly, one of the major benefits of using solar power is that fact that the energy is taken from the sun so this
• Mold Resistant Drywall - When it comes to looking after your home, one issue that people are often worried about is mold.  You will probably already realize how bad mold can be if you allow it to grow in your home.  It’s really bad for the structure of your house and also for the health of the people living
• Waterproof Paint - Water damage can be a real pain to deal with because it can be caused by so many things such as underground water, rain water and leaking pipes. One of the ways you can prevent damage from occurring is by applying waterproof paint. You may not fully realize it, but our homes are full of
• Best Outdoor Ceiling Fan - Although we normally think of ceiling fans for being indoors, you can also have them outdoors too.  Indoor ceiling fans are so incredibly popular and you can find them in just about every room of the house and can often be viewed as an integral part of an interior.  There are so many benefits to
• How to Build a Wet Room - Bathrooms should no longer be seen as simply a functional room where you rush in and back out as quickly as possible before dashing off to work. The popularity of wetrooms have rocketed in recent years due to their contemporary and sleek appearance. However when installing a wetroom into your home, make