best way to vent an interior bathroom?

Our two story wood frame house has two bathrooms, one on each floor. They are stacked on top of each other. They are in the interior of the house and don’t have windows, though in the past they had windows that opened onto an air shaft, but the windows have since been removed, sheetrocked, and tiled over. Each bathroom has a ceiling vent/fan, but I don’t think they do much good (nor am I sure where they vent to). What do others do to vent interior bathrooms? Put the windows back in? New fan that vents to the air shaft or cockloft or roof? Thanks!

kms_bkyn

in Bath & Kitchen 9 years and 7 months ago

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kms_bkyn | 9 years and 7 months ago

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Thanks, everyone, for the feedback. I’m glad to know that other people successfully vent bathrooms through the airshaft. I don’t remember if the sky light has vents — I will check that out the next time I’m up on the roof. Follow up questions: does anyone have people they recommend to install a new fan, vent it to the airshaft, and potentially change the sky light? Thanks again.

MyGoodEye | 9 years and 7 months ago

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Not exactly what you’re asking, but hey, maybe it’ll help… I have a similar situation with interior bathrooms, however I have no option to vent to the roof that seems in any way feasible. I opted to put in a small dehumidifier, similar to this: http://smile.amazon.com/Ivation-IVADM35-Powerful-Thermo-Electric-Dehumidifier/dp/B00GZ5BSBY/ref=lp_6988966011_1_16?srs=6988966011&ie=UTF8&qid=1453325480&sr=8-16 Larger ones tended to blow hot air back into the room, which is not something I wanted, however these little guys (pick the size you want) do the trick… Not quickly, but better than nothing in my case at least.

williamsburgguys | 9 years and 7 months ago

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Our 2 story plus basement house has the same configuration however the airshaft still has the original vented skylight in it and the upstairs bath still has the old double-hung rope weighted windows that we open when taking a shower – lowering the top window an inch or two is all it takes to suck out the steam even better than a fan. It’s amazing the amount of daylight that old shaft adds to the upstairs bathroom as well as ventilation. The downstairs bath window had been removed and walled over years ago however. Since the skylight vent draws really well, we simply added the vent fan to the downstairs bath in a lowered double ceiling and vented directly into the shaft with a metal hose and haven’t had any problems. Of course you’d have to still need to have a roof vent as well as somewhere for it to draw from so you might want to vent them all the way to the roof in your case. Is your old skylight still in there?

EJR | 9 years and 7 months ago

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I have a 3 story row house that has this same configuration. 3 bathrooms stacked on top of each other, each next to a vent/plumbing shaft that used to be open but has now been walled off. When we reno’ed the bathrooms we did what others are suggesting. Vent through the air shaft out to the roof. Make sure you actually vent through the roof and not just into the airshaft though. Also make sure to get a high quality fan. IMO Panasonic makes some of the best. The ones I got have a 3-way function (vent, heat and light): http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-FV-11VHL2-WhisperWarm-Light-Night-Light-Combination/dp/B001CJWG14/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1453321949&sr=8-2&keywords=panasonic+vent+fan+with+light

neweco | 9 years and 7 months ago

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Through the shaft I would say. Im trying to picture how a 2 story frame house has an air shaft ?

Rick | 9 years and 7 months ago

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In your situation I would vent through the air shaft through the roof on both bathrooms. You should be able to install a strong fan in each ceiling and run your duct to the roof. Maybe install a puller fan too since the lower bathroom need to travel farther than the top floor.