Bathroom extractor fan position

[Squidgems]

I did have a large hole covered by a grille in an external wall directly opposite the bathroom wall. THis in a mid terrace 1930's house. The bathroom fitter has boarded over and tiled it and will be putting in an extractor fan in the ceiling. He said this was the way to go and I accepted it as he is the professional.

Like everything I do I'm worrying about it as I've now read that it's best to have the extractor opposite the bathroom door on an external wall and only go through the ceiling if you have no choice.

if he is going through the ceiling, he probably plans to fit a ducted inline fan. They can be quieter and much more powerful (and larger, so they go out of sight in the loft).

Ask what fan he intends to fit, and how many cubic metres per hour it extracts.

(clues: A cheap builders fan, costing £5-£10 will extract a nominal 80 cu.m/hr, which is weedy. A good inline fan can extract about 240 cu.m/hr, which is excellent.

The duct must vent outside the house, and not blow steam into the loft.

here you are

the low price ones are low quality.

Soler & Palau seem to be building a good reputation.

The fitters plan to fit this fan.

They've said that they can provide a guarantee that there wil be no mould in the bathroom if this fan is used but not if I get a different one.

I can't find that particular model in the Manrose range, but it appears to be a budget fan, with an output of about 80 cu.m/hr. It does not have a run-on timer and simply goes on and off with the light switch.

It's the sort of thing builders put in because it is cheap.

It sounds like they don't want to do anything else.

I'd recommend a more powerful inline fan, fitted in the loft. It might be they never fit better fans and are unfamiliar with how to do it, though I wouldn't have thought that. I think they just want an easy life.

If you are otherwise happy with them, say you'd prefer a ducted inline fan and ask if they are wiling to fit one at your request. If they mumble about not guaranteeing it, try asking why they think a more powerful fan will be less able to keep the bathroom dry than their cheap one.

I can recommend a 4-inch ducted fan if you like.

Or you could have that cheap one, and see how you get on with it. It would be depressing if you end up calling somebody else in next year to change it.

Thanks PigletJohn. The bathroom is quite small so I'll let them fit the one that they've got and see how it goes. I'll just bear the cost later on if I need to.

I've already complained about the tile trim they used around the window. See pictures 3. White and flat used when I've got grey tiles. They say that's how it's done but when I've gone to get some extra grout the chaps in the tile showroom have said that it's the wrong way round and a rounded trim should have been used.

I don't want to annoy them further as who knows what they will do for the rest of the job which they think will be finished today. On the whole the bathroom looks good. Its just the details of things that get to me. I'll have to learn to live with it or get it fixed by someone else in six months or so.

It's vitally important that their fan is ducted to blow the steam outside the house, most often through the eaves or through a hole core-drilled through a gable wall.

Have a look a diagrams 5 and 6 here
(though I wouldn't recommend making a hole in the roof)

It's been known for budget installers to fill the loft with steam, causing damp and rot.

So have a look at what they do.

I couldn't check how he fitted the extractor fan as I had to go out. I've asked the question and he said it will be. He's coming back tomorrow so will ask again.

My recommendation would be the fan through the ceiling purely because ours is on the wall, too low, and it only really clears the steam in the lower 2/3 of the bathroom! I'm going to put the new powerful extraction directly above the shower, so stream leaves before going everywhere. However wall or ceiling, as piglet John says, you need to buy a decent fan not a builders cheap fan.