Ventilation in a bathroom

[SuperFlyHigh]

Message probably for pigletjohn or someone else!

SIL and DB own their own flat with a small bathroom with no windows. They have to have baths right now as they said that condensation and mould (the black stuff?) that appears on the tiles isn't great when they tried to have showers and they had a new bathroom done about 2 years ago.

It's a 1990s new build. Problem is they are now renting out spare room for a decent amount and if it were me renting (it's not!) I'd want a shower.

What ventilation options do they have with no windows? I've only ever lived in flats or houses with bathrooms with windows and my current attic conversion has a bathroom but I put a small Velux window there too.

I thought bathrooms in buildings of that age without windows had to have extractor fans fitted for ventilation by law. They need to resolve it - it is bonkers to start limiting your life like this and incurring the extra cost of running baths instead of finding a proper solution.

Is the extractor broken?

Even with the extractor out bathroom in the flat got a bit damp - so at weekend would give the flat a good air. Openend all doors and all windows to get a good through draft for a few h. Also would leave bedroom and bathroom door open and bathroom windows for a few hours whenever possible if we weren't using bedroom.

Yello they just don't have an extractor fan!

When they stayed at my place recently for a few days my brother relished using my power shower...!

wowfudge no idea about laws just know I think they leave bathroom door open to air it...in fact SIL was quite keen to air my bathroom daily, which doesn't have a working extractor fan (broken but getting fixed)!

That is completely against building regulations! No wonder they have a problem :-(

They should be able to get an extractor installed although will be more tricky being a block of flats.

Clearly, they need an extractor fan. Top priority. No excuses.

My first house was a two bed terrace with the bathroom on first floor between the two bedrooms. It had no window. It had, naturally, an extractor fan. Like yello, I used to open widows in both bedrooms and leave doors open upstairs to air it all out after baths or showers. With the extractor fan I don't know if this was necessary, but it made me feel better about it. Never had any mold.

I'm shocked it doesn't have an extractor.

Was it built like that, or has it been blocked up?

A duct can run above the ceiling if there is a loft or other space, or sometimes it can be hidden inside or above wardrobes. I'm guessing the room is in the middle of the home and doesn't have an outside wall, which makes it easy.

Don't waste time on a cheap builders fan of 80 cu.m per hour, there are much better ones available.

If there is loft space they can have an inline ducted fan, than which there are none better.

My previous home had a bathroom with no windows (it was a central room in a terrace so no external walls at all) but it had a decent extractor and a duct which provided very good ventilation. We never had a single trace of mould inside! Just had a bathroom redone in my new house and punched a new hole in the side of the building for ventilation, even though it has a window for manually airing the room out. No idea why the previous owners didn't have one but it was grim without.