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Rob
 
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Default Bathroom exhaust fans venting in attic. Problem?

Hello,
I was doing some cable fishing in my attic today and I noticed that
two of the bathrooms on the second floor have their exhaut fans
terminating in the attic. Actually the end of the exhaust duct is
laying on the soffit vent. Is this proper under most building codes?
The attic has good ventilation with the soffit and ridge vents. But I
am still not happy with what the builder did.

I was thinking of using a wall cap and cutting a 5''x5'' hole in the
soffit and venting it this way as opposed to putting another PVC stack
thru the roof. Has anyone tried this before and is it any better than
what the builder did?
  #2   Report Post  
Joseph Meehan
 
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Default Bathroom exhaust fans venting in attic. Problem?

Venting through the soffit might be OK but you don't want it located
where it will just be picked up by a vent.

You are right to be concerned with what is there now.

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math


"Rob" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I was doing some cable fishing in my attic today and I noticed that
two of the bathrooms on the second floor have their exhaut fans
terminating in the attic. Actually the end of the exhaust duct is
laying on the soffit vent. Is this proper under most building codes?
The attic has good ventilation with the soffit and ridge vents. But I
am still not happy with what the builder did.

I was thinking of using a wall cap and cutting a 5''x5'' hole in the
soffit and venting it this way as opposed to putting another PVC stack
thru the roof. Has anyone tried this before and is it any better than
what the builder did?



  #3   Report Post  
HeatMan
 
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Default Bathroom exhaust fans venting in attic. Problem?

They do make a vent cover that is designed to go in the soffit.


"Rob" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I was doing some cable fishing in my attic today and I noticed that
two of the bathrooms on the second floor have their exhaut fans
terminating in the attic. Actually the end of the exhaust duct is
laying on the soffit vent. Is this proper under most building codes?
The attic has good ventilation with the soffit and ridge vents. But I
am still not happy with what the builder did.

I was thinking of using a wall cap and cutting a 5''x5'' hole in the
soffit and venting it this way as opposed to putting another PVC stack
thru the roof. Has anyone tried this before and is it any better than
what the builder did?



  #4   Report Post  
George E. Cawthon
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bathroom exhaust fans venting in attic. Problem?



Rob wrote:

Hello,
I was doing some cable fishing in my attic today and I noticed that
two of the bathrooms on the second floor have their exhaut fans
terminating in the attic. Actually the end of the exhaust duct is
laying on the soffit vent. Is this proper under most building codes?
The attic has good ventilation with the soffit and ridge vents. But I
am still not happy with what the builder did.

I was thinking of using a wall cap and cutting a 5''x5'' hole in the
soffit and venting it this way as opposed to putting another PVC stack
thru the roof. Has anyone tried this before and is it any better than
what the builder did?


Your builder should be hung as he obviously violated
building codes. No exhaust vent may terminate in the
attic. Anything you do is better than what he did, so you
could run it out the soffit, but the best solution is to run
the vent up through the roof.
  #5   Report Post  
Tony Hwang
 
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Default Bathroom exhaust fans venting in attic. Problem?



George E. Cawthon wrote:


Rob wrote:

Hello,
I was doing some cable fishing in my attic today and I noticed that
two of the bathrooms on the second floor have their exhaut fans
terminating in the attic. Actually the end of the exhaust duct is
laying on the soffit vent. Is this proper under most building codes?
The attic has good ventilation with the soffit and ridge vents. But I
am still not happy with what the builder did.

I was thinking of using a wall cap and cutting a 5''x5'' hole in the
soffit and venting it this way as opposed to putting another PVC stack
thru the roof. Has anyone tried this before and is it any better than
what the builder did?



Your builder should be hung as he obviously violated
building codes. No exhaust vent may terminate in the
attic. Anything you do is better than what he did, so you
could run it out the soffit, but the best solution is to run
the vent up through the roof.

Hi,
B4 he could have a flooding or ice build up in the attic!
That's pretty bad and good thing you caught it.
Tony



  #6   Report Post  
Roger
 
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Default Bathroom exhaust fans venting in attic. Problem?

Would be less back pressure if ran straight up thru roof, but that invites
other probs of making a leakproof penetration *after* roofing is applied. I
would therefore go with a standard soffit vent - with 1/8 or 1/4 inch
screen to keep out vermin - for that size of vent duct. Leaving the duct on
the soffit vent is pointless, and just pumps warm moist air directly into
the attic space. This is really a no no. Could be, this was not the
intention of the builder, and someone else was supposed to complete the job,
but never showed up, or job was unsupervised. You might compare notes with
homes built at the same time in your neighborhood.

"Rob" wrote in message
...
Hello,
I was doing some cable fishing in my attic today and I noticed that
two of the bathrooms on the second floor have their exhaut fans
terminating in the attic. Actually the end of the exhaust duct is
laying on the soffit vent. Is this proper under most building codes?
The attic has good ventilation with the soffit and ridge vents. But I
am still not happy with what the builder did.

I was thinking of using a wall cap and cutting a 5''x5'' hole in the
soffit and venting it this way as opposed to putting another PVC stack
thru the roof. Has anyone tried this before and is it any better than
what the builder did?



  #7   Report Post  
Rob
 
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Default Bathroom exhaust fans venting in attic. Problem?

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 00:23:19 GMT, "HeatMan"
wrote:

They do make a vent cover that is designed to go in the soffit.


Would you happen to know where these can be purchased or a web link
that gives more information on this?

thanks
  #8   Report Post  
John McGaw
 
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Default Bathroom exhaust fans venting in attic. Problem?

"Rob" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 00:23:19 GMT, "HeatMan"
wrote:

They do make a vent cover that is designed to go in the soffit.


Would you happen to know where these can be purchased or a web link
that gives more information on this?

thanks


I bought two through-the-soffit vents for the remodel of my upstairs
bathrooms from the local borg (Home Depot or Lowe's, can't remember which).
These are relatively inexpensive plastic units with a screened opening and a
snap on hood. Quite easy to hook up from the outside of the house if there
is a bit of slack in the flexible duct -- just cut the opening in the
correct place, pull the duct through, clamp in over the snout, and screw the
vent in place. This is FAR easier than messing about in the attic,
especially if you have a lot of insulation up there.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]

Return address will not work. Please
reply in group or through my website:
http://johnmcgaw.com

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Rob
 
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Default Bathroom exhaust fans venting in attic. Problem?

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 09:50:00 -0500, "John McGaw"
wrote:



I bought two through-the-soffit vents for the remodel of my upstairs
bathrooms from the local borg (Home Depot or Lowe's, can't remember which).
These are relatively inexpensive plastic units with a screened opening and a
snap on hood. Quite easy to hook up from the outside of the house if there
is a bit of slack in the flexible duct -- just cut the opening in the
correct place, pull the duct through, clamp in over the snout, and screw the
vent in place. This is FAR easier than messing about in the attic,
especially if you have a lot of insulation up there.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]

Return address will not work. Please
reply in group or through my website:
http://johnmcgaw.com

Thanks, but unfortunately, the roof line is about 35-40 feet from the
ground so the only solution is to go at it from the attic. I want to
fix the problem, but not kill myself in the process.
  #10   Report Post  
tflfb
 
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Default Bathroom exhaust fans venting in attic. Problem?

I tried that ....up through the roof then I had condensation dripping out of
the exhaust fan in the winter I exited it to the soffit.

Tom

"George E. Cawthon" wrote in message
...


Rob wrote:

Hello,
I was doing some cable fishing in my attic today and I noticed that
two of the bathrooms on the second floor have their exhaut fans
terminating in the attic. Actually the end of the exhaust duct is
laying on the soffit vent. Is this proper under most building codes?
The attic has good ventilation with the soffit and ridge vents. But I
am still not happy with what the builder did.

I was thinking of using a wall cap and cutting a 5''x5'' hole in the
soffit and venting it this way as opposed to putting another PVC stack
thru the roof. Has anyone tried this before and is it any better than
what the builder did?


Your builder should be hung as he obviously violated
building codes. No exhaust vent may terminate in the
attic. Anything you do is better than what he did, so you
could run it out the soffit, but the best solution is to run
the vent up through the roof.





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George E. Cawthon
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bathroom exhaust fans venting in attic. Problem?

Don't know what to say. The standard is to take it straight
to the roof, and most people don't have condensation
dripping out of the exhaust fan. Hot air should rise up the
pipe to hit the cover, condense, and the liquid would run to
the lowest edge where it would drip on the roof. I suppose
that one could get condensation within the pipe if the run
was long and the pipe was very cold, in which case,
insulating the pipe might solve the dripping problem.
Problems never cease.

tflfb wrote:

I tried that ....up through the roof then I had condensation dripping out of
the exhaust fan in the winter I exited it to the soffit.

Tom

"George E. Cawthon" wrote in message
...


Rob wrote:

Hello,
I was doing some cable fishing in my attic today and I noticed that
two of the bathrooms on the second floor have their exhaut fans
terminating in the attic. Actually the end of the exhaust duct is
laying on the soffit vent. Is this proper under most building codes?
The attic has good ventilation with the soffit and ridge vents. But I
am still not happy with what the builder did.

I was thinking of using a wall cap and cutting a 5''x5'' hole in the
soffit and venting it this way as opposed to putting another PVC stack
thru the roof. Has anyone tried this before and is it any better than
what the builder did?


Your builder should be hung as he obviously violated
building codes. No exhaust vent may terminate in the
attic. Anything you do is better than what he did, so you
could run it out the soffit, but the best solution is to run
the vent up through the roof.

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