"jeff" wrote in message
et...
I'm buying a townhouse, and the home inspector found out that the bathroom
fans are vented into the attic, causing damage to the roof sheathing in
the
area above the bathroom fans. The home inspector suggested an easy
solution, which would involve connecting a 4" flexible plastic exhaust
hose
to the fans and then running the hoses underneath the attic's
roof-exhaust-fan, and nail the ends of the exhaust hoses immediately below
the attic exhaust fan and having them pointed upward toward the exhaust
fan. The idea here is that the moisture will escape through the fan's
opening whether or not the fan is running.

up isnt good enough. it needs to point out. it needs its own hole. sounds
like right below the fan might be a good place.


I just wonder if the solution suggested by the home inspector is actually
going to vent the moisture from the bathroom properly. I'm worried that,
with such a setup, in the winter, the moisture from the bathroom would
simply condense on the attic's exhaust fan causing damage to the fan.
What
do you think?

i simply dont think it will even be flowing outside. it will condense right
as it leaves the hose, possibly even dripping right back down into it if its
facing straight up. it needs to be vented outside directly. but if it did
somehow find a path outside, i doubt it would hurt the fan.


Wouldn't venting through a gable end of the townhouse be the ideal
solution?
The path to the gable end might be 20 feet long though...is that too far a
path?

its unclear how far it already goes, but i doubt the extra 20' will prevent
it from functioning.

Please advise on the best solution.

vent it directly outside.


If I'm unable to get the condo association to approve a proper correction
of
this problem,

thats all you need to know about the condo association. you have a house
being damaged and in need of a proper fix. if they wont let you properly
fix it, politely tell them to go to hell.

then would it be okay simply to avoid using the fans when
taking a shower.

ok? probably. for a while. depending on how much moisture is already in
the house.

The home inspector things that not using the fans is
going to be a problem (since it could cause mold/mildew problems in the
bathroom, or paint to peel in the bathroom, etc.) but my thoughts are
that
this may be less problematic than the ongoing damage to roof-sheathing
caused by the existing setup. In other words, is my not using a bathroom
fan really going to cause major damage to the bathroom?

probably, eventually.


What do you think?

it needs to be fixed properly. as i said before if the association wont
allow a proper fix, you would be foolish to buy into it. that said, i
wouldnt buy into ANYTHING where some association could tell me what i can
and cant do to my own house.

randy