"jeff" wrote in message . net...
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.

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?

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?

My house has a couple of whirl-a-jig wind powered vents, plus gable
end vents. One bath fan vents up into the base of a wind powered vent
and the other bath fan vents horizontally out a gable end vent. Both
were the closest outlets. I was originally concerned that the
horizontal run would be a problem, thinking condensation water buildup
before exiting would cause the vent hose to sag, but it never
happened.
Been that way for 25 years with no roof/vent/fan problems.

Bob S.