When you think of all-round bathroom cleanliness, is good indoor air quality also on your radar? If not, it should be. The narrow, enclosed space of the bathroom can promote some unpleasant and unsanitary conditions, including these:
- Stale, unpleasant odors
- Mold, mildew and fungus resulting from too high bathroom humidity (caused by leaking plumbing, long showers and condensation)
- Buildup of airborne particulates, including volatile organic compounds from harsh cleaners
Most of these problems can be eliminated by good bathroom ventilation. Following is a brief summary of what every homeowner should know about bathroom exhaust ventilation.
Why You Need Bathroom Ventilation
Your bathrooms may have been constructed with no ventilation at all. Or, perhaps you have an exhaust fan and it either doesn't work or isn't the right size to do a good job. Maybe you even have a working exhaust ventilation system, but it's noisy and annoying and you never turn it on.
You may have thought about repairing the old ventilation fan or having a new one installed. If it's the latter, the good news is it's a very affordable upgrade for your home.
Choosing Bathroom Ventilation
When you shop for a bathroom ventilation system, you will need to find the right size. Determine the volume of air the system with need to move in cubic feet per minute (cfm) by measuring length by width by height, then dividing by 5.
Exhaust fans are also rated by how quiet they are in a unit called sones. The higher the sone, the louder. The lower the number, the quieter. The quieter systems will cost more.
Installing Exhaust Ventilation
Hire a technician to install your bathroom ventilation system to ensure it's done correctly. The main thing to note is that it must be exhausted to the outdoors to work properly. Otherwise, you'll be sending moisture up into the attic or ceiling joists, which could cause mold or wood rot.
Visit our website at Valley Heating, Cooling, Electrical and Solar for in-depth information on bathroom ventilation and most HVAC topics, or just call us at (408) 868-5500. We serve South Bay Peninsula and Santa Cruz.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in the South Bay Peninsula and Santa Cruz areas of California about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).