Vent bath fans /exhaust thru soffits?
edwardh1
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
I own a 2 story contemporary home. the roof of the first floor butts up against the side wall of the 2 nd floor. the present 1st floor vent fans from 2 baths were laid loose in this roof area – nothing in there but insulation/raftrers etc.
this area is on the front of the house so we do not want to go thru the roof as it will look bad from the street. local code.
2nd hand per 2 builders says that code allows to just lay the exhaust over the soffit vent.
course in the winter heat goes up!!
any way to exhaust down thru the soffit and have it look nice??
Replies
The builders that told you that a building code allows exhaust to vented anywhere but outside are mistaken. Venting into enclosed spaces, attics, etc., are a sign of corners cut and/or willful disregard for good practice and acceptable buiding codes.
You can put a grille in the soffit if it is directly ducted to the fan. It will look like whatever you buy. Aluminum is more expensive than stamped steel.
If the roof is a shed type where the "top" is at the next floor exterior wall, how is it vented? Soffit vents are inlets. Inlets AND outlets must be provided for air or it won't move.
the roof turns a corner on the side of the house then slopes down there is a roof (top) vent there near the top not visible from the road. thats about 20 ft from the vent fans tho- long way.
venting through the soffit is a poor practice, in my experience. air is typically pulled up into the attic through the soffit vents and I have sen a few cases in my area (NW Ohio) where mildew and mold was growing in the attic above such a vent "discharge.)
In my area an effective solution is to run the fan vent to just below a through roof vent.
In a few thousand houses where I have seen that done, I haven't see any moisture problems.
FWIW, I haven't found any correlation (positive or negative) between code attic (or crawlspace) venting requirements and actual performance.
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Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
thanks
what does this mean:
I haven't found any correlation (positive or negative) between code attic (or crawlspace) venting requirements and actual performance.