Bathroom ventilation is an important feature of any bathroom because it easily filters moist air and odors into the outdoors. However, if the design of your home makes it difficult to ventilate your bathroom, you may be looking for simple ways to fix this annoying problem. Fortunately, there are a lot of techniques that make ventilating excess moisture simple!
How To Detect Bathroom Ventilation Problems
You might be unsure of whether or not your bathroom has ventilation problems. One of the easiest indicators that your bathroom has issues ventilating excess moisture is mold and mildew build-up.
These two contaminants are hazardous air pollutants that you may not be able to see as soon as they start forming. However, if you notice a consistently unpleasant odor, that is a common sign mold is present. Mold and mildew grow because the excess moisture does not dry completely.
Other signs your bathroom has ventilation problems include a foggy mirror after a shower, damp floors, and an unpleasant smell in your bathroom.
Improve Bathroom Ventilation With A Larger Fan
If you notice your bathroom fan is not doing its job, it may be because the fan size is too small for the size of the room. Installing a larger fan is an excellent fix for this situation. And choosing an energy-efficient fan is an even better choice, as it ensures your bathroom fan does not use excess energy to operate.
Do Building Regulations Impact Bathroom Fans?
Yes, building regulations affect bathroom fans. More specifically, these regulations require a bathroom fan to exchange the air in the room at certain rates. Building regulations often require a bathroom fan to exchange all the air in the room at least five times within an hour.
However, most contractors recommend bathroom fans that exchange air more often than this requirement. It is essential to check with your city’s building codes and determine what type of bathroom fan you need.
Improve Ventilation By Cleaning Your Bathroom Fan
While replacing your bathroom fan is the solution in some cases, other situations may not require such a drastic change. For example, you may need to clean and service your bathroom fan to improve the ventilation in the room.
To start cleaning your bathroom fan, take the grille off and clean it. Make sure you wipe away any dust that may be trapped on each side of the grille. Often, dust prevents a bathroom fan from doing its job efficiently.
After that, you can unplug the fan and pull it out of the housing for deeper cleaning. Removing your bathroom fan will expose the vent duct opening in the housing. After removing the damper, a revolving plate that opens when the fan is on, you can clean the inside with a microfiber cloth.
Simply freeing your bathroom fan of excess dust and dirt is usually enough to improve ventilation in the room significantly.
Utilize Cross-Drafts To Improve The Ventilation In Your Bathroom
Whether your bathroom relies on a fan or a window for ventilation, implementing cross-drafts is an excellent way to improve ventilation and prevent excess moisture from gathering. For instance, opening the bathroom door after each shower is an excellent way to eliminate excess moisture.
Make sure you leave the door open, at least until the fog disappears from the mirrors. Still, keeping the door open as often as possible is best to ensure air continuously enters the room.
Also, it is helpful to leave at least a half an inch gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. This technique allows for more air to exchange, improving circulation.
Are You Ready To Remodel Your Bathroom?
As previously mentioned, poor ventilation in bathrooms is occasionally caused by a dirty bathroom fan. In those cases, cleaning the area for better air circulation is easy. However, poor ventilation can occur in outdated bathrooms.
If your bathroom is outdated and you have been dreaming of remodeling the space, do not stress about handling the entire project yourself. Rather, let our team of experts at Karin Ross Designs handle everything from the bathroom ventilation to the type of cabinets; contact us today for a free consultation!
