The problem is the size of the ducting used to vent a typical bathroom. Previous owner of the house installed a bathroom fan and ran the ducting under and perpendicular to the ceiling joists to exit out the side of the house (bathroom has one exterior wall). The issue with this is the ceiling had to be dropped to accommodate the pipe run; a drop ceiling was installed.
Looking to restore the ceiling to former height but the fan pipe keeps getting in the way. I could just run the pipe through the joists but that would take a huge bite out of every joist traveling from center of the bathroom to outside. I think that is a 4 inch duct?
I see a few options. I could run the ducting parallel to joists. Exit the bathroom and run into other rooms as needed until reach outside of house. Rooms next to bathroom have original tin ceilings and I'm not tearing those up. This seems like the most unlikely option.
Do I have to stick with a 4 inch duct? I'd feel better going through the joists if the pipe wasn't 4 inches. Something like an 1.5 inch PVC exist for bathrooms?
One more option: Instead of venting the fan at same level of the bathroom, I do have a basement directly under this bathroom. Perhaps run the pipe parallel to a joist, put a 90 degree elbow to swing downwards, go down a wall to emerge into the basement. The laundry is reasonably close and a duct could be run to where the dryers exhaust. This options presents its own difficulties as the bathroom floor has a main structural beam and I dont want to chew out 4 inches of beam to run a vent. Even running 4 inches of ducting through the other wall (a non beam wall) is going to be tight and may need an unsightly bumpout in the wall to accommodate.
The best way would be for a smaller pipe but every bathroom fan I've so far specced out has a 4 inch ducting. Fans using smaller ducting exist???
Looking to restore the ceiling to former height but the fan pipe keeps getting in the way. I could just run the pipe through the joists but that would take a huge bite out of every joist traveling from center of the bathroom to outside. I think that is a 4 inch duct?
I see a few options. I could run the ducting parallel to joists. Exit the bathroom and run into other rooms as needed until reach outside of house. Rooms next to bathroom have original tin ceilings and I'm not tearing those up. This seems like the most unlikely option.
Do I have to stick with a 4 inch duct? I'd feel better going through the joists if the pipe wasn't 4 inches. Something like an 1.5 inch PVC exist for bathrooms?
One more option: Instead of venting the fan at same level of the bathroom, I do have a basement directly under this bathroom. Perhaps run the pipe parallel to a joist, put a 90 degree elbow to swing downwards, go down a wall to emerge into the basement. The laundry is reasonably close and a duct could be run to where the dryers exhaust. This options presents its own difficulties as the bathroom floor has a main structural beam and I dont want to chew out 4 inches of beam to run a vent. Even running 4 inches of ducting through the other wall (a non beam wall) is going to be tight and may need an unsightly bumpout in the wall to accommodate.
The best way would be for a smaller pipe but every bathroom fan I've so far specced out has a 4 inch ducting. Fans using smaller ducting exist???
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