Let’s walk through the bathroom exhaust fan installation, so you understand exactly what is going to happen to your home during the bathroom exhaust fan repair process:

 

Bathroom exhaust fan installation requires ventilation, so before we even get started, we have to determine the exhaust route in your home. If your Central Valley, CA, home doesn’t have access to an attic, then your exhaust route will be through a vented sidewall of your home. 

 

Next, we have to remove the old exhaust fan. We are going to turn off the electricity in your bathroom by flipping off the circuit breaker at the service panel.

 

Find or Establish the Power Source

 

If you already have power running to the point of where you intend to install the bathroom vent fan and your electrical code allows it, you might be able to share your bathroom lighting circuit with the fan.

 

If your code requires you to run a dedicated circuit for the fan, we will run a new cable from the service panel to the bathroom’s ceiling.

 

Locate the Vent Point

 

O’Brien Electric will need to run a duct from the fan to either the roof or sidewall because the air that is exhausted by the fan must exit to the outdoors. If we are running the duct from your attic, we will have to do some shingle work to your roof but don’t stress, we know what we are doing.

 

The rule for vent location is to choose a spot that is:

 

·      Directly from the fan to the outside

·      Under 6 feet from the bathroom fan to the exit

·      In the bathroom’s interior, not in a hallway

·      Located close to the shower/tub, since this is the area with the most moisture production

·      As straight as possible to avoid air flow impediment

 

After O’Brien Electric has located the bathroom vent point, we will drill a locator hole at the center of the intended location.

 

Cut the Exterior Vent Location

 

After we have located the vent point, we need to cut the exterior vent location that is outside of the bathroom. 

 

Whether O’Brien Electric is exhausting through a sidewall or the roof of your home, we need to gain full access to either space.

 

We will use a reciprocating saw, cordless drill, pencil, and silicone caulk to situate the vent across the locator hole.

 

It is fairly simple if we are using a sidewall for exterior access. The saw will cut around the circle on the side of your home, and we will attach the vent with screws by first applying silicone chalk around it, to ensure a tight fit.

 

On a roof, we will need to slip the flashing of the vent cap under the shingles above the midsection of the vent opening to ensure a tight installation. We may have to remove or trim your roof shingles to ensure a successful bathroom exhaust fan installation. 

 

Cut the Interior Bathroom Fan Opening

 

O’Brien Electric will locate and mark the joists in the bathroom ceiling to see how many we have access to.

 

Bathroom exhaust fans typically screw directly to the side of the joist, so we will have to calculate an adequate opening in the ceiling, where a fan can be connected to a joist. 

 

Then, we carefully cut the drywall with a jab saw to make the interior opening for the bathroom exhaust fan.

 

Attach the Bathroom Exhaust Fan to Joist

 

In order to attach the fan, we will have to have access to your attic again.

 

We will place the fan in the cut-out hole so that the bottom edge of the fan is in line with the bottom of the ceiling drywall. This requires more than one contractor so that a partner can perfectly measure just where the bottom edge of the fan hits the ceiling.

 

We screw the fan into the side of the joists with our cordless drill. If the ceiling above your bathroom doesn’t have access to joists, there are bathroom fan options that come with suspension brackets.

 

After we have secured the fan, we will fit the electrical wire through the side of the housing so that 7 or so inches of the wire extend into the housing.

 

Route the Fan to the Exterior

 

We will verify the placement of the fan after we have installed it by checking it from the bathroom’s interior. Then, we will attach flexible duct tubing to the fan and the vent from the attic. O’Brien Electric will ensure that the tubing runs as smoothly and directly as possible.

 

Attach the Bathroom Exhaust Fan to the Housing

 

In the bathroom, we will insert the fan unit in the housing. We have to strip the ends of the electrical wires and hard-wire them into the unit. Then, we will attach a fan grille to the face of the housing.

 

Finally, we turn on the circuit breaker to ensure that the fan is working as it should be and voilà. Your Central Valley home now has adequate air flow in your bathroom with the help of O’Brien Electric’s handy bathroom exhaust fan installation.