Home Improvement

68? Whew, my wife would freak at that. Our house is 74 degrees in the winter, and I've really gotten used to that myself. That said, we pay a lot to keep the house that warm.

I always vent through the roof. Why don't you want to do that? It's very easy to do, usually the easiest way to get it done.

Picasso_sl said:

Roof penetrations have more of a tendency to leak than soffit penetrations

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But a stack through a roof is easily done and made leak free. It's true, they'll require maintenance, just like your shingles, but so will your soffit stack hole.

lurkingdirk_sl said:

But a stack through a roof is easily done and made leak free. It's true, they'll require maintenance, just like your shingles, but so will your soffit stack hole.

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I always vent soffit for bathroom fans or straight out the side. The reason is a roof stack not only has a chance of a future leak but also condensation and possible water penetrating into the line.
In a plumbing vent water gets in drains out the sewer, in a bathroom fan water gets in , it is going onto a motor and a bathroom floor/ceiling.
Less chance of mold/issues with a side/soffit vent for this and no drawbacks imo.

Xarpolis_sl said:

68? Whew, my wife would freak at that. Our house is 74 degrees in the winter, and I've really gotten used to that myself. That said, we pay a lot to keep the house that warm.

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That's the thing see about infrared heating and electric/gas heating.
Low humidity would make 74 feel like 70 which is caused by electric/gas heating where as 50-55% humidity would make 68 feel like 72. Infrared doesn't dry out the air.
Note not exact ratios as I don't have the damn chart handy but you get the idea.

lurkingdirk_sl said:

I've known people to actually get all the prep work done in the fall, and lay the landscaping fabric in place. That way, come spring, it's an easy job to dump the mulch, and you can do it before things start to grow.

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It is not pretty, but you can go to an auto parts shop and ask if you can steal all their cardboard. They get these enormous cardboard boxes and generally they are happy to let you have them. Lay them down everywhere and put mulch on top, no weeds! The cardboard decomposes pretty rapidly. I've never done this, but I know people who have and it really seemed to work for them.

The Master_sl said:

It is not pretty, but you can go to an auto parts shop and ask if you can steal all their cardboard. They get these enormous cardboard boxes and generally they are happy to let you have them. Lay them down everywhere and put mulch on top, no weeds! The cardboard decomposes pretty rapidly. I've never done this, but I know people who have and it really seemed to work for them.

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I actually do this annually in my vegetable gardens - I cover my garden space with cardboard and put composted manure on top of it, a couple inches. By spring, the cardboard has decomposed enough that a trip through with the rototiller mixes in the composted manure, and I have a nice, weed-free garden space to start the year.

Just installed new flooring on a whim this week. Found some good pergo at 77 cents per sq.foot on a stock clearing sale. Shit looks good. Now I have to do the kitchen which will suck.

mkopec_sl said:

My house was built in early 70s and I guess the codes were different back then because the vents for the bathrooms just vent into the attic. I guess if shit has not gone wrong in 40 yrs, chances are I dont give a fuck enough to change it by cutting new holes in my roof.

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Same here. On mine they apparently thought it was a great idea to vent the dryer into the attic as well. I rerouted that through the exterior wall literally one foot away. It was totally mind boggling.

The bathroom vents are just into the attic as well. I can't be bothered to go fix those though.

If it were my house, I'd vent that shit to the outside. You have sewer gas being released into your attic. Probably fine, if your attic is well ventilated. I'd prefer it gets vented outside my house.

Oh, I see. I'd still vent it outside. Those vents move a lot of moisture if done right, I wouldn't want it in my attic.

The reason for that was is it was acceptable back then to do so. They didn't realize that over years that moisture builds up to mold/mildew.
The reason for THAT is many homeowners used to have vented soffits and gables and roof vents and attics had acceptable airflow but were under insulated.
It wasn't until probably a decade or so ago they realized due to thermal imaging that most heat is lost through the roof/ceiling and people went back and blew in like 2 feet of insulation basically blocking soffit venting, now insulated houses had lower heating/cooling bills but mold now became a issue due to moisture in the attic space.

If you care at all about your health you would vent it to the outside. It doesn't cost much and most anyone is capable of it. Hell it took me only 2 hours to do 2 new bathroom vents earlier this week , even paying someone shouldn't be super outrageous. I charged $300 but had about $100 in materials and 3 hours total investment.

Burnesto_sl said:

Same here. On mine they apparently thought it was a great idea to vent the dryer into the attic as well. I rerouted that through the exterior wall literally one foot away. It was totally mind boggling.

The bathroom vents are just into the attic as well. I can't be bothered to go fix those though.

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At the very least they are hosed up to a vent right? That used to be fine and while I can't do that due to code anymore is probably fine assuming airflow.
If yours was like the one I did this week where it was literally no hose on them venting just above the ceiling drywall. He had black mold and that was a issue.
In fact told me today he has slept better the last 2 nights since that mold was bleached out, but he had one bathroom in his master with no door just a walk around wall so he was literally breathing that shit unseen.

Inspector today told me my soffit venting was fine but only cause it was a solid soffit ( nearest vent was 2 feet in either direction ) so few pages back in that discussion, ya has to be solid venting.

Got this started today, finnaly this damn county and there fucking permits for every little thing....Next project the big barn roof replacement... not gonna be fun =/

Wiring isn't so bad. If you install the fan close to a place you know wiring already exists in the wall ( for bathroom lights and whatnot ) you can cut out the hole for the exhaust fan, cut the hole in soffit if it is that close. prewire the fan and reach up and force the wire down a existing hole in wall for 2x4, then pretape duct and reach up and force down soffit, then put up the fan box, mount, install motor and whatnot.
In the wall with the wire you could try to snake it to the existing box but better is getting a remodel box , cut out a hole, feed in and wire up. Most fans I run a 12-3( or 14-3 is that is existing wire, always match existing ) but for some I have to run 2 lines like the bathroom I am now on I asked plumbing questions about weeks ago has a nightlight, a fan and a light, so I am using 2 12-2 wires, 1 for neutral and 3 for hots and it will be 2 swtich plus a led timer control.

Then go outside pull down duct from soffit, tape and hookup and attach and done.

I know that is easier than it sounds, but getting power to it isn't a huge deal if you can feed power from the switch below it. House being from the 60s though it is probably retro and all power originates at lights not switches like most modern power does;/