Vent bathroom extractor via fascia?

[Tim84]

Quick question (I hope) as I'm looking to correct the poor job by my cowboy plumber.

Currently the extractor fan from my bathroom is in the corner of the loft and the plumber has trailed a long foil ducting to an old boiler flue (sp?) in the middle of the loft. Clearly a bodge job as the condensation pools in all the sags of the ducting and the loft is now very damp.

I have a white plastic fascia board (unsure of the correct word I'm afraid) along the roofline behind the gutter. Can I drill/cut a 100mm hole in this by the extractor and then just vent the ducting out of this? I've bought a vent and ducting coupling ring from Screwfix in anticipation of this being the best solution. Can anyone see any issue with this approach (other than my lack of long enough ladder or 100mm cutter)

 

[Tim84]

Just to add, these are the bits I intend to use to 'vent' it out of the Fascia, hopefully no one will advise otherwise:

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• Tim84
• 5 Feb 2013
• 1

 

[kingandy2nd]

The part of the roof you're talking about is call the soffit.

Just check that you have appropriate access to the soffit from the roof space in order to run the ducting and connect it to the back of the vent.

You can buy hole saws from ebay, but practice on a bit of spare wood or plastic first so you can be sure that the vent fits and you know how your drill will react when cutting as you don't want to make a mess of it.

Be careful working at height with power tools too.

 

[Tim84]

Thanks Kingandy2nd - Soffit, I will remember that.

It is indeed accessible and has two small overflow pipes from the water tanks already poking out of it.

As for working at height - I think I'll ask a ladder pro. to do this for me as I need to borrow a ladder anyway so I'll get e.g. the chap doing my windows or the guy over the road that just did my aerial to help out for an extra few pounds!

 

[regsmyth]

You might find it difficult to get the new ducting to pass into the facia/soffit zone, and you might find the gutter itself blocks the extractor grill significantly. Could the grill go in the soffit instead?
As an alternative, you could lay the existing ducting in a length of guttering (in the loft), with a fall towards the vent pipe. This should stop the duct sagging and filling up.

 

[Tim84]

Thanks regsmyth - I was intending to fit the above grill to the soffit, yes, if that's what you mean? The other bit is just a ring that looked like it would do the job to attach the ducting on the inside of the soffit.

From the ground it looks like the grill I've got should fit fine, maybe slightly overlapped by the gutter but that won't be an issue as long as we can get the fixings in...

The drainpipe idea is a good one to keep up my sleeve if this plan goes to pot!

 

[Tim84]

So this is the space to get to the soffit; tight but I should just about be able to reach in and connect the duct:

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• Tim84
• 6 Feb 2013
• 1

As you can see, the soffit is very close to the extractor:

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• Tim84
• 6 Feb 2013
• 1

The current bodge:

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• Tim84
• 6 Feb 2013
• 1

 

[noseall]

The part of the roof you're talking about is call the soffit.

The vertical bit is actually called the fascia board.

The horizontal bit is called the soffit board.

Your image shows the back side of the fascia. As said the only downside is there may be guttering on the other side interrupting the flow of air and ultimately the performance of the fan.

Is there any depth of soffit in which to cut the hole?

Just for the sake of clarity here is a soffit with a rectangular vent being cut in it.....

 

[kingandy2nd]

Good diagram noseall.

Tim, I had thought you were talking about the soffit and installing the vent downwards as per the diagram above as this is the usual way of putting in a vent. Apologies if I have caused any confusion, but if there is space in the soffit you are better doing in that way.

In addition to the point about the gutter being in the way on the facia board, you are also more likely to get wind blowing back down the vent and causing a draft in your house if installed in teh facia. At least a vent in the soffit is somewhat shielded from direct wind.

 

[Tim84]

Thanks both, pictures paint a thousand words as they say!

I don't seem to have a soffit in my house, it's roof, fascia and straight into wall. Fascia is, therefore, my only option other than going out the side wall to the left of the fan (presumably therefore no better with wind/rain ingress though). The wall looks like a much bigger challenge to drill a 100mm hole in!

The fascia needs some go-go-gadget arms to hook the duct to the inside, let's see how flexible I'm feeling with a face full of insulation whilst balanced on a piece of chipboard!

It looks like, if anything, the gutter will provide a little shelter from wind and rain to the top of the grill - probably not ideal, but a small bonus!

 

[kingandy2nd]

You can get vent covers which have 3 flaps rather than a grill. They are only a few quid.

If there is clearance in front of the gutter you would be better off getting one of these as it will stop rain/wind getting in.