The toilet and bathroom in a wooden house are more affected by stagnation than other rooms. With insufficient ventilation of the bathroom and the bath, condensate accumulates on the pipes, and the mold lives in dead corners. Unpleasant odors and dampness irritating a person cause a natural desire to get rid of them as soon as possible. How to achieve a pleasant freshness of air in the interior of a private wooden house?
We invite you to find out how to do the ventilation in the bathroom with your own hands. Having received theoretical recommendations, you will feel the desire to arm yourself with tools and immediately begin practical actions.
Features of the bathroom in a private house
Residents of city apartments did not have to think about where sewage flows and how air is cleaned. Unlike them, the owner of the mansion is obliged to equip the ventilation of the bathroom in his private house on his own.
It is necessary to plan ahead what type of bathroom to build, based on the presence or absence of a centralized sewer system in a given area.
You, as the owner of the house, at the initial stage of construction will have to decide whether forced ventilation of the bathroom will be necessary, or rather natural. For this, simple calculations should be made so that the efficiency of air exchange meets the norms of SNiP for the ventilation of bathrooms.
But before proceeding with the installation of a bathroom ventilation system in a wooden house with your own hands, you first have to:
- determine the location of plumbing devices;
An example of good ventilation - to think over the scheme of exhaust ventilation of the bathroom;
- harmonize the ventilation project with the general style of interior design;
- pick up a set of ducts and connectors;
- purchase exhaust fans (if planned);
- prepare tools for mounting the ventilation of the bathroom and bath.
Bathroom ventilation in a modern wooden house
In the old era there was no such thing as ventilation of latrines, but in the log houses the Russian stove served as a means of natural air purification. The stagnant air, along with the smells of the garbage can, was drawn into the furnace blower and was carried out through the pipe.
Current building technologies deprive the walls of a wooden frame house of the ability to "breathe." A sealed double-glazed windows and even more so turn the home into a kind of space station. To ventilate the rooms, you can install windows with ventilation holes, but this method is not suitable for effective ventilation of the bathroom in a private house.
To ensure that you get rid of stale air, you will have to make artificial ventilation in the bathroom with your own hands. Its essence is that an exhaust fan is built into the system, and it greatly enhances air exchange. The best option is to install a central fan in the attic. Additionally, you can equip the system with air condition sensors to optimize the operation of the fan.
A wooden house over time will give some shrinkage and its construction can shift damage to the elements of the ventilation system. Consider this feature, and leave compensation clearances when laying ducts.
When developing a ventilation system project, it is necessary to solve the issue of combining air ducts.For example, the ventilation of bathrooms in public buildings should be carried out only by an independent system, and combining it with the general is prohibited by the norms of SNiP for ventilation of bathrooms. But in private homes, this precaution is unnecessary. It is enough to install a check valve on the ventilation duct, and the odors from the toilet will be cut off to the living quarters.
A good example of combining air ducts is a bathroom equipped with a backlash-type.
Backlash and elimination of odors from it
Toilets of this design can often be seen in houses that do not have a connection to the sewer. The backlash closet is one of the rooms of the house, under which a cesspool for sewage is arranged. It is not difficult to build exhaust ventilation of such a bathroom in a wooden house with your own hands.
The principle of operation of the ventilation of the bathroom in a private house with a backlash closet is extremely simple. A vertical pipe, the so-called backlash channel, creates traction so that air from the restroom is pulled out. Traditionally, a backlash-closet was built close to the furnace, and an exhaust duct was built into the chimney masonry. Thus, the problems of heating the toilet and its ventilation were simultaneously solved.
If you decide to build a backlash in your home, consider the following:
Determine the height of the ventilation pipe according to the same rules as the stove - the higher the better. Install a TsAGI deflector on its head to increase the upward air flow in the pipe due to wind.
To ensure good traction during the period when the furnace is not heating, you can install a small fan in the play channel and turn it on as necessary. Stylish ventilation grille with a fan in the bathroom will also serve as an interior decoration.
Air exchange calculation
Construction and sanitary standards strictly regulate the intensity of air exchange in the premises. In particular, the ventilation of bathrooms in public buildings must certainly be arranged by an exhaust system and provide a minimum of five-fold air exchange. This value shows that within an hour the air in the room should be completely updated five times.
For different types of premises, the standards are different, but there are some general recommendations.
| Type of premises | Air exchange rate |
| Living rooms | 20–40 m³ / hour |
| Bathroom in a private house | 60–80 m³ / hour |
| Public restroom | 100 m³ / hour for each toilet |
Installation of a bathroom ventilation system
The easiest way is to equip your own hands with the natural ventilation of the bathroom in a wooden house. To do this, make ventilation holes at the bottom and top on the walls of the room and equip them with grilles.
If natural ventilation is not enough, you will have to do forced ventilation in the bathroom of a wooden house. The circulation of air in the system will be enhanced by the action of the fan, and odors and fumes will be output through the ventilation duct network.
You can install a fan in the attic, and it will be common to the entire system. When installing it, observe safety measures:
- use only specialized fans with a higher fire protection class;
- place the duct with a fan not on a wooden attic flooring, but on metal supports;
- for use in a wooden house, purchase air ducts only from non-combustible materials;
- if possible, the ventilation grill with a fan in your bathroom should be equipped with a fire damper.
In a small house, it is enough to put a fan directly in the bathroom, at the air outlet to the ventilation duct. For convenience and energy saving, you can combine the inclusion of a fan with lighting.
System Health Check
After installing the bathroom ventilation, it's time to check whether it is functioning properly.Light a match or candle and bring it closer to the air vent. With good traction, the flame tongue will flutter and deviate toward the hole. Traction force should not be significantly reduced even when the windows are closed.
Following the recommendations, you will definitely be able to mount a bathroom ventilation system in a wooden house with your own hands! From now on, all the inhabitants of your home will be able to fully breathe in the life-giving jets of fresh air.
