Living with a poorly ventilated bathroom can be a miserable experience! Poor or no ventilation in your bathroom can lead to the perfect conditions for mould growth on your surfaces be it tile or grout, drywall, wooden trim or cabinetry, doors, windows. You can get foul odors and the high moisture content will cause damage to your ceiling, wall, floor in fact every area of your bathroom! In time it can cause paint to peel, leave water stains on fabric and wallpaper and make floor surfaces slippery and hazardous! Long term mould growth, left unchecked can cause severe health issues! We care a lot about all of the above and ventilation is number 1 on our list when designing a new bathroom for our clients. It is raised at our first meeting with a prospective client and even if we do not move ahead with the renovation we always recommend at the very least that a new fan be installed of the correct size to move the required amount of air per the square footage of the room, whether there is an existing fan or not!
We calculate the size of fan required in the following way:
1 CFM per square foot of room up to 100 square feet with a minimum of 50 CFM. Greater than 100 sq. ft. calculate 50 CFM for each water fixture and add up the total. For example 1 toilet, 1 bathtub, 1 shower and 1 vanity/sink = 4 x 50 = 200 CFM (allow 100 CFM for a jetted tub). If you have a separated toilet/WC in it’s own room then it should have it’s own fan of 50 CFM minimum.
If we are fortunate to be given the opportunity to build a new bathroom for our new client, ventilation is the first thing on the list! But not only replacing the existing fan or add a new fan if there currently isn’t one but also changing/renewing the ducting with insulated ducting and the external grill to ensure that there are no blockages or breakages so that the moist air can escape unhindered. The fan is situated as close to the main water vapour source in the room, the shower, as we possibly can and a timer switch is advised so as to allow for adequate time after bathroom use to remove the moist air and decrease the amount of condensation that can settle on the surfaces. You should also crack open a window to allow for air replacement for the air that is being removed by the fan!
With ventilation sorted we don’t want to leave all the responsibility on the fan so we install in all new bathrooms water/mould resistant drywall throughout, we use a mould/stain resistant grout when we tile and also a 20 year mould resistant silicone sealant on all 90 degree corners in showers and on floors! We minimize the use of wood in the bathroom where we can but we understand that some wood products are needed in most bathrooms. We eliminate wooden baseboards if we can and prefer to use a base tile to match the floor tile instead of a base board where the wall meets the floor. Most doors are manufactured in wood or MDF so we will install a wooden door but we do try to not use MDF products in bathrooms if we can avoid them!
We want to give our clients as little maintenance as we possibly can when we build them a new bathroom so we use a bathroom grade paint on all painted surfaces to make them wipe clean as well as mould resistant.
Clean air is important in all areas of life. We do our bit to ensure that your bathrooms stay comfortable for you with clean air as much as we can! We want to make your bathroom a place where you want to spend time!
Hope that helps! 🛁