Seal Gap Around Bathroom Exhaust Fan

Bath exhaust fan with rigid foam box image courtesy of the doe 3.

Seal gap around bathroom exhaust fan. Similar to a dryer exhaust bath fans should vent outside. On occasion a home improvement enthusiast may discover that the opening cut in the drywall to install a bath fan is not completely covered by the fan s. There will be residual caulk if the bead is cut but the bead is hidden under the fan grill. I use the minimum amount of caulk to fill the gap and seal the housing to the drywall.

Cut an access in the box for the exhaust duct. Venting a bath fan into an open attic is a recipe for rot mold and other issues. How to patch drywall around a bath fan. In all likelihood you will never have to uninstall a high quality bath fan once it goes in.

Before entering the shower set the timer switch for about ten or 15 minutes longer than you ll be in the shower. Air seal around kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans to keep conditioned air from leaking into unconditioned space. One great and inexpensive addition is a simple timer switch. Which isn t to say you couldn t use rope caulk instead of tube caulk.

Using a saw cleanly cut all a hole in the ceiling drywall no more than 1 inch larger in diameter than the fan box. The fan housing is obviously sheet metal and the ceiling has the plastic vapor barrier on top of the drywall. Fully insulated bath exhaust fan image courtesy of the doe summary.