Venting bathrooms to roof space?

my3cents

I was up helping out a mate trace some network cables in his roof space and came across something that didn't seem right so thought I'd ask about it here?

There are several en suit bathrooms that are vented directly into the roof space and I wondered if that is normal? The short lengths of ducting all have fans on them and there isn't any heat recovery system. House is less than 10 years old with a more recent 3yo extension.

Gumbo

Do they continue through the roof and vented out through a roof tile?
I also have ensuits that are vented up through the roof space and connected to a vent tile.

my3cents

Nope just go up into the roof space and stop there. None of the ducts go to the outside. One just has a bit of wavin pipe over the ceiling fan it so the loose fill insulation doesn't interfere with it. The other has a longer tumble dryer type flexible vent with the end tied to a beam.

Gumbo

my3cents wrote: »

Nope just go up into the roof space and stop there. None of the ducts go to the outside. One just has a bit of wavin pipe over the ceiling fan it so the loose fill insulation doesn't interfere with it. The other has a longer tumble dryer type flexible vent with the end tied to a beam.

Really bad work from the original builder.

my3cents

kceire wrote: »

Really bad work from the original builder.

He's on another job on the same site and I've been told he said its normal practice on new builds

Gumbo

my3cents wrote: »

He's on another job on the same site and I've been told he said its normal practice on new builds

Contact Building Control of the local council. Tell them what's happening. They love to be made aware of these especially if it's on a site they are not inspecting.

tradesman

my3cents wrote: »

Nope just go up into the roof space and stop there. None of the ducts go to the outside. One just has a bit of wavin pipe over the ceiling fan it so the loose fill insulation doesn't interfere with it. The other has a longer tumble dryer type flexible vent with the end tied to a beam.

I used to see this a lot when snagging houses. I could say 8 times out of 10 the fans were not vented to the outside. It only come across it once in a while now.
Electricians fit & wire the fans but technically speaking who's job is it to pipe to the outside? It is a disgrace the way some builders leave them to vent into the attic!

my3cents

Thanks, I've passed the info on and its now on a long list of things that need to be sorted.

hawkeye_bmr

Mine was vented to a roof tile vent, on the other side of the loft, so the flexible pipe ran across the insulation about 5m, then up and out about 1m above.

Nice big collection of stale water in the middle of the pipe when I went about disconnecting it.

Silly thing is, there was a 4" pipe in the attic directly to a wall vent so why didn't they just connect it to that?!?

Marlay

Found same in our attic a while ago. Short length of flexible pipe that was not connected to anything. But if connecting to a roof tile, you'll likely also need to change the extractor fan. If it's a really cheap axial fan it's most likely not suitable for venting to a roof tile, so would need to be changed to a centrifugal.

Calahonda52

my3cents wrote: »

I was up helping out a mate trace some network cables in his roof space and came across something that didn't seem right so thought I'd ask about it here?

There are several en suit bathrooms that are vented directly into the roof space and I wondered if that is normal? The short lengths of ducting all have fans on them and there isn't any heat recovery system. House is less than 10 years old with a more recent 3yo extension.

IFF the roof space is well ventilated, with breathable felt then its not the worst form of building work: I agree not ideal: but am sure a lot worse stuff is covered up.
However if the roof felt is black bitumen stuff, with no ventilation at eaves etc and maybe a Dutch hip roof then it's defo Lee Roy Brown time.

my3cents

The roof felt is I suspect breathable its sort of a slightly "fluffy" white material that looks to be as much insulation as barrier to water but still only a mm or so thick.

The house is kept very warm and the roof space is also warm compared to most but colder than the house.

The eves are full of vents.

Calahonda52

my3cents wrote: »

The roof felt is I suspect breathable its sort of a slightly "fluffy" white material that looks to be as much insulation as barrier to water but still only a mm or so thick.

The house is kept very warm and the roof space is also warm compared to most but colder than the house.

The eves are full of vents.

Thanks then I would not worry about it