I learned a whole heck of a lot about a shower vent fan (those things that suck the moisture out of the air after you take a shower) recently. The one we had was starting to show its age, so my brother wanted to replace it. Now, I will readily admit that I didn't even do the bulk of the work, but let's just say that even from my assistant role, some of these lessons erred on the comedic side.
First things first, I learned that the basic design for one of those is roughly like that of an exhaust pipe. The fan sucks in air and moisture, and that fan is connected to a duct (a flexible tube) that then pumps the moisture somewhere outside of your house. It's a pretty simple concept. We were only concerned with the fan, because, well, why play around with ducts and sealant and all that if you don't have to?
The second thing I learned, however, was that the previous owners of the house were either incredibly lazy or had one wicked sense of humor. They conveniently left out the duct/exhaust portion of the design; the fan was connected to absolutely nothing, which meant that when my brother removed the existing fan, he was looking up into empty space. Our exhaust pipe system didn't have any actual pipes.
Well, that meant more work, but that didn't mean we were stuck. You can buy a ducting kit, which contains, among other things, an actual freaking duct. However, that also meant that we had to cut a hole in the ceiling so that the duct could safely release the air/moisture. Lesson number three: I now know how to (safely) get on to the roof of my house. This would be a useful lesson, as it was the first time, but it would not be the last.
Well, we managed to cut the hole, despite the tar up there doing its level best to gum up sharp edges we threw at it. I won't lie, it took a few well-place kicks to finish the job (side note: if it weren't for the unspoken rule that you're not allowed to pick your nickname, I'd lobby for "the Wall Breaker"). We fed the duct through both ends, and were happy that all we had left to do on the roof were nail down the cover/hood and apply weather-proof sealant to that same hood. We didn't want to bolt it all down, in case we still needed that extra give on the shower-side of the set up.
However, back inside the house, we realized that the fact that someone hadn't already installed these ducts meant that we also had to secure the new ducts and fan ourselves. That would involve adding a few beams above the shower. In it of itself, that wasn't a daunting task. However, we didn't exactly want to tear off the entire piece of ceiling above the shower, so that meant trying to do all of this through a small hole in the ceiling of the shower. This, we learned, was incredibly tedious, and was not a simple task. Also, I discovered that a ladder will fit in a shower (lesson number four).
About an hour later, we headed to the back yard to cut a piece of wood to make a cross-beam. As soon as we walked out there, however, we noticed a little bit of moisture on the ground; it had started raining a bit while we were working. Those of you with good memories will realize that we had not applied sealant to the roof yet, so rain meant that water could potentially leak in to the house. Lesson number five was that there are times when it sounds like a good idea to scurry up to a roof knowing full well that one will get wet (better me than the interior of the house). Luckily, it didn't take very long, and the rain turned out to be very, very light, so I was hardly soaked.
Anyhow, all that left was to attach the fan to the beams. Like I said, that was much easier said than done. I think my brother and I both commented that we knew exactly what we wanted to do, but the cramped quarters made the actual execution difficult. It was frustrating, to say the least. Put it this way, when we were finally able to put in the last screw, my brother was happily telling the fan something along the lines of "take that, you stupid fan." Also, this was roughly the same time when I learned lesson number six: there are times when playing "The World's Greatest" out loud is incredibly fulfilling.
When we cleared that hurdle, though, we realized that the kit did not include bulbs for the fan. A short trip to the hardware store later, this was remedied. In a way, it seemed like a fitting finishing touch to the hijinks involved with this project. It had taken longer and involved more changes to the battle plan than anyone initially assumed, but the thing was in place and working as expected.
This brings me to the last, but certainly not least, lesson I learned during this project: the most appropriate reward for someone who has borne the brunt of the labor for a project such as this is to be given the satisfaction of taking the first shower with said fan in place.
Home improvement projects sure are educational, aren't they?
First things first, I learned that the basic design for one of those is roughly like that of an exhaust pipe. The fan sucks in air and moisture, and that fan is connected to a duct (a flexible tube) that then pumps the moisture somewhere outside of your house. It's a pretty simple concept. We were only concerned with the fan, because, well, why play around with ducts and sealant and all that if you don't have to?
The second thing I learned, however, was that the previous owners of the house were either incredibly lazy or had one wicked sense of humor. They conveniently left out the duct/exhaust portion of the design; the fan was connected to absolutely nothing, which meant that when my brother removed the existing fan, he was looking up into empty space. Our exhaust pipe system didn't have any actual pipes.
Well, that meant more work, but that didn't mean we were stuck. You can buy a ducting kit, which contains, among other things, an actual freaking duct. However, that also meant that we had to cut a hole in the ceiling so that the duct could safely release the air/moisture. Lesson number three: I now know how to (safely) get on to the roof of my house. This would be a useful lesson, as it was the first time, but it would not be the last.
Well, we managed to cut the hole, despite the tar up there doing its level best to gum up sharp edges we threw at it. I won't lie, it took a few well-place kicks to finish the job (side note: if it weren't for the unspoken rule that you're not allowed to pick your nickname, I'd lobby for "the Wall Breaker"). We fed the duct through both ends, and were happy that all we had left to do on the roof were nail down the cover/hood and apply weather-proof sealant to that same hood. We didn't want to bolt it all down, in case we still needed that extra give on the shower-side of the set up.
However, back inside the house, we realized that the fact that someone hadn't already installed these ducts meant that we also had to secure the new ducts and fan ourselves. That would involve adding a few beams above the shower. In it of itself, that wasn't a daunting task. However, we didn't exactly want to tear off the entire piece of ceiling above the shower, so that meant trying to do all of this through a small hole in the ceiling of the shower. This, we learned, was incredibly tedious, and was not a simple task. Also, I discovered that a ladder will fit in a shower (lesson number four).
About an hour later, we headed to the back yard to cut a piece of wood to make a cross-beam. As soon as we walked out there, however, we noticed a little bit of moisture on the ground; it had started raining a bit while we were working. Those of you with good memories will realize that we had not applied sealant to the roof yet, so rain meant that water could potentially leak in to the house. Lesson number five was that there are times when it sounds like a good idea to scurry up to a roof knowing full well that one will get wet (better me than the interior of the house). Luckily, it didn't take very long, and the rain turned out to be very, very light, so I was hardly soaked.
Anyhow, all that left was to attach the fan to the beams. Like I said, that was much easier said than done. I think my brother and I both commented that we knew exactly what we wanted to do, but the cramped quarters made the actual execution difficult. It was frustrating, to say the least. Put it this way, when we were finally able to put in the last screw, my brother was happily telling the fan something along the lines of "take that, you stupid fan." Also, this was roughly the same time when I learned lesson number six: there are times when playing "The World's Greatest" out loud is incredibly fulfilling.
When we cleared that hurdle, though, we realized that the kit did not include bulbs for the fan. A short trip to the hardware store later, this was remedied. In a way, it seemed like a fitting finishing touch to the hijinks involved with this project. It had taken longer and involved more changes to the battle plan than anyone initially assumed, but the thing was in place and working as expected.
This brings me to the last, but certainly not least, lesson I learned during this project: the most appropriate reward for someone who has borne the brunt of the labor for a project such as this is to be given the satisfaction of taking the first shower with said fan in place.
Home improvement projects sure are educational, aren't they?
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