Silent Extractor Fan Pipe

[rideforever]

Hi, just discovered that my neighbour 's (below) bathroom extractor fan is venting directly into the space between his ceiling and my floor, on the edge of the room under the carpets in the corner is dampness.
So I need to run a pipe right through my living room and I don't want it to vibrate like a chimney.
What is the absolute best thing to get?
Very high density pipe?
I can get felt-rubber-carpet underlay and wrap it completely around, but sometimes those pipe vibrate and I don't want to destroy my living room - they are constantly in the bathroom down there.
Any advice?
Not sure if it's worth cutting the pipe into 3 and connecting with a flexible rubber tubing to limit the fluting and also shift the pieces off centre.

 

[^woody^]

Standard soil pipe securely fixed and will do for vibrations. But a lot depends on the fan used, route taken and the external outlet.

However there are fire implications which should be addressed as this breaches the required compartmentation of dwellings.

Also lease/ownership implications of who owns the floor/ceiling void, and if you are happy for the duct to be there in the first place.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

What is your situation, are you the Owner Occupier, Leaseholder, Tenant? As Woody has said, given your description, there are serious implications there for the Fire Safety of the building, and if such a fundamental issue like this has been neglected, it now begs the question what else could be wrong with the building?

Building Control and the Fire Service need to be involved here I think, the building may not be safe for habitation.

 

[rideforever]

However there are fire implications which should be addressed as this breaches the required compartmentation of dwellings.

Hi, thanks for that.
It's a Victorian house with a ground floor flat and I own the maisonette above.
They have a ground floor bath/loo and the extractor simply vents into the void.
How is the venting normally done in this situation?
Would they normally have a pipe running on their ceiling ? That bathroom is an ensuite fitted into the rear of their front room with bay window overlooking the street.

( We had previously discovered a similar issue on the back of the house with their kitchen hob extractor venting directly into the void ... which was rectified by fitting a recirculating box on the extractor fan. )
Thanks

 

[JohnD]

I would be very inclined to lift the floorboards and stuff rags into the fan outlet.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Downstairs ventilation should go to outside, either straight through the wall, or ducted through the floor void.

Concern still remains though for the lack of Fire Proofing between the 2 floors, if there ever is a blaze in the lower flat, flames and smoke will have no difficulty breaching the ceiling void into your flat! I would advise you get the situation investigated, as it may affect any mortgage or insurance on your property, should something happen.

 

[rideforever]

Downstairs ventilation should go to outside, either straight through the wall, or ducted through the floor void.

Thanks .. their bathroom is on the rear of a the bedroom so if they do not use the void space which I suppose is technically in my flat, then the extractor duct would have to go along their ceiling wouldn't it or down to the floor and out the front wall cut into the wall?? Is that what is normally done in conversions ?
I am afraid they are the freeholders of the building so I would prefer to find an amicable solution - they could cause a lot of problems for me as I have lodgers.
The other concern I have is that I have problems with their bathroom fan noise anyway, if they put a duct on the ceiling it might vibrate and trumpet or something whereas if I was involved then I could ensure to soundproof the pipe or something.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Any duct from the fan should be run above the fan, with care to ensure no condensation can run back to the fan. Directing downwards could cause issues with condensation developing in the ducting as the warm air being removed from the room cool.

 

[rideforever]

Any duct from the fan should be run above the fan, with care to ensure no condensation can run back to the fan. Directing downwards could cause issues with condensation developing in the ducting as the warm air being removed from the room cool.

Can I ask, is the dividing line between the properties going to be ... the ceiling, in other words the underfloor void is part of the upper property? Cheers

 

[^woody^]

Can I ask, is the dividing line between the properties going to be ... the ceiling, in other words the underfloor void is part of the upper property? Cheers

This is defined in the lease. The two leaseholders may own to the underside and top of the joists respectively and the landlord owns the joists, or there may be variations on where the boundary is.

 

[^woody^]

Normally with flats, fans should be ducted within the flat not the structure and then pass through walls or roofs briefly to get to the external air.

You've got a potential breach of building regulations their and a fire risk which could impact on your insurance now that you are aware of it.

 

[rideforever]

This is defined in the lease. The two leaseholders may own to the underside and top of the joists respectively and the landlord owns the joists, or there may be variations on where the boundary is.

Perhaps you can decode this for me from the lease:

"The property [my flat] described in the first schedule hereto includes for the purposes of obligation as well as grant the ceilings floors and joists and beams on which the floors are laid, but not the joists and beams to which the ceilings are attached together with all cisters tanks sewers ..."

Does that mean I do own the floor void but not the roof structure and its beams?

 

[^woody^]

Perhaps you can decode this for me from the lease:

"The property [my flat] described in the first schedule hereto includes for the purposes of obligation as well as grant the ceilings floors and joists and beams on which the floors are laid, but not the joists and beams to which the ceilings are attached together with all cisters tanks sewers ..."

Does that mean I do own the floor void but not the roof structure and its beams?

Yes that seems to be the interpretation.

You seem to own your floor boards, joists and the ceilings of the flat below! Which is odd.

But with lease text (and legal text in general) a comma is everything. So I suspect it may be unlikely that you own the ceiling of the flat below (but mistakes can happen in lease writing) and it may be ....

"grant the ceilings [comma - ie your ceilings] floors and joists and beams on which the floors are laid, but not the joists and beams to which the ceilings are attached"

Either way you own the joists and that should mean the space between the joists too. The flat below's boundary will be at the underside or upper side of their ceiling plasterboard.

 

[endecotp]

You seem to own your floor boards, joists and the ceilings of the flat below! Which is odd.

I read it as: he owns HIS ceiling, his floor, and the joists on which his floor rests, but not the joists to which his ceiling is attached. Maybe I’m just reading what seems more likely....

Anyway: the duct ought to be boxed in, within their flat, below their ceiling. Failing that, it could go within the void running parallel to the joists if that can be done in a way that’s compliant with fire regulations.

To minimise noise they need to use a large diameter fan and pipe. Do you get a lot of noise generally through the floor? Adding sound proofing material in the void would help.

 

[^woody^]

I read it as: he owns HIS ceiling, his floor, and the joists on which his floor rests, but not the joists to which his ceiling is attached. Maybe I’m just reading what seems more likely....

Yes that's definitely most likely.

But the way the text is written - combining the word "ceiling" with the floor and joist sentence (as if to mean the whole celling/joist/floor component), and then mentioning the ceiling joists separately (which one would think would be the time to mention the OP's ceiling too), seems to indicate otherwise.