Build Bath & Shower

Older homes often lack bathroom exhaust fans . In the old days, if the bathroom was smelly or steamy, you were supposed to open a window to air it out. This isn’t a very logical ventilation method , especially when temperatures are below zero, or when the weather is 90°F and humid. Yet this time-honored method of bathroom ventilation is still enshrined in our building codes. According to the 2009 International Residential Code (sections R303.3 and M1507.3), a bathroom with an operable window does not need to have a bath exhaust fan . Why do we need exhaust fans? In spite of the code’s archaic loophole, builders should install an exhaust fan in every bathroom or toilet room — even when the bathroom has a window. A bath exhaust fan can perform several functions: It can exhaust smelly air , allowing fresher air to enter the bathroom. It can exhaust humid air , allowing dryer air to enter the bathroom. When operated for 24 hours per day or when controlled by a timer, it can act (in so...

The 1986 edition of the International Collection of Interior Design , a trade magazine for those in the business, issued a bold statement regarding bathrooms: “The era of the utilitarian, puritanical bathroom is over and now it is returning to center stage as the place for luxurious, sophisticated relaxation in the home.” The 1986 bathroom would bring back the grand indulgences of the Romans, who surrounded themselves with plush beauty during their ablutions. This elevation of the master bathroom from the “necessary room” as it was euphemistically called, to its reign as the cornerstone of the master suite, was such a rapid and recent development, that it is easy to take it for granted. Bathrooms haven’t changed much since indoor plumbing became a standard feature in newly built homes at the turn of the 20th century.  This, coupled with changing societal expectations regarding the frequency of bathing and new technology such as the flush toilet, swiftly ushered in the era of the  mo...