You can prevent a bathroom or kitchen that suffers from mold and dampness by fitting a wall extractor fan. The process is pretty straightforward and this guide should help take you through the essential steps needed.

The first step is to figure out where you want to install the extractor fan. Make sure that there is a lot of space for ventilation at the outside position. Also, you wouldn’t want the fan location to be too close to your neighbors, whereas the fan could blow into their home. You’ll also want to make sure that the area outside has no obstacles to impede the performance of the fan such as rain pipes, downspouts, or soil. You can also use a cable finder to see if there are any buried cables or pipes nearby. In case you do find something, you should slightly adjust the fan’s installation position to avoid anything detected.

Mark where on the wall the fan will be positioned; make sure that you carefully trace the outside edges of the fan, as well. Double-check your instructions to assure that you are in compliance with the manufacturer’s requirements. After marking the position of the hole, you can use a drill (a good choice would be an electric hammer drill) to drill a hole through the center of the area. While you are drilling the initial hole, try to angle the drill bit slightly on a downward angle. Now you can drill through the wall along the traced outline of the extractor fan. Lastly, you can use a large chisel to remove the excess wall fragments in the area, and a small file to smooth the edges of the hole.

If you choose to do so, you can hide the cabling and the conduit inside the wall by taking a hammer and chisel and carefully carving grooves into the wall that can later be covered or repaired. If you want an easier method, you can purchase cabling channels or conduits that house the cabling, and are adhered to the surface of the wall – this way you won’t need to worry about plastering and painting the wall. Fit the fan onto the wall and place the grill cover on the outside.

Lastly, you’ll need to connect the fan to the electric supply. This can be accomplished with some basic wiring techniques, but you can always hire a professional electrician for this step. Once the electricity supply is connected to the fan, your installation is complete. These installation guidelines can be used for many types of fans, including bathroom extractor fans.