How to Install a Ceiling Exhaust Fan

If you're in an older home that doesn't have an exhaust fan in the bathroom, but there is an overhead light fixture and an unfinished attic above it, you're in luck. Installing an exhaust fan in place of an existing fixture is simple because the wiring, the switch and even a nearby joist to secure the new fan is already there. A homeowner with relatively good carpentry skills can do this in about an hour.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pencil
• Jigsaw
• Screwgun
• Screwdriver

1. Turn off the power to the room at the circuit breaker. Remove the screws holding up the existing ceiling light fixture and pull it down from the ceiling. Unhook the electrical wires that are connected to it.

2. Go to the attic above the bathroom. Locate the electric box above the bathroom ceiling. It will be a square metal or plastic box screwed to a ceiling joist, about five inches wide, with wires running to it. Unscrew it from the joist and take the wires out of the box so they're loose. Discard the box.

3. Lay your fan unit over the hole where the electrical box was. Encompass the hole completely, with one side of the fan pressed against the ceiling joist. Trace with your pencil a line on the drywall, around the perimeter of the fan. Remove the fan and cut out the hole with your jigsaw.

4. Put the fan unit back down to the hole. Secure the unit to the joist, as provided in the instructions. Generally, there will a bracket that you screw into the joist.

5. Connect the exhaust hose of the unit according to the instructions. Run the hose to a nearby wall. Use your jigsaw to cut out the hole for it. Secure the hose to the hole using the brackets that came with the kit.

6. Wire the unit using the electrical wires that you took out of the electrical box. There should be a white wire, a black wire and a bare copper grounding wire. Connect them to the appropriate wires on the unit, white to white, black to black (or red). Use the wire nuts to connect them, and seal the connections with electrician's tape. Connect the bare copper grounding wire to the green grounding screw on the unit.

7. Back in the bathroom, clip on the ceiling vent cover for the unit, over the hole. It will likely attach with spring-hooks. Turn the power back on and test the fan using the same wall switch that controlled the previous fixture.

Tips & Warnings

• Some fan units come with lights installed in them, so you don't have to give up having an overhead light to get an exhaust fan.
• Never work on an electrical project without first turning off the power at the circuit box. Be careful not to step down through the ceiling when you're working in the attic. Stay on the joists or other solid areas.

References

• Bathroom exhaust fans.