Making Wet Area Ventilation Easy

Copyright (c) 2015 Matt Reardon

Understanding your home when you need to do whole house ventilation will help you approach the ventilation problem wisely. Being in a rush will only see you do a shoddy task on ventilating your home. You need to know the starting point of the project, and this is identifying all the wet areas in your house.

The term "wet areas" generally refers to all points of your home are supplied with water. Below is a list of wet areas in a house:

- Toilets - Bathroom - Laundry room

Of all the three, the dampest area is the bathroom. It also has zones that are categorized as follows:

Areas That Make Up Zone 1

This refers to the area located within a radius of 200mm around a shower or bathtub. On the vertical angle, it covers to an approximate of up to two meters above the shower floor/ bathtub.

What Is Zone 2?

This is the area found past zone 1 and extends a length of up to half a meter horizontally. On the vertical angle, it still measures up to two meters above the shower within the zone 1.

The Driest Part: Zone 3

It happens to be the driest of all the zones it measures two and a half meters horizontally and three meters vertically which is beyond zone 2.

When placing a fan in the bathroom, make sure that is well positioned in a position that makes it possible to draw moisture found in zone 1. This is what is referred to as "effective" ventilation.

According to the Australian Standard AS3740, "Waterproofing of Wet Areas within Residential Buildings", categorizes the shower area among high-risk areas that should be well ventilated at all times. Areas found in a shower, which include junctions and the wall, should be waterproofed. Even the floors should as well be drained of water and waterproofed.

The bathroom is considered to be a medium risk area. If you have timber floor installed in the bathroom, you will need to waterproof it.

Heat recovery ventilation has been ranked as the best ventilation system for bathrooms. Such a system serves two purposes: It draws moisture in the room and circulates heat in the room evenly ensuring the bathroom remains at comfortable temperatures all the time.

There are creative solutions that have been developed for the purpose of ensuring proper ventilation in rooms. With advancing technology, there has been an introduction of quieter fans that produce minimal noise while operating. You can even forget they are there because of their silent mode of working. Apart from drying air, they get rid of any sharp scents and bad odour present in the bathroom, bringing in fresh air. Smart machines have also been developed. You can set timers and reset them at will that will see you use your mechanical ventilation system when you most need it. For instance, they estimate the time required to take a shower and immediately you step outside, they automatically start operating.

You should consider having a wet area ventilation system installed because your bathroom is the most mould prone area in a house.


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Matt Reardon is a house ventilation expert at Mould Buster. He designs ventilation concepts for home improvement benefits. Matt will assist you develop a good ventilation system for your home when you pay Mould Buster a visit. Visit http://mouldbuster.com.au/wet-area-ventilation/ for more info and services.