Rectifying a Flawed Kitchen Vent

A Kitchen remodel that I am working on called for an upgrade to the venting system from 4" to 6" on account of the change in the fan. The newer unit moves a higher volume of air that the existing 4" would handle.

The existing vent ran through a bulkhead above the kitchen cabinets to the outside and then through the roof and out a roof vent. Or at least it should vent out a roof vent. This was not the case in this install. The 4" flexible duct was pointed at an attic vent and left like that.

 An attic vent is supposed to remove air from the attic through convection and should not be used to vent any devices under pressure

What I found when I removed the attic vent

What's wrong with this??? Firstly, there is no positive connection to the outdoors. The flexible duct is merely pointed at the vent. Should the vent get blocked or squished, the air flow (in this case containing moisture) will be vented into the cold space of the attic and condense into water and lead to mold issues. Exactly what I found when I removed the ceiling to repair the bow.

After removing the vertical drywall section of the bulkhead, I ran a rigid 6" duct all the way to the end where it connected to a 6" flexible duct and up into the small attic section. 

 All joints screwed together and sealed with foil tape

6" elbow to connect to the range hood. The old 4" hole is visible to the right. Modifications to the layout of the kitchen meant a new location for the duct

From the outside I pulled the flex duct through and connected it to the supplied collar. I had to enlarge the hole and reinstall the collar. The collar has to be slipped under the top shingles so that the water flows over the vent and will not enter attic. After this the actual roof cap is installed over the collar, but under the top shingles as with the collar. What you have now is a venting system with a positive flow to the outdoors. No condensation problems any more.

The flex duct, screwed and taped with aluminium foil tape. 

Roof Cap installed 

Another view of the roof cap

Dhiraj

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Brampton Washroom Build

I rebuilt a washroom at the very beginning of summer. As with most of my builds, this was a complete tear out, down to studs and joists.

A new tub had been installed 5-6 years ago. However the previous builder had slapped tiles onto moisture proof drywall and had installed the tiles with mastic. Needless to say, the tiles fell off easily. However there was mould everywhere including in the insulation. This increased the scope of my work. After ripping off the strip wood sub floor, I found that the floor joist spacing would not work for the 18" x 18" stone tiles. This increased my scope even further.

This particular house was built in the late sixties, so I expected to find some surprises.

These are pictures of the washroom as it was on the day I started the tear out.

The line 4 rows up indicates where the old tiles were removed to install the new tub 

Bye Bye, old shower..... Please observe a moment of silence.....

Then sledgehammers!!!!!!

And this is post tear out. We worked too fast to take pictures of the mouldy insulation etc. So no pics of that grossness......

Looking into the tub area. I moved the control valve up. I would've normally removed the tub filler, but the clients wanted it in place

 On the electrical side, I added another control for the shower pot light

I found the floor joist spacing to be over 20" OC. Not exactly great for the stone tiles. The original flooring was linoleum over 1/8" plywood. Later the owners had the wash room tiled. This was laid over lath and scratch coat

 None of the stud spacing was consistent. I was going to hang a cabinet on the right. I would need to install blocking which would facilitate the proper install of the cabinet

The mould is visible in these shots

Copious amounts of blocking had to be installed to stiffen the floor prior to installing the new sub floor 

Blocking here

Blocking there

Blocking in the shower area for the pan liner

The new shower drain in place 

Blocking for the toilet roll holder and rectification of the window frame

Blocking for the mirror and for the cabinet

Next up was the drywall install. I used moisture rated drywall for the walls and ceiling and Durock for the shower enclosure

Next step Mud & Tape....

These are final pictures that I have. I did some more work and will attempt to get pictures later.

 Furniture and fixtures installed. I later did a back splash for the wall behind the sink

 Looking into the shower enclosure. The controls are not yet in place

 View of the shower seat

Another view of the wash room and the reconstructed window frame

Dhiraj

If you are looking for solutions for your home, contact us about our design, build & decorate services.