Bathroom needs mold and mildew reduction solution

My friend owns a multi-unit rental. He kind of bought it "as-is", well one of the units bathroom has a ventilation fan/light combo in the ceiling. I took the unit apart and noticed that the unit (encased in the ceiling) was all rusted out. Needless to say even though there was a fan apparently the idiot that put it in did not vent it out to the outdoors. Urgh!! So all the moisture was going into the ceiling. Tenants that were in there prior to him purchasing the complex moved out just a bit ago. So now I had to go in with him to clean the apartment. Mold and mildew beyond belief in the bathroom. How did these people live like this. Tile floor to ceiling, tile floor and tile ceiling. No way to cut through walls to get a vent line out for proper ventilation now. Would have to go through two other rooms to vent to the outdoors. So my friend said he wanted to purchase a UV light. Problem being what he can find online can't be used because of damage to person's retinas (eyes) and not good to breath in.

Do any of you ventilation "gurus" have any good ideas on what we can use. We have crawl space under floor so if I need to run an electrical circuit up from the crawl space to accommodate what ever you suggest would be ok. But we would have to place it in a closet as it is the only area where there is no tile, just sheet rock. We removed the door and will use a shower curtain rod and use a nice drape to close off the closet. The air purifier/ventilation system would have to be installed in the closet area though because of all the tile elsewhere.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

Uv light? How would that help?

There is no reason that a ceiling bath fan cant be ducted outside, you just need to figure out how do that, and put it on a timer switch or something so that it runs for 1/2 hour minimum.

Mold problems come from a humid bathroom obviously but also from the fan not being run by stupid tenants, and not being vented by a stupid installer. Plus it doesn't help when no one cleans the bathroom and just lets it get worse and worse.

 

You (your friend) need to remove moisture/water vapor from the room. UV light can't make water disappear. You need to ventilate the room. There is no magic wand. You may complain that it won't be easy but it has to be done.

 

Woa!! Ok, we did not know that a UV light would not reduce or remove water vapor. That is why we are asking.

We understand that removing the water vapor is a priority but because of the tiled floors, ceiling and walls and having to go through two other rooms (one of them being another apartment that is occupied currently) we were looking for an alternative solution.

I just now suggested to my friend that may be we may have to put in the closet an exhaust fan and vent it through the floor into the crawl space and then to the outdoors.

Other problem is that the switch for the present ceiling light/fan is a switch loop. So no neutral to hook up a timer switch.

Urgh!! Any other ideas maybe? Please??

 

Ceiling joists generally run in one direction.... so a duct running between ceiling joists will eventually exit out the side of the house. Unless there is some obstruction, it is usually just a matter of feeding the ductwork down the joists. A stepladder, a 16x16 hole in the ceiling and a flashlight would be a good starting point.

 

Like XSleeper mentioned. You may have to get creative but there is usually a way to run a exhaust duct. One thing that helps is a camera. An inspection camera or you cell phone held up through a hole in the ceiling can tell you if a joist bay is clear to run to an exterior wall.

One fun little trick I've used is a toy rc car. Well, truck as their better at running over obstacles. I cut my openings at each end. Then tie a string onto the truck and shove it up into the hole and drive it to the exit hole on the other end. Now you have a pull string you can attach wiring or duct to. Taping together sections of something long like wooden dowels, fishing poles, bamboo... can also work though not as much fun.

 

For the lack of a neutral in the switch loop, just use a mechanical timer. do a web search for an Intermatic ff60mc. I use it for my bathroom fan.

- Peter

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Much appreciated.

He is thinking what he wants to do now. Other work is needed on this unit before it can be rented out so we have a bit of time. But at least now we have options.

Thanks for the heads up on the Intermatic ff60mc timer. That may help.