Babka: ha. they (fixtures) are vented to the space above, (which is under the stairs), not to the outside - which is against the code, I know that much. I guess they (whoever added this bath) ran into the same problem with venting fixtures as we are facing trying to figure how to vent the exhaust fan. and maybe that's why there is no exhaust fan to start with. The bathroom is under the staircase whichi s in the middle of the house, and there is space directly above it because the ceiling is short. But then the ceiling height changes as you go to any neighboring room (the rest of the house around has much higher ceilings). Basically, you can put the duct vertically through the ceiling above the bathroom, but then as you turn it 90 degrees towards in the direction of any outside wall, it would have to come out through the wall of any room around, not in the ceiling above the rooms. And if you try to go higher with the duct so that the turn is at the level of the over-the-ceiling space for these rooms, then the duct would have to come out through the staircase! Hard to explain, but I hope you go the picture. Also, even if we could somehow get the duct to the space over the ceiling of any adjacent wall, then we still can't open up that high ceiling to run the duct further because it has some fancy beams and moldings (house is over 100years old) so we cannot touch the ceiling. That's why I wrote "absolutely no way" for the ceiling route Unless, as somebody above suggested, we place the fan in the ceiling, but run the duct through the wall down to under the house (actually through the under-the-stailrcase part as the stairs go down). But as far as I understand that comment, we will have to install some inline fans in the duct to keep the air moving down...

I got the cabinets through Home Depot (20% off) they are not higher end but they have held up extremely well and we’ve been happy with them. I don’t remember the brand, but the color is cognac on maple. They’re standard kitchen cabinets. We got 2 regular drawer banks, 1 extra wide drawer bank, 2 sink cabinets and the closet you can see in the picture for about 1800 w/the discount. We bumped the shower wall 6 inches into the bedroom to make the shower bigger, pulled the cabinets out from the wall a couple of inches to provide more counter top. And curved the edge the counter for interest. Just for fun, this is what we had to start with. The tub was rusted and there were two doors, 1 from the hall & 1 from the master bedroom, we closed up the hall door. I think we got our moneys worth. LOL As for the labor, I found my Contractor through a plumber I had hired to put in a kitchen faucet. I asked if he had someone good he could refer and he referred Matt to me. Matt had his own company but just him and his guys. All of his work was by word of mouth, he didn’t advertise or push for business, he didn’t need to. I think I got fair pricing from him because he didn’t have the overhead a lot of the larger companies might have. He wasn’t the least expensive and he wasn’t the most expensive. Finding someone who was willing to work on our schedule and not having to have it done ASAP is what really helped me to be able to keep our costs at a minium for both labor and materials.

1. Avoid using the flexible, "accordion-style" pipe if at all possible: since it doesn't have smooth walls it can accumulate dust and mold more easily. 2. For insulation of the pipe, get HVAC foil tape and use it to seal all the joints; it's about the same dimensions as regular duct tape, but more tenacious and won't deteriorate over time. After you have sealed all the joints, you can wrap it with fiberglass batting and tape it to stay in place around the pipe. When I've done this, I've not only taped the seam that runs parallel to the pipe, I've put a wrap of tape all around the circumference every foot or so. Taping the insulation on will be easier and you will get a better result if you have foil-faced or paper faced batting with this layer on the outside. P.S: I've never tried spray foam, but it could be messy, and would be a pain if you ever needed to get at the ductwork.

Photos? I prefer a inline fan but if you have no attic get the largest and quietest fan you can. Then you get a foot of rigid duct, an adjustable elbow, and another short length of duct to go through the roof. No need to go straight up.