How to Vent Bathrooms to the Outside of the Home

Turn off the power to the existing ceiling fixture at the house circuit box. Remove the existing fixture using your screwdriver. Disconnect any electrical wires as needed to remove it.

Go into the attic where the fixture was wired. Disconnect the wiring that runs from the house to the fixture, separating the black, white and bare copper ground wires from the electrical box, by loosening the wire clamps in the box with your screwdriver. Take out the electrical box by removing the screws holding it to the ceiling joist. You will now have a hole in the attic floor looking down into the bathroom.

Set the new exhaust fan unit over the hole, so the vent covers the hole. Trace around the vent with your pencil. Pull away the fan unit. Cut around the pencil mark with your jigsaw to make the hole the size of the new vent.

Set the fan unit back in place, so the vent drops into the hole. Use the provided screws and your screw gun to secure the unit to the joists on both sides.

Connect the wiring from the house circuit to the fan unit, using wire caps to make the connections.

Run the exhaust hose that came with your unit to the exterior wall of the attic. Trace around the mouth of the hose onto the wall. Cut it out with the jigsaw. Set the mouth of the hose against the wall and secure it there with the provided screws.

Go back into the bathroom. Set the vent cover for the fan over the hole, hooking it into the inside of the vent according to the instructions. Turn the electricity back on and test the new fan at the wall switch that controlled the previous fixture.