tile ceiling/exhaust fan

Hello,

My mother-in-law has moved into a new home... bathroom has no exhaust. I've installed fans before... no problem with any other aspect... except that the ENTIRE bathroom (wall, celing) is covered in small (4x4) tile. How do I go about enlarging the opening to accomodate the new fan? Hoping the tile does not need to come off to be cut.

Thanks.

~Wayne

The hard part might be finding a space between the ceiling joists. You'll need to remove some of the tile. To do that without messing up the adjacent ones you want to keep intact, you need to remove the grout around the tile in question. A grout saw or even a utility knife will work. Once you have the grout removed, take a hammer and screwdriver or chisel (wear eye protection!) crack the tile in the middle and break it out. Once you have one tile out, drill a hole through the ceiling and use a bend stiff wire to determine which way to go to take out enough to allow the fan to be installed. You might be able to use a magnetic stud finder to locate the screws or nails to hold the drywall or cbu up, then that would give you a better starting point. Once you have one tile off, getting the rest off should be fairly easy. Again, though, make sure to cut the grout out first.

If it is really wall tile and is fairly soft, a carbide bit on something like a RotoZip or a jigsaw blade with carbide will cut the tile. If it is floor tile, though, it will be nearly impossible to cut easily since it is much harder. An angle grinder with a diamond cutoff blade could do it, but it would be very dusty and takes some skill. Best is to find a fan tha twould need a hole the multiple of your existing tile, or at least has a bezel that will cover taking out whole tile.

Try using the carbide bit in a Dremel or Rotozip. That's exactly what they are made for. Both have circle cutting attachments that can make perfect circles (in theory, I haven't tried it myself yet). You can get a reconditioned Rotozip for about 60 bucks at CPO Bosch.

If the tile is a wall tile, it will be fairly soft and the tile bits on a RotoZip will cut it fairly easily. If it is a floor tile used on the ceiling, forget it. A diamond blade would do it, but cutting dry will be very dusty. If you are lucky, you can pop the necessary tiles off, cut the drywall out then slide the fan/light in.

Working from Above

If you can get into the area above the ceiling, and find the space between the joists where you want to put the fan, you can start the hole by drilling down to the tile and punching through with a small punch. You might also be able to drill through with a carbide masonry drill.

You locate the place you want to put it by measuring from where the bathroom wall comes up to the attic joists.

I have found it pretty easy to break away one tile in the center from the back without damaging the other tiles. Then you can work around that to make a hole that will be covered by the rim of the fan. After you locate the center of the tile you want to remove by using the location of the drill hole, a sharp blow on a small punch on the back of the tile will shatter that tile and make it easy to pull away.