Should I ventilate (exhaust fan) an attached garage (used for storage) under bedrooms ?
We have a high ranch where the bedrooms are above our attached 2 car garage. The garage height is too low for us to have our SUV in there anyway, so it’s probably going to be used for storage.
We’re in the middle of renovations (still rough plumbing/electrical), and I’m wondering if it’s worth while to add a bathroom exhaust fan (eg: Panasonic Whisper Quiet) to the exterior wall of the garage.
My reasoning for this would be (1) electrician can easily do it now, (2) it’ll help get some airflow in the garage when in the summer, and (3) I would like to keep the garage a negative pressure relative to the house, even if we have good air seal separation from the garage. I assume that the intake air will come through the gaps in the garage doors.
In case it matters, the garage is partially below grade, probably just the top 2-3″ of the garage are above the side yard.
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Replies
It's nice to have the option to run that fan if you are ever going to do any hobbies in the garage with fumes or if you anticipate that you will often be putting a lot of wet stuff away in the garage. OTOH, it's a hole in the wall that will leak air and conduct heat. If you are undecided, you could always run a wire to a box and consider adding a fan at a future date. No one has ever regretted having an extra wire in their wall.