this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2026
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Replaced a ceiling mounted one that made the plasterboard vibrate with an inline fan. The inline fan is up in the attic and ducts through the roof. The new fan extracts 3x as much air and is much quieter.

Still need to make good the ceiling, but that's tomorrow*'s job.

*Tomorrow in this case may not actually be tomorrow.

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 27 points 6 days ago (2 children)

If the fan isnt loud enough, everyone's gonna hear me shidding... 😭

[–] thelardboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 5 days ago (2 children)

There's only a bath, shower and sink in this room. Any pooping should take place in the WC next door. If that changes, I'll have more concerns than fan niose.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 13 points 5 days ago (1 children)

They can hear me shidding and waffle stomping! 😱

[–] Dojan@pawb.social 8 points 5 days ago

You know, that's entirely my fault for eating and browsing Lemmy at the same time.

[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 days ago

You've never done a bath floater before?

[–] TwilitSky@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago

Everyone but the OP is worried about this.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 27 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Ugh. Textured ceilings. Created to hide uneven construction and save time.

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 9 points 6 days ago (2 children)

and to dampen the acoustics

Only if designed to. Acoustic materials are very specific. Most of this cheap junk applied is just plastered textures barely different than the gypsum wallboard they’re applied to.

[–] Khrux@ttrpg.network 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

But I want maximal acoustics in my bathroom. The world needs to know.

[–] thelardboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

When we moved in, the first room we renovated had this same paper, but it had been covered with vinyl paint. We ended up getting it re-boarded and skimmed. Life's too short to strip off that shit.

[–] Th3D3k0y@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

My bathroom is covered in massive spikes of the stuff, not even pebbles or "texture" like 3-4cm spires of plaster spikes.

[–] thelardboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 days ago

You have my sympathies. Our hall, stairs and landing have textured plaster on the walls above the dado rail. We used a random orbital sander to take the worst peaks down and then skimmed over. Sanded when dry, re-skimmed, sanded, primed then two coats of paint. A one week job took three. It still looks a bit shit, but it's way better than it was. We are still finding bits of the dust when we move a bit of furniture.

[–] nullroot@lemmy.world 25 points 6 days ago

Listen, it can still be tomorrow's job any day. I'm any case, dull work friend, well done.

[–] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 15 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Nice. Easy enough to swap? Sometimes it can be a nightmare trying to get the existing hole/ductwork/etc to work but it sounds like yours went easy.

[–] slothrop@lemmy.ca 13 points 6 days ago

Ya, mine's a nightmare that I almost addressed a couple years ago, after 8 years of ownership. Got up into the rafters and changed my mind, putting it off for another dreaded future attempt.
Now I'm selling the place, so it's someone else's problem.

[–] thelardboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Not exactly easy, as the part of the attic I was working in is not boarded, so lots of twisting to get angles for screwdrivers etc. The existing ducting was long enough that it easily accomodated the new fan. Snips and zip-ties FTW. Took an hour and a half and I managed to strip the head of the last screw I put in to secure the new fan into the bracket holding it onto the rafters. That is also future me's problem.

[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 12 points 6 days ago (3 children)

I want to leave my old loud ones in because nervous poopers turn the fan on for the noise I've noticed over the years of having house guests.

[–] BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

It also reminds me if I have left it on!

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

Set up some speakers and a choice selection of tuba music to set the mood and drown out any sounds.

[–] Town@lemmy.zip 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 2 points 5 days ago

No but that's a good solution too! Ha.

[–] usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 13 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Easiest ceiling fix is making a square piece of plywood/mdf to cover the area and paint it white. Add a nice edge so it doesn't look slap-dash.

I personally prefer a louder extraction fans in bathrooms; covers up other noises.

[–] TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

Like all the screaming and crying.

[–] thelardboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 days ago

We have a seperate WC, so those more personal noises aren't an issue, thankfully.

It's mainly steam removal and condensation reduction that we need. After my shower this morning, it seems like it's a successful upgrade.

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago

Does it? For those outside the bathroom?

Advice I’ve read is white noise machine just outside the bathroom door. Not sure I’ve ever seen it, but!

(Suppose it’d only potentially matter because of the false sense of discretion)

[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'm hoping to do this too, but I'm a gamer boi so it's going to be an RGB Noctua fan.

[–] crank0271@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

Learn some plumbing and water cool that sucker

[–] ladicius@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

When has tomorrow ever been tomorrow?

I can answer that but I'm kinda busy right now... Tomorrow?

[–] plateee@piefed.social 6 points 6 days ago

I had to do this to my one bathroom - it wasn't great, but it was fine... The prior owners of this house did very questionable "I watched too much HGTV" things.

I'm not looking forward to replacing the other bathroom fan - looking at it from the attic, it looks like they did a mixture of 2x4 and metal braces to keep it in place.

[–] albbi@piefed.ca 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Reminds me of when I moved into my house. The bathroom ceiling fan in the master ensuite was so noisy and grindy I just hated being in there. I took the fan out and wiped off all the dust. Can't remember if I greased anything but I probably tried something. Dropped the noise level so much and no more grinding.

If I ever replace it, there are some fans that have Bluetooth speakers built in. I might do that for some shower music.

[–] thelardboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

The main issue for mine was that it resonated with the ceiling panels, meaning there was a loud vibration that could be heard in other rooms. The noise from the new fan is just the whooshing of the air, no vibrations at all, and when the door is closed it's almost inaudible.

[–] rottenmummy@lemmy.ml 5 points 6 days ago

That is cool

[–] Kenny2999@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Hope you used a class 1 decibel-o-meter. 15 is a lot.

[–] thelardboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 days ago

My high tech smartphone sound meter read 65dB yesterday and 50 today. That's scientific enough for me.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

Excellent, good job!

I’ve been wondering what those are like to work on. A previous owner did similar in my kitchen and the fan always rattled. At some point I pulled down a gasket caught in the blades, so clearly they screwed up the installation. I haven’t been up there though, I hesitate to deal with the insulation.

[–] Deebster@infosec.pub 1 points 5 days ago

I need to do that to my UPS - I built a quiet PC but I can't tell since the UPS fans are loud even in eco mode (and deafening when it's using its batteries).