LESLIE: From Honolulu, Hawaii we’ve got Steve. Aloha. How can we help?
STEVE: We have an exhaust fan right above our kitchen top …
TOM: OK.
STEVE: … and it vents directly into the attic.
LESLIE: Ooh, bad.
TOM: That’s a bad thing, Steve. It’s a bad thing for a couple of reasons. First of all, you’re dumping all the steam, the moisture, up into the attic where it can condense and cause mold issues. Secondly, over a cooktop you have a lot of grease. It can collect in the attic and become a fire hazard. So that needs to be ducted through a solid metal duct through the attic to the outside. Now you could bring it through the soffit, you could bring it through the gable and you could bring it up through a roof vent but you can’t dump that into the attic because that’s a potentially dangerous situation.
STEVE: Yeah, I’ve noticed at times – even depends on what we’re cooking – the smell goes around the house and comes out through the – well, we have that entrance through the attic.
TOM: Right. It’s a very unsafe thing, Steve, for a lot of reasons; so you really need to duct that out.
LESLIE: Now, Tom?
TOM: Yeah.
LESLIE: Once this is ducted out of doors, you know whatever minimal insulation there is in Hawaii, does all of that need to be changed out? Do any of the …?
TOM: I would take – yeah, I would take a look at whatever is around there. If you have a bit of insulation in there, which is going to actually help keep your house cooler on warm days, I would definitely replace it as well.
STEVE: Ah. OK, OK. I’ll do that.
TOM: Alright, Steve. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.
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