Habit we all do after every shower is why your bathroom keeps getting mould

Turning on the bathroom fan before you step in the shower is a brilliant habit that helps prevent moisture lingering in the room long enough to encourage mould growth.

The same can’t be said for our habit of turning it off as soon as we’re finished in the shower, which leaves steam inside the room long after we’re done.

Technician Avi, from Fresh Duct Melbourne, told nine.com.au it’s one of two big mistakes people are making with their exhaust fans.

“Leave it on for 15 to 20 minutes [after your shower], or if the room doesn’t have proper ventilation like open windows, you can even keep it on for 30 minutes,” he said.

“The idea is, of course, to move away the steam and the humidity from the room, which is the cause for mould growth. If the room is always moist, eventually you can have mould start growing either on the ceiling or even in the attic in the joists.

“This is where it becomes a much more serious issue and even a health hazard, and this is where you can’t really treat the mould yourself. You have to do it properly, especially if it’s beyond the visible part, which is the interior of the plasterboard, like the ceiling.”

Leaving the fan on after a shower isn’t the only thing we need to do to ensure our exhaust fans can do their job of removing moisture, they should also be cleaned regularly.

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“Excessive moisture plus the vents that have the dust on them can even accelerate the mould growth,” he said.

Avi sees filthy exhaust fans every day on the job, despite them being easy to maintain ourselves.

“People are overlooking the exhaust fans. Most of the time they keep them dirty, clogged with dust. This is where they lose some of the suction power and the performance, and this dust obviously later on is not just on the, on the vent grills, it accumulates inside the motor as well, which later on makes them really underperform,” he told nine.com.au.

“If they are cleaned on time, and they don’t accumulate this much dust, you probably won’t need a professional [to service them]. Those fans are built to last, five, seven years, [even] 10 years,” he told nine.com.au. 

Exhaust fans only need cleaning every six to 12 months or when you see dust building up – though before that is ideal. Cleaning them depends on the type of fan you have, but most of us have the basic vent and grill type rather than a ducted exhaust fan.

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Before you start cleaning make sure the exhaust fan is turned off. As long as you’re only cleaning the cover and not using cleaning sprays or water – which can damage the motor – you won’t need to turn the electricity off at the switchboard.

You can wipe or vacuum the cover while it’s on, or give it a thorough clean by taking the cover off.

If the motor is in a state where it can’t be cleaned just by wiping or vacuuming the dust, call a professional. 

“Cleaning the grill on time will make sure the dust doesn’t accumulate on the motor itself,” Avi said.