Sup /diy/ Is it or is it not okay to vent a bathroom exhaust

>Is it or is it not okay to vent a bathroom exhaust through the soffit?

What does the building code say in your area?

>While upgrading our master bath, I found that the exhaust fan had zero duct work. It was just blowing wet air into the insulation.

Extremely common. Generally, the people that install the fan are electricians. They put in the fan and then bugger off. You are lucky if they even tell the GM that they did the work and that ducts need to be run. They expect someone else to come in and run the ductwork because that isn't their job. What is worse is when they DO run the duct work. 90% of the time they fuck it up.

>I live in a townhome

So, you rent? Is it a condo or something? What has it being a "townhome" got to do with anything? It is just a style of housing and tells us nothing about what you can and can't do with the place. It is like saying "I live in a bungalow" or "I live in a McMansion".

>don't want to fuck with the approval process that'll be required if I cut through the roof or wall.

And yet they will let you tear into a soffit?

>I've read some people say it can backfire and cause condensation in the winter

It can. So can a wall vent if it is too close to the soffits. Another issue is mold. Moist air that is blown into a shady soffit will cause mold. You can also have problems if you have soffit 'roof vents', as the air can get pulled up into the attic. A roof vent is the best way to go overall but it can also be the most expensive.

>>1227749

>Codes
First time home owner. Didn't even think to look, as everything else I've done is cosmetic.

>Common
That's terrifying, but makes a lot of sense.

>Townhome
I own - but because it's a town home the HOA carries the insurance and handles maintenance on anything exterior, including the roof which is shared across four homes. More over, a vent constitutes a cosmetic change to the exterior, requiring approval.

Really bring the whole "I own" thing into question.

>Soffit
It'd run off the back of my house, over my covered deck, so no one would ever notice or care if they did.

>Mold
Well fuck me. Guess I don't have an alternative.

>>1227733
TN climate, likely you are fine just adding a 1 foot or so piece of semi-rigid duct from the exhaust of the fan, so that it makes it blow into the open attic, just above your insulation.

In the summer it's hot enough that it'll mix in the attic air that's even hotter to drop the relative humidity enough to not matter, and likely the fan exhaust once heated would be less humid than the rest of the attic air.
In the winter, low relative humidity, should absorb it just fine.
In the attic, it's acting as a buffer so that you don't end up with a quick transition that would allow condensation easily.

Anyone ever asks, that's how it's always been.
I'm not sure if it's still allowed, but it was done like that for a very long time

>>1227916
Wouldn't blowing dampness into the attic cause mold and shit? Why even have a vent anyway, just move the problem elsewhere?

>>1228028
X amount of water vapor in an area of Y size at Z temperature
You dramatically increase area Y and the relative humidity drops quickly.

Inside your small bathroom at room temp, an average hot shower will condensate all over the place.
You aren't moving the problem, you are dispersing the water into a larger area.
Remember dryer vents are usually on the side wall of a house, and there is rarely any condensate except on the vent itself, and I have yet to see any damage from one on an exterior wall.

I've seen many many bathrooms in older homes that didn't have any sort of venting, just a window, and if the owners didn't ever open the window, they always look like shit, no matter how clean the house. There is mold under paint peeling it off, corrosion on all the fixtures, goo all over the edges of the ceilings, etc.
Boil some water, go set the pot on something in a small area like a closet and see how humid it is. Then boil same amount of water and let it disperse into larger kitchen or other room and see how much less humid the room ends up.

And the attic isn't supposed to be air tight, there should be air flow from under the eaves etc

Here in Michigan, the outlet may be connected by flex-duct to a vented 5gal bucket of plain cat litter or activated charcoal for all I know (I ain't opening that shit nigga).