New Bedroom Vent Fan Install

[Potarick]

I want to install a roof vent fan into my 1999 Itasca Suncruiser bedroom but not sure where to cut out without weakening roof etc. There is an AC and the usual ceiling light and air ducts above.

Anyone here have done a fresh cutout on an older itasca suncruiser BEDROOM CEILING/Roof and knows exactly where to make a 14x14 cutout? I got the roof blueprint from the company but it is written in a "language" I cannot comprehend.

Thx

Potarick

[Morich]

Just as a different way to try to move ahead, is it possible that you can scan the drawings in and maybe let the group take a lot to see what they might think?

When cutting blind into the ceiling, the first thing I looked for was the AC ductwork as I DID want to avoid them as well as the major bracing/structure. When I last did one of these, it was before internet info being so easy to get and there was no choice but to go for it and hope not to hit anything too important.

Two things I did to reduce the sweat factor was to look at how the ducts were lined along the ceiling as they tend to run in a pretty straight forward line that I could see by looking at the vents. I was pretty sure I was to the side enough!

Then the question of supports in the ceiling? The old goat that I was in at the time had only cross bracing at equal spaces, so I was able to avoid cutting directly into one of them by eyeballing the spaces and then searching with a stud finder, hoping to find any brads or staples if they had used them to make the panels.

Finding none, I went with a small hole first, then ran a stiff fish tape wire into the foam in each direction as far as I wanted to cut out and since I met no solid block, I then went with cutting bigger hole until I got to the final.

This of course left it open to cutting wires, etc but I "assumed" I could splice and reroute any but got lucky and hit none.

Point to keep in mind when deciding where to place it is that the light may be a good place to find the power, so close to it may be good???

[skitime]

I added an additional roof vent in our bedroom of a 2009 Winnebago Journey. I contacted Winnebago and they sent drawings but could not tell me if I might hit anything in cutting a hole. One evening I saw dew settled on the roof and you could clearly see the metal framing. I maked them with pencil. My roof is fiberglass so I came up with plan of attack. Rather than drill down through and hope for the best, I decided to mine down from the top. This way if I found anything important, I could refoam and repair the fiberglass surface and move to a different location and the interior ceiling would be untouched. So I carefully cut just the fiberglass and slowly chipped away at foam until I was down to the interior ceiling plywood. Only then did I cut the ceiling board. It worked out great and totally love the new MaxxFan.

[Potarick]

Originally Posted by Morich

Just as a different way to try to move ahead, is it possible that you can scan the drawings in and maybe let the group take a lot to see what they might think?

When cutting blind into the ceiling, the first thing I looked for was the AC ductwork as I DID want to avoid them as well as the major bracing/structure. When I last did one of these, it was before internet info being so easy to get and there was no choice but to go for it and hope not to hit anything too important.

Two things I did to reduce the sweat factor was to look at how the ducts were lined along the ceiling as they tend to run in a pretty straight forward line that I could see by looking at the vents. I was pretty sure I was to the side enough!

Then the question of supports in the ceiling? The old goat that I was in at the time had only cross bracing at equal spaces, so I was able to avoid cutting directly into one of them by eyeballing the spaces and then searching with a stud finder, hoping to find any brads or staples if they had used them to make the panels.

Finding none, I went with a small hole first, then ran a stiff fish tape wire into the foam in each direction as far as I wanted to cut out and since I met no solid block, I then went with cutting bigger hole until I got to the final.

This of course left it open to cutting wires, etc but I "assumed" I could splice and reroute any but got lucky and hit none.

Point to keep in mind when deciding where to place it is that the light may be a good place to find the power, so close to it may be good???

Thanks to everyone for chipping in and sorry to jus now getting back. I will blame covid-19 and its endless dramas. I have attached a PDF of the roof that I got from the manufacturer but unfortunately I did skip engineering glass back in the good ole days.

If anyone can interpret that drawing and send me a version in English 101 I will be very grateful. I jus don't want to compromise the framework of the roof by cutting into the wrong areas or by making unnecessary puncture wounds here and there.

[Morich]

Best guess at reading as it is not giving me what I might like for measurements.
But I would be reasonably confident that it has enough to get it done but with caution. I always like to take great care when cutting blind as it is always possible to find wires that we don't expect.
But I did a bit of looking and sorting for info and maybe this will be what you need.
Click this drawing to make it easier to read but what I see is this.

You have a ceiling which is a sandwich of fiberglass outer and carpet laid directly on it inside. For support there are cross" "beams" at the points I marked in orange as well as tow short pieces where I would guess it is prepped for RV that have an option for a vent over the bed!
So that might make it "natural" to put one there, IF that is what you choose????

Some things I would want to think over are if that is the right place for me, I would want to think about how and where to tie into power. The cross brace is likely to be metal, making it somewhat hard to drill through to run power in the foam, etc you might find. So where to get the power?

My new favorite tool for cutting blind is an oscillating tool like this as it is so much safer and less prone to cutting things like wires that will wiggle enough to not be damaged.
This is one that is cheap for the one time user but I'm getting lots of use out of it.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hyper-Tou...Grit/730516237

Then I would go with cutting a 2X2 inch flap in the carpet, cut a hole in the ceiling and then run a stiff wire, etc. to feel if I find the metal in the places I "think" they are located. The idea of the flap is too allow for backing out and gluing the flap shut to cover the damage, if it all goes downhill! The idea is to feel around and make sure the braces allow me to fit the size vent in between the two and it not be 12 wide and I'm looking at needing 14!!!
Always nice to have a backup plan?

[Potarick]

Thanks a lot for those extra info. I am still pondering on whether or not I should attempt it, and ONLY because it is not a necessity but rather an extra convenience.

You are correct on your description of the roof and ceiling carpet....beige carpet that is still in immaculate factory condition as humans cannot yet walk upside down. I would hate to do unsightly damages jus for poking around, but it's gonna happen sooner or later.
Thanks for the oscillating tool you linked as the price is priceless for what it can do.

[Morich]

If one has not used that tool, it is a real big help to find it is so controllable. If we want to just cut a tiny hole, the corner of one of the blades can be used and it will make almost as small a hole as one can imagine and then it makes me feel very good that it is really hard to cut something that will wiggle like my hands!
And if we add a few different blades, it really gets easy to find something to use it for. I hate to sand or scrape things so around an RV, taking caulk off is a big one as it lets me do it with so little effort and so little damage if I don't tilt it too high and go let the blade work it's way under the caulk like that heavy stuff they use around vents. It made taking the older broken vent off go so much faster.
When I was adding a vent to the front on our RV, I ran a wire in and heard/felt it tap into the cross beam and had to change my plan on where I wired it as the beam was about 15 inches from where I started and there was no way to drill that seemed practical, so I did go on the surface at one point. NOT what I wanted but we were short on options in front as there were so many other things on the ceiling. But sticking the wire in and hearing it, told me it was actually metal and not wood that I was ready to drill.