A bathroom without windows by no means has to mean darkness, mold, dampness, and bad air. With these tips, even the interior bathroom becomes a real oasis of well-being.
Photo: living4media / Sanderson, Robert
A bathroom without windows can be found in many apartments. Because while in the rest of the rooms, such as a bedroom or living room, you can not do without daylight and ventilation; the bathroom is often planned indoors. However, if the window is missing, certain points must be considered so mold does not form, and there is no bad air due to moisture. With the following tips, you can turn your bathroom without windows into a bright and exclusive oasis of well-being.
Tip 1: The Ventilation Does It!
When showering, the windowless bathroom quickly turns into a steam bath. But simply opening the window to let the steam escape is not an option. Fortunately, bathrooms without windows usually have a ventilation system for air exchange. If this exhaust air system is missing, you can retrofit the system yourself. Decentralized residential ventilation is the best choice if the bathroom is located on the outside wall. No elaborate exhaust pipes are mounted here, but the system is installed directly on the outer wall. The ventilation system draws the moist air and pumps it outside through the exhaust duct. At the same time, fresh air flows into the bathroom from outside through the ventilation flaps – almost like proper ventilation. If a heat recovery system is integrated into the ventilation system, heat is extracted from the exhaust air, which can then be used to heat the incoming fresh air and, thus, the room.
Even in an interior bathroom, you can subsequently install the system for air exchange – this must be connected to a ventilation shaft or pipe connection. Since with central ventilation, the humid air is only transported outside; you still need a source of fresh air. A ventilation grille in the bathroom door is usually suitable for this purpose. Appropriate grilles for air exchange are available in hardware stores for a few euros.
Manual Ventilation
If it is not possible to install a ventilation system in the bathroom without windows, or if it is not powerful enough, other methods exist to reduce humidity and prevent mold growth in the windowless bathroom. A dehumidifier is particularly suitable for this purpose – this is especially useful in rooms with low air circulation. Furthermore, you should ventilate your bathroom through the open door. Open the window in the hallway or the adjacent room so humidity can escape there. You can use a fan to speed up the air exchange in the windowless bathroom. However, make sure that the doors of the other rooms remain closed; otherwise, the humidity may spread there as well. After showering, dry the walls and hang damp towels in a room with a window.
Tip 2: Replace Daylight With Lighting
While air exchange and moisture reduction sometimes require more effort in a bathroom without windows, you can easily replace daylight with optimized bathroom lighting. Now, numerous daylight lamps on the market can even simulate sunrises and sunsets. If you have a larger budget and the appropriate building requirements, you can also have light chimneys installed. The guidance system “transports” real daylight from the outside into the interior bathroom. Thus, getting up becomes much more cheerful.
But you can also create a cozy atmosphere in the bathroom with various light sources you distribute. For example, a ceiling lamp that gives brighter light and a wall lamp or table lamp for a warmer, indirect light in the evening. It should be noted that the lamps should not be connected to the splash water area.
Tip 3: Use Warm Colors
Underestimated in the bathroom is often still the color design. Standard bathrooms usually come in neutral white or gray. However, warm colors such as cream, beige, vanilla, or ocher in a bathroom without windows have a particularly harmonious effect because these colors, combined with artificial light, look more cozy and make a room appear larger.
