[nredman]

My wife and I recently bought an older house and will be moving into it soon. Like a lot of old houses this house has a small bathroom with a window right above the tub. The window has a wood frame and we will have to keep moisture away from the window as much as possible until we can update the window or the whole bathroom. I was just wondering if there are any of you who have an older house like this or have any suggestions on how to keep the moisture level down. We will run the fan when showering and have thought of making a small shower curtain to cover the window. any ideas???? thanks

[tooki]

For one thing, open that window!

But I think a fresh coat of bathroom paint (or wood sealer, if the wood is, or can be made, naked) would stop most of the problem.

How old is the house? If the window has survived 50 years of bathroom moisture and it's still there now, it'll probably survive another few more until you get new windows.

tooki

[Railroader]

You could replace the wood with another wood that is resistant to rot. Teak is perfect.

There was a window in our bathroom like this. Luckily the previous owner covered it up and got rid of it.

You could also replace the widow sill with granite. a friend of mine did this and it helped a lot.

Short term, i'd make a small shower curtain for it and make sure you dry it if it ever gets wet.

Moisture kills a house.

[andi*pandi]

we did the impromptu curtain thing out of a shower liner. It's in our 10 year plan to redo this bathroom... can't wait.

[nredman]

thanks for the comments guys

[Mastrap]

Open the window. A window is the best thing you can have in a bathroom, it keeps condensation down

[Spliffdaddy]

Keep it caulked and painted - preferably with an oil based paint. I've seen windows like that last forever. It is pretty typical to see them in homes built in the 1920's-1950's. I had a house with a beautiful stained glass window above the tub. I just tiled around it and left it there.

[Timo]

Yep, open the window. Keep the moisture off the sill. Perhaps get a fresh coat or two of laytex on the window to keep it up before you replace it later.

[volcano]

My bathroom is the same way. We have a free-standing bathtub/shower with a lovely little window right above it. We have a shower curtain that goes around the entire perimeter of the tub... which works wonderfully. Like others have suggested, caulk and paint it with an oil-based paint and you'll be fine. Our bathroom doesn't even have a fan, but the paint is just fine.

[alligator]

I found an unexpected way to seal a window from moisture. We put up some 3M insulating film last year to help insulate our house during the winter. It also kept condensation off of the window. It is also removable.

[el chupacabra]

you can put tile around it with a tile sill.

[BRussell]

Make sure the fan exhausts outside properly. We had a fan that just went into the attic. It shouldn't be a problem if there's an outside window there, but you never know what someone before you did, as we found out.

[Timo]

Originally Posted by BRussell

Make sure the fan exhausts outside properly. We had a fan that just went into the attic. It shouldn't be a problem if there's an outside window there, but you never know what someone before you did, as we found out.

Often a bathroom with a window won't have a fan, as the window meets code ventilation requirements for a bathroom. And yes, I see fans that vent just to a plenum (and not outside) all the time.

[ort888]

My bathroom has a 4 foot by 4 foot frosted glass block window right in the shower. You get a nice view of my blurry pink ass every time I take a shower. My neighbors should set up a webcam.