Stupid blasted mrrffffkrffff bathroom exhaust fan

I guess I could look at this as bathroom remodeling project step 1, except if the entire project went like this one has gone, I'm likely to say fergedaboudit (well, more likely to say something else that I wouldn't publish in my house blog).

It seemed like a fairly straightforward task: Take out old ugly loud bathroom exhaust fan/light, and replace it with new pretty quiet exhaust fan/light.

Uh-huh. Why, after over 27 years of old house ownership I would every apply the word "straightforward" to any project, I do not know. Foolish me.

First there was the task of getting the old one out. Previous Owners had installed it before putting up the ceiling drywall so of course it didn't want to come out. We finally won that bitterly fought battle, but only after having destroyed the old fixture beyond any possible reuse, as we had originally planned.

One brief moment of elation: The old opening is big enough for the new fixture!!

Except.

The old fixture was attached to the joist on the left side. The new fixture could only be attached on the right.

Ok, well it's just a little drywall, we'll just cut over to the next joist and patch.

So we cut. THEN we notice that the old opening is actually wider than the new box requires which means that the drywall patch must cover the big area vacated by the old box, but also an inch or so to either side. No big deal though. Let's just get this puppy screwed in and put up the drywall.

Except.

The space above the ceiling was just JUST big enough for the old fixture. And the sides of both fixtures were the same height. But the new fixture has bump-outs on top to the tune of making the bottom of the fixture drop 3/4" below the ceiling.

Many profane words happened here.

We ended up doing a combination of pushing down the bumped-up part of the top (after verifying that we'd still be able to get the motor in) and pulling up the lip of the bottom in order to get it sized small enough to fit.

Oh and getting the old ducting hooked up with NO maneuvering room was fun. It would have been impossible if we hadn't had the extra open space created by having to move it over.

And isn't it lovely that Hunter Fans doesn't bother telling you that they don't include one of the locking doodads for protecting wire from the sharp edges of the box and holding it in place until you're halfway through the instructions. We didn't have the locking one they specified and the plastic one from the old box had cracked in our efforts to take down that sucker, but we just wrapped it in some electrical tape, shoved it in the hole, and called it a day.

So the box is up, the electric was tested (well, for the fan - we'll presume a working light on faith), the crazy-shaped bit of drywall is in place, and the first layer of compound is drying. Partner will put on the second layer tomorrow, then we can finally put the light in place.

Though really we shouldn't put the light in place until after we repaint the ceiling since it wasn't actually drywall we put up but a scrap of greenboard, but I'm simply not going to even consider painting the ceiling this weekend so I'll just have to live with the greenboard for a week or twelve.

So much fun was had today, let me tell you.