Why ventilate your home?
Properly designed and commissioned ventilation in your home is necessary to provide a dry, healthy and comfortable environment within your home. Ventilation is the replacement of indoor air contaminated with pollutants with fresh outdoor air, the downside being that heat energy is required to run the ventilation system and warm the incoming air.
All homes require a measured supply of fresh outdoor air for the well-being of the occupants, keeping internally produced pollutants and condensation down to acceptable and safe levels. Excessive moisture within the home leads directly to problems such as condensation, dust mites and black toxic mould growth with subsequent potential health side effects for the occupants.
Over past years there is an ever increasing drive for energy efficiency in dwellings, making the building fabric as air tight as possible. The consequence is that pollutants build up inside the home such as:
- Moisture
- Carbon monoxide
- Carbon dioxide
- Allergens (dust mites)
- Volatile organic compounds (VAC’s-paint, cleaning fluid, man-made belongings in the home such as furniture and carpets
High levels of humidity brought about by lifestyle activities such as bathing, cooking and simply living and breathing are the most common. Excessive dampness within the building structure also means that heating within the home is naturally absorbed by the damp fabric leaving occupants feeling chilly and producing excessive heating bills.
Interstitial condensation is another problem area where humidity percolates and diffuses through the building fabric and condenses out within causing damp walls, ceilings, spoiled decorations, decay in timber and corrosion in metal A well designed system is very beneficial in many cases in reducing health problems such as hay fever and asthmatic conditions.
As insulation standards have increased, heat losses brought about by ventilation have also increased as a proportion of overall heat loss. Ventilation efficiency has therefore come under scrutiny to ensure that a good overall design serving the needs of the whole dwelling and its occupants is achieved.
The importance of a good ventilation design and strategy cannot be over-emphasised and the framework to achieve this is summarised by the introduction of Building Regulations (England and Wales) Approved document F-Means of ventilation.
At Dryabode Property Care we have the specialist surveying expertise, technical knowledge and practical experience to produce a professionally designed, balanced ventilation strategy tailored to your particular home, meeting the requirements of current standards taking into account:
- Your lifestyle and needs within your home.
- Health considerations.
- Energy efficiency.
- Existing environmental conditions.
- Existing home design and special arrangements.
- The building fabric.