CREATING A BETTER HOME PART 4: VENTILATION & AIR QUALITY
Getting a constant supply of clean air in your home is vital for the health of your building and its occupants. Georgina Crothers looks at the side effects of poor ventilation and the steps to take to achieve a comfortable, fresh living environment
The air quality in your home has a major effect on your quality of life. We spend much of our time indoors. So, a constant fresh supply of indoor air is critical for good health – yet it’s frequently overlooked. Indoor air is often more polluted with gases, chemicals and allergens than outdoor air, yet we continuously breathe it in both throughout the day and particularly in the night when we're sleeping.
Building a new house from scratch or undertaking a major renovation is a great opportunity to create a home that not only looks good and functions effectively, but feels better to live in. So, adequate ventilation is a worthwhile investment to ensure consistently good indoor air quality. On top of that, there are steps you can take to make the atmosphere in your home as healthy as it can be from the start. In the final part of Build It’s series on creating a better home, I’m looking at the importance of good quality air indoors and the measures you can incorporate into your project to deliver a healthy, well-ventilated environment.
How you install MVHR will depend on the type of joists you specify. The ductwork in this heat pump
ventilation setup by Total Home Environment (www.totalhome.co.uk) runs smoothly through the posi-joists, which feature an open metal webbing