Good Building Management Can Help Solve Ventilation and Moisture Problems
There are two issues - air circulation and air exchange. Air circulation is normally done on the basis of volume, and you usually have 2-4 air changes per hour, and those numbers are chosen because that's the air that you require to circulate to accomplish three jobs - to heat, to cool, and to filter. Ventilation, on the other hand, has got nothing to do with the volume or the space, but it has to do with the occupancy of the space.
Ventilation is health-related, yet we have to recognize that ventilation is limited in what it can do. The healthcare people don't realize that a lot of their problems are coming from inadequate ventilation in houses.
Building Quality Homes That Exceed Standards
Some builders, particularly those operating at the upper end of the market, are not waiting for ventilation standards to make their own commitment to moisture avoidance. We think that having mechanical ventilation as a standard on all houses is a good thing.
The most significant changes we had to address involved the vapor barrier, low E glass (which is very rarely found), meeting air-tightness goals for the ceiling, and switching to a rigid duct system to meet performance specifications.
We believe that other builders will also realize increased sales and profits if they invest in building healthier homes. With an aging population, the demographics are on their side.
Our evidence is showing that as an individual gets older, he or she is more inclined to take a closer look at the detailing on their home and will be willing to make different selections and products for the home. A recent survey we commissioned indicated that it is the 50-and-over crowd that is making those additional purchases for things that will improve their indoor environments. The other thing we see is that people are not going into nursing homes as frequently and would rather stay in their own homes. A multi-generational home environment is certainly a market of the future.
However, builders must not consider healthy homes to be a mere marketing claim.
It's quite easy. Installers must follow the manufacturer's instructions and avoid using staples, and that basically is what it boils down to. First of all, builders have got to understand why they're installing it. People have really been installing things properly when they realize what it's supposed to do and what the virtues of installing it properly are.
Julian Arhire is a Manager with DtiCorp.com - DtiCorp.com carries more than 35,000 HVAC products, including industrial, commercial and residential parts and equipment from Honeywell, Johnson Contols, Robertshaw, Jandy, Grundfos, Armstrong and more.
