{"id":15365,"date":"2016-06-13T13:14:21","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T13:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=15365"},"modified":"2018-10-31T10:17:59","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T09:17:59","slug":"surveyors-guide-home-maintenance-ventilation-air-tightness","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=15365","title":{"rendered":"A surveyor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s guide to home maintenance – Ventilation & Air-tightness"},"content":{"rendered":"

The two subjects of ventilation and air-tightness are closely interlinked and it has been a trend in modern property design to pay close attention to both. Specifically, new build houses are now built in accordance with strict air-tightness principles which aim to ensure that the passage of air into and out of\u00c2\u00a0the house is entirely (or as close to as possible) controllable.<\/p>\n

The context<\/strong><\/p>\n

Modern air control regulations are contained in Parts F and L of the Building Regulations 2010, an item of secondary legislation which applies to all new structures.<\/p>\n

The concept is to make sure that new properties are tighter than 5m\u00c2\u00b3h\/m\u00c2\u00b2 infiltration \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that reduces the otherwise difficult to avoid \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcleakage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. The vast majority of the air-flow out of the house then becomes \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcventilation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which should be executed by controllable means.<\/p>\n

Of course, older homes will have\u00c2\u00a0varying degrees of air-tightness and particularly old houses will be characteristically very draughty indeed.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We spend hundreds of pounds a year heating our homes, but a draughty house with high air changeover rates will simply remove that heat into the outside environment. This forces our heating bills up and, most importantly in the Government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes, increase the carbon emissions production required to a heat a given house.<\/p>\n

The Building Research Establishment (BRE) who write the Building Regulations, have indicated that a house achieving the present limit of 5m3<\/sup>\/hr will use 40 per cent less energy on space heating than the 2005 standard of 10m\u00c2\u00b3\/hr.<\/p>\n

A combination of air-tightness and effective ventilation is therefore important in terms of bill reduction and protecting the environment.<\/p>\n

Effective \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcpurge\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 ventilation (high volume air removal, usually achieved with mechanical fans or even just by opening a window) is essential in\u00c2\u00a0removing moisture-laden air before vapour\u00c2\u00a0can settle and condense on walls and timbers.<\/p>\n

How? <\/strong><\/p>\n