Ventilation Past Present and Future

If you have ever been in Barcelona and have had the opportunity to visit La Pedrera (Case Milà) built by Antoni Gaudi in the early 1900’s, one of the interesting facts is how Gaudi integrated natural ventilation into his design. Gaudi was a man ahead of his time but he understood that ventilation, even in the early 1900’s was an integral part of the health of the home and it’s residents.

Internal courtyards were integrated into the design of La Pedrera. Each courtyard allowed the residents to open windows inside their apartment for a source of fresh air and cross ventilation as each apartment had access to a courtyard as well as an outside (façade side) window.

If we go back even further we see ventilation coming into play in the 17th century when King Charles I of England decreed that all ceilings must be 10 feet high and windows must be higher than wide to increase ventilation. I guess we can attribute the first building code to Charles the 1st. As we skip though time we see ventilation become more prominent with windows, open courtyards, additional chimneys and so forth.

Then came the big innovation – the advent of what is known as mechanical ventilation. This includes bathroom exhaust fans, kitchen range hoods as well as air intake to assist with the ventilation and balancing of the home. These items became code and are now commonplace in almost all homes across the United States and beyond. They are also required as part of the national building code, which is a great thing.

Unfortunately there has been a recent trend where the importance of ventilation was put to the side a bit as the importance of energy efficient homes was brought to the forefront. It wasn’t that ventilation was forgotten, it was just not as important. The issue was that to build a “tight” home, you didn’t want any air leakage in or out. If you were removing air, you had to replace it and replacing the air caused you to have to condition that air – using more energy. Thankfully it was recognized that while having a tight home with minimum air leakages is great for your energy bill it is not great for your health. Now we are understanding that we need a balanced approach to make sure we have proper ventilation while still maintaining the energy efficiency of the home. This means taking control of the air coming in and out of the home using exhaust fans and air intake products.

As we look to what is next for ventilation, it is great to see that the importance is permeating into our workspaces as well as our residences. More and more offices and public building are realizing there is a responsibility to provide a healthy and safe space. Part of that is making sure the air that is being breathed in those spaces is the best it can be. There have been many studies done showing that a properly ventilated office can actually increase productivity and decrease the number of sick days taken by employees. The interesting thread through the history of ventilation is the simplicity of it – remove the stale indoor air and replace it with fresh air. The methods have changed over the years but the principles have stayed the same.

For more information about Air King’s line of ventilation solutions including exhaust fans, range hoods and fresh air intake, utilize the menu links at the top of this page. Also check out our other posts about ventilation and indoor air quality.

Ventilation for Your Laundry Room? YES!

The laundry room can sometimes be a forgotten area of the home when it comes to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). Most of the IAQ focus when it comes to ventilation is on the kitchen and bathrooms and rightfully so. However, the laundry room can be a large source of contaminants in your home. Let’s take a closer look at the laundry room.

If we are calling it a laundry room, then by name laundry is being done there which means there is a washer and in most cases a dryer. That means there are chemicals in the room. Off-gassing of cleaning detergents have a negative effect on your IAQ. Have you ever gone into the laundry room and had a smell of chemicals. They might even smell somewhat good – like flowers. Unless you are also growing flowers in your laundry room, that smell is the off-gassing of the cleaning detergents. Then there are the machines themselves. With higher rate spin cycle washers and especially with dryers, their normal operation is going to produce heat and humidity. This can lead to an uncomfortable area to be in temperature-wise and the extra humidity in the room can lead to mold and mildew growth.

So far we have only talked about the washer and dryer in the room. In many homes, the laundry room doubles as a storage room for other cleaners. Many also have a utility sink for cleaning up things like paint, grease and other items that you don’t want to risk damaging the kitchen sink to clean. These just add to the amount of off-gassing happening. Another issue is that typically the laundry room is a smaller room so all these factors are concentrated in a small space.

After all that I am sure you are excitingly looking forward to the next time you need to do the laundry or even just walking through the room. Okay, maybe not. The good news is there are some things you can do to lessen your exposure to these contaminants.

1.     Install and utilize a ventilation fan. This is your best option. This will take contaminates and remove them from the home. You may want to consider a two-speed fan. Two-speed fans run continuously at a very low speed, then at a higher speed when the room is occupied. The low speed would help eliminate any off-gassing from chemicals being stored in the room then the high speed would take care of when laundry is actually being done. You can also look at models that have motion sensors that switch from low to high automatically based on if the room is being used or not. If a two-speed fan is a bit much for you, even a small inexpensive single speed fan will make a world of difference in eliminating contaminates.

2.     Open a window or an outside door. This can also be effective but has its limitations. An open door or window will help when the room is being used but unless you keep it open all the time, any off-gassing will stay in the room until the next time the door or window is opened. This is also not an ideal solution if you live in areas of extreme heat or cold.

3.     Keep the door to the laundry room open. This is the least effective method but is better than nothing – maybe. By keeping the laundry room door open to the rest of the home it will disperse the contaminates. The issue, however, is that it is dispersing them into possibly your main living area, which is not a good situation. If the rest of your home is properly ventilated, it will lessen the effects.

To learn more about Air King’s ventilation solutions, visit www.airkinglimited.com.