Ventilation is more vital today than it was in the past for various reasons. Most crucially, 100 years ago, dwellings were notoriously leaky. Fresh air could easily enter through all the gaps, fissures, and holes in the building envelope because there was usually little insulation in the walls.
Furthermore, the building materials utilized 100 years ago were primarily natural goods. They did not result in considerable off-gassing of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde, flame retardants, and other chemicals found in today’s building materials, furnishings, and personal things.
In today’s world, where coronavirus mutates rapidly, it has become very important to keep proper ventilation to prevent germs from accumulating in our homes or offices.
As more employees and customers return to business and office environments after remaining at home during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak, the air we breathe indoors is being scrutinized more closely than ever before.
Poor indoor air quality in commercial settings can lead to a health concern known as sick building syndrome. Employees and customers feel discomfort and health issues directly related to the amount of time they spend inside the facility.
Hence, this article will give importance to ways you can adopt to improve ventilation in your home.
Ways To Improve Ventilation
Some of the ways to improve ventilation include:
1. Using Exhaust Fans
It would be best to place exhaust fans in all commercial restrooms and kitchens to help with ventilation. Exhaust fans in bathrooms help increase ventilation and indoor air quality by removing moisture from the air and funneling bathroom odors outside.
When used in restrooms, they can also help to decrease cleaning product fumes. A properly working hood or range fan is essential if your commercial property has a kitchen. Further, cooking smells, heat, oil, and smoke are all removed by kitchen exhaust fans.
2. Implementing Natural Ventilation
Natural ventilation is a must. Specific design characteristics are included in this very unusual method to bring in fresh air and remove stale air.
Building a solar chimney, in which air is heated by the sun, becomes more buoyant, and rises up and out through vents towards the top of the building, lowering the pressure inside the house and allowing fresh air to enter through correctly designed intake ports, is one approach.
3. Controlling The Source
Typically, the most effective strategy to enhance indoor air quality is to eliminate or reduce particular sources of pollution. Some sources can be covered or enclosed, such as asbestos, while others, such as gas stoves, can be modified to limit emissions.
Because boosting ventilation can raise energy costs, source management is often a more cost-effective strategy for safeguarding indoor air quality than increasing ventilation.
4. Using Air Cleaners
Air cleaners come in various shapes and sizes, ranging from low-cost desktop models to complex and expensive whole-house systems. Some air cleaners are extremely good at removing particles, while others, such as most table-top ones, are not.
The majority of air cleaners aren’t designed to remove gaseous contaminants. How successfully an air cleaner collects pollutants from indoor air (reported as a % efficiency rate) and how much air it draws through the cleaning or filtering device determines its effectiveness (expressed in cubic feet per minute).
A cleaner with a high air-circulation rate but a less efficient collector will not be effective, nor would a cleaner with a low air-circulation rate but a more efficient collector. Any air cleaner’s long-term performance is dependent on following the manufacturer’s instructions.
5. Set Your Air Conditioner
Air conditioners can help, but only if they are set correctly. You don’t want to recycle indoor air at work or home because it just fans the same air around the room (but now colder or warmer).
Instead, make sure your air conditioner is set to draw in 100% fresh air from the outside. In offices, some options allow the system to boost air change per hour, which reduces the time it takes for all of the air inside the space to be completely replaced with fresh air from outside.
6. Open The Windows
This may seem obvious, but the first and most essential thing you should do is open all the windows. Opening all windows will allow fresh air into the house, with the breeze coming in and boosting the overall atmosphere.
It will replace the stale indoor air inside the room with fresh outdoor air and remove allergies, pollutants, and excess moisture. Open the windows in two separate portions or directions to create a cross breeze if you have the opportunity.
7. Use Vents in Walls
Installing vents is another excellent technique to improve your home’s overall air circulation and ventilation. Extractor fans are a specialized ventilation system that can be put in specific home regions.
These fans are ideally positioned in laundries and bathrooms, as these are the areas where moisture and filthy air can quickly accumulate.
8. Investigate Utility Room
The utility room is one location that would benefit from improved ventilation, and this is the most common area where there will be a lot of humidity.
As a result, adding some ventilation, such as a fan, will significantly improve the environment and ambiance.
9. Use House Plants
House plants are excellent at cleansing the air and look great in the home. Indoor fans that provide healthy air movement inside the room, together with your home plants, will significantly enhance the air quality and lower carbon dioxide levels in the region.
Toxic pollutants in the air are also eliminated. Furthermore, they make excellent house decorations. The air will be considerably more purified and well-ventilated when selecting the best plant varieties.
Aloe vera, gerbera daisy, peace flower, rubber plant, snake planet, and weeping fig are the most significant indoor plants for improving air quality.
10. Purge Indoor Air
Before each use, purge the air at least once a day and for two hours. You may consider increased purging frequency for spaces with a high risk of disease transmission.
Extend the operation of ACMV systems with external air intake for two hours before and after each occupancy in buildings without air purification systems.
11. Use Porous Things
Furthermore, if you want to keep a good airflow, you should use materials that help air move around. Porous bricks are an excellent way to help with ventilation.
12. Do Laundry Outside
We’re all guilty of washing our laundry and drying our clothing indoors, and there are many valid reasons for this. We may blame it on the inconsistency of the weather, or we can blame it on the extreme inconsistency of the weather (especially in winter).
However, drying damp garments inside our houses causes condensation and reduces the efficiency of your heating system. In the winter, it also hastens condensation and mold growth.
To avoid this problem, dry your garments in a covered outdoor location, such as under a patio cover or canopy, where they may dry while remaining out of the rain’s reach.
If you have no other choice than to dry your laundry inside, make sure your windows are open to let the extra moisture out.
Conclusion
The ventilation is even more critical in today’s better-insulated, tighter dwellings. Even in a highly leaky house, though, you can’t bank on bringing in much fresh air or calm days in the spring and fall when the building envelope isn’t leaking.
Hence, balanced ventilation is advised if funds allow. Mechanical ventilation consumes energy at all times, but the energy penalty of fresh air is reduced with heat recovery.