The Importance of Home Ventilation

Proper home ventilation is very important, not only to your health, but also to prevent damage to your home.

The average American spends approximately 90% of their time indoors, so indoor air pollution poses a larger health risk than outdoor pollution. Indoor air pollution levels can be two to five times (even as much as one hundred times) the levels of outdoor air pollution, even in large cities, and industrialized areas.

The lack of good home ventilation can cause not only unpleasant odors, but common products and fixtures can cause irritation, health problems from mold and mildew, and even dangerous gases from combustion sources and from common items found in the average home.

Proper home ventilation also prevents damage to your home by reducing moisture. Moisture damages homes by causing rot to window sills, attic eaves, and other exposed surfaces. Moisture also will peel paint, promote infestation by insects, cause mold growths, raise utility bills because of dampened insulation, and damage carpeting, electronics, furniture, and wallpaper.

Ventilation brings fresh, clean air into the house from the outdoors and removes stale air from the home. Ventilation can happen through infiltration, natural ventilation, and mechanical ventilation. Poor ventilation is most often the cause of bad indoor air quality, building up pollutants, moisture, irritants, and odors that cannot be easily expelled.

When there is too little mechanical, natural, or infiltration ventilation, the air exchange rate will be low, and levels of indoor pollutants will increase. Air exchange rate means how long it takes for the fresh outside air to replace all the stale air from the space. An air exchange rate of .35 air exchanges per hour is minimum recommended now by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Condition Engineers (ASHRAE).