• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
 
Lesson 4 – Ventilation Strategies and Indoor Environmental Quality
Lesson Overview
Indoor environmental quality (IEQ), which includes interior lighting, sound, and indoor air quality, is abasic element of a high-performance house. Of these IEQ subdivisions, indoor air quality (IAQ) is mostimportant. Multiple factors may negatively influence IAQ and it is imperative that the house be built“as a system” to eliminate potentially negative health outcomes of poor IAQ. Poor IAQ can be causedby various types of pollutants derived from inside and outside of the house. Ventilation – the exchangeof indoor air with outdoor air – is essential to reduce indoor pollutants, moisture, and odors.Contaminants such as formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds, and radon can accumulate in poorlyventilated homes, causing health problems. Excess moisture in a home can generate high humiditylevels. High humidity levels can lead to mold growth and structural damage to your home.
Lesson Outline
•
What are the elements of Indoor Environmental Quality?
-
Natural and artificial lighting, noise
-
Indoor air quality
•
What do we consider to be good air quality? Is indoor air better that outdoor air?
•
Interaction of tighter homes, modern lifestyles, IAQ, and health
•
How does outdoor air or soil gas enter a home?
•
Types and sources of pollutants causing poor IAQ 
-
Interior pollutants (mold, cooking odors, VOCs, combustion appliance gasses, secondhand smoke)
-
Exterior pollutants (dust, pollen, radon, pesticides)
•
Strategies for Improving the Air Quality in a Home (New Construction and Remodels)
-
Water and moisture management (slabs, walls, roofs, interior)
-
Alternatives to chemical pest management
-
Selection of appropriate building materials
-
Pollutant control: eliminate, isolate, ventilate, filtrate
-
Ventilation strategies
Natural ventilation (cracks and holes, windows)
Whole-house ventilation (exhaust, supply, balanced)
Spot ventilation (kitchen, bath)
-
Minimum ventilation standards
-
Ventilation and Home commissioning
•
Examples of source-specific contaminant controls
-
Radon
-
Biological contaminants
-
Carbon monoxide from stoves, heaters, fireplaces, chimneys
-
Formaldehyde and VOCs
•
Summary: Ventilation, Green Building, and the “House as a System”
Supporting Reading
Green Building Guidelines p. 97-108Canadian Home Builder’s Association Builders’ Manual p. 49-60
Supporting Videos
Mac Pearce - Mold: Inevitable and Unacceptable (fromwww.BestOfBuildingScience.com)
•
SEGMENT 1 - How mold gets started (misconception vs. reality); allergen vs. toxic,defined; mold and its link to paper walls.
•
SEGMENT 2 - Real molds to worry about; everything in the world is made up of sugar(some science explanations); how things grow and how mold works; manage groundcontact - stupid cubed; stupid design features vs. good design features; staging buildingproducts.
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...