Insulation
Carpentry
Lime Mortar
Strawbale Building
Reclaimed Building Materials
Water Saving Devices
Architecture
Non-Toxic Paints
Ventilation
Draught Proofing
Electrical Systems

Gardens
Green Roofs
Rainwater Harvesting
Porous Parking

Ventilation

All dwellings require ventilation for a number of reasons:

• For the health and comfort of occupants;

• To ensure safe and efficient operation of combustion appliances which draw combustion air from within the dwelling;

• To control condensation by the removal of moisture vapour;

• To remove other pollutants and odours.

In many dwellings, particularly older ones, ventilation is achieved either by the occupants opening windows or from natural air infiltration percolating through gaps in the building fabric. The consequences of this are that some rooms will be over-ventilated leading to occupants' discomfort from cold draughts, or under-ventilated leading to condensation in 'wet' areas such as kitchens and bathrooms. Occupants may attempt to compensate for these effects by increasing heating levels, and therefore wasting energy. Too much ventilation is wasteful of energy but too little ventilation is detrimental to the health and well being of both the occupants and the building fabric.

Associated with all ventilation (deliberate or accidental) will be the cost of heating the air before it leaves the building. These costs can be a significant proportion of space heating costs - up to one half in a modern well-insulated dwelling (because of the lower overall heat loss), and typically one third in older properties. Clearly, in an energy-efficient dwelling, keeping ventilation to the minimum required is desirable. The way to achieve adequate ventilation with minimal waste of heat, is to implement a well thought-out ventilation strategy that provides a proper balance between energy efficiency and indoor air quality.

Green Refurb will carefully study the individual requirements of your property and those of its occupants and carefully tailor a bespoke package for you.