Social Housing Ventilation Solutions

Feeling drafts in a property does not necessarily mean that there are issues with damp, however the property is leaky in terms of airtightness.

This needs to be balanced with appropriate ventilation, heating and reduction in humidity levels to ensure good levels of indoor air quality and damp mitigation. However, there may be external reasons for the presence of damp in a property, including structural issues, porous surfaces and poor materials.

MVHR units can be installed in existing properties, however these require a full ducting layout and appropriate unit placement, which can be difficult to achieve without a significant renovation.

The levels of heat recovery efficiency may also be lower than published, depending upon the airtightness level in the property.

If a property is poorly ventilated, and the stale, moist air is struggling to escape, this can result in mould being spread around the property.

This is why it's important to ensure that humidity levels are effectively controlled alongside suitable ventilation for a property, coupled with heating.

Generally, mould and condensation gravitate toward cold surfaces, so it may be that the north-facing part of the building is particularly affected.

Some ventilation solutions are required to run permanently to ensure good levels of airflow both in the background and also when cooking or bathing.

This can be for a variety of reasons but can be due to levels of airtightness in that there's not enough background natural air to make up the difference when the fan isn't in use if intermittent, there may not be enough windows or there's fixed glazing preventing the use of natural purge or trickle ventilation for the background air.

Continuous ventilation including MEV, d-MEV and MVHR are typically much quieter and are usually extremely cost effective to run.

For further information on running costs, get in touch with envirovent.