Why Planning is Essential for Good Ventilation in Your Home

Want an energy efficient and comfortable living space? The best way to properly ventilate your house is to carefully include ventilation features and factors in the initial design process. This is where good communication with your architects is vital.

To do this you need to make it clear that you wish to prioritise proper ventilation and discuss it early in the planning process. Whether it’s through skylights and window placement, or ventilation systems like a whole house fan, or even the way the building is laid out. The same is important to discuss before renovations begin.

So, if you have an existing building or a new development planned and would like to improve the ventilation, this article is for you!

What is the Purpose and Value of Ventilation Architecture?

The main purpose of ventilation architecture is to ensure a healthy breathing environment and control temperature without using artificial cooling systems that recirculate air. Proper ventilation dilutes pollutants from the air by introducing fresh air and works to remove some pollutants from the building. Ventilation also helps to prevent moisture buildup and carbon dioxide levels from rising.

In larger rooms where mass assemblies of people occur, like halls and cinemas, ventilation is crucial for temperature control and to remove stuffy, polluted, and dusty air. Homes work on a smaller scale, but similar principles apply. All the above can easily be achieved by including smart design elements and practical installations in the initial architectural design of your home.

What is the Best Way to Circulate Air in a House?

Experts often have two favourite ways to best circulate air in your home.

One way is balanced circulation. A balanced ventilation system is where separate fans drive the flow of air, both the inlet and exhaust. This gives you control over where the air is delivered, where it comes from, and where exhaust air is drawn from. A whole house fan in this way to drive out used air and replace it with fresh outdoor air.

Other effective ways to achieve proper ventilation is adding features like a ventilated skylight or a roof ventilation system. This is an excellent and affordable solution, especially where having two fans isn’t possible.

Solatube also have a ventilation add-on kit that fully integrates with their Solatube® 160 DS skylight to offer ventilation in combination with the introduction of daylight.

By having smart ventilation features there’s no need for additional fans and ventilation features that take a lot of energy to run.

Our Top Ventilation Recommendations for Your Home That Can Be Added During OR After Building and Renovations

Artificial cooling can impose a high energy cost. Finding solutions to naturally circulate air inside a house or building, at lower costs are essential. Here are the top ventilation recommendations to consider when looking for better circulation inside a house:

• The Solar Star: As the name suggests, the Solar Star is a fan powered by the sun, making it cost-effective, and energy efficient. It only required approximately 2 hours for installation of each unit.
• Solatube Whole House Fan: The Whole House Fan is an excellent way of achieving ventilation across your entire home with one installation. It’s the most effective ventilation option Solatube has to offer in terms of whole house ventilation.
• Skylights: Skylights are the most natural way of ventilation and bring light into dark places. Ventilation add-ons are available for our tubular device installations.
• Vented electric fans: Vented electric fans are effective, but unfortunately somewhat costly since they need to run regularly, which also means more cleaning and maintenance.
• Whirlybirds: Whirlybirds have zero operational costs. Just remember that they rely on temperature differentials to work.

There are a variety of ventilation options available from Solatube, just ask our friendly sales team!

It’s clear that ventilation is more important than you may realise and deserves a spot on your priority list when designing your home or other buildings. Ventilation architecture has improved a lot over the years, but there is always room for improvement.

For the current market leading solutions that will get your home properly ventilated, contact Solatube today for your obligation free quote!