The Ugly Truth About Airtight Buildings

Roger points out the problems with building airtightness (also called envelope airtightness) in his latest rant.

Further reading.

▶ Building airtightness:

▶ What is Airtight Construction?:

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#Airtightness #Ventillation #AirtightConstruction

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[worldadventureman]

The problem is a lot of these regulations are written either entirely or with the help from companies that have a vested interest in selling some new fangled product. These days we have huge corporations that have very diverse businesses but the backing of huge in house legal departments and lobbyists that have a focus to increase profits.

[edmundhodgson]

I do maintenance on student houses and see it all the time. They're all solid walls, small rooms and loads of laundry drying. The landlords seem to think there are leaks, but when I explain this to them they just look at me like I'm stupid. I've sent them all links to this, Thanks Roger

[richardlyon]

I have an airtight ("PassiveHouse" standard) house. I have a forced air ventilation system. The house has no heating system. It never falls below 18 degrees (I live in Scotland). Humidity is around 30%. CO2 is around 600ppm with two occupants. My energy bill is around 15% of a house built to current building standards. I built it because, as an oil and gas professional, I know where energy prices (and availability) are heading.

[robertevans]

I’m a surveyor, spot on vid as usual, like the one on heat pumps. Governments don’t tackle the issues properly in the regs and detailing is everything. It needs a big rethink, contrast how much effort and tech goes into a new car v how we build/ refurb. MVHR is the way to go, but it all costs and those in crappy housing already will struggle. Head scratcher for sure….

[peterfishenden]

Mechanical Heat Recovery with Ventilation would not live in a house without it. Set up correctly no condensation whatever the weather filtered fresh air saves on heating bills . The UK as usual is miles behind

[peterreime]

The problem with airtightness is only really applicable to retrofitting and working with the often abysmal existing housing stock. On new builds it should be mandatory to use whole-house ventilation with heat recovery. This, combined with high levels of insulation new required, would virtually eliminate heating costs for all but the coldest of days, siginificantly improve indoor air quality, better than any trickle vent or other natural ventilation system and even help keep homes cooler in summer whilst makining a significant saving on electricity and heating bills. We should lso be looking at better use of materials on interior finishes. Clay and lime plasters and paints on the interior help balance moisture levels indoors and absorb the harmful VOCs for example. In particularly draughty old houses, switching from space to radiant heating so that you focus on heating the surfaces aand inhabitants through radiant heat (think sunlight) rather than the surrounding air which is being quickly lost.

[daimonmt]

I don't mind Roger's rants as they're a Breath of fresh air.😄

[allanb]

They should start to build air/air heat exchange units at reasonable prices, as used in Scandinavia.

[malcolmfunnell]

Bring back ice on the inside of single glazed sash windows, hot water bottles, outside toilets, and time served tradesmen

[Jablicek]

I think people have forgotten what my mother used to tell us when we were younger and complained of being cold in the winter. "Put a jumper on." Walking around the house in a t-shirt when it's 5 degrees outside? You've got a problem. Open a window occasionally and put a jumper on.

Kids these days, they don't even know they're born.

[Prod-]

Been watching your videos for a couple of days now. Really great stuff.

Even if I don't actually do the work myself on my house it's informing me enough to not get the wool pulled over my eyes by unscrupulous types. Really valuable stuff. Thanks.

[philtucker]

Well presented and very informative Roger, many thanks. All through your presentation my mind was on the black mold problem and over the years I’ve seen a lot of houses suffer this for the first time soon after having the old house double glazed and “draft proofed” - to “slash” the occupiers energy bills, so I absolutely agree with the issues you highlighted so very well 🥵

[stuartmartin]

A few years back I worked in 'snagging' for a bit, I've seen this condensation problem numerous times, as soon as the tenant closes the trickle vents it's game over. And many internal doors fitted without enough air gap underneath to allow the trickle vents system to work correctly anyway. MVHR essential on new builds really.

[nathanwallis]

Love the part about air fresheners and chamicals. So many people believe "if it was bad for you it would be banned" so I hope this video converts more people to minimise chamical use. Keep up the good work, best video you have done to date.

[LukasFink]

You make the ventilation problem sound a lot more complicated than it really is. I don't know about the UK, but here in Germany we have this innovative ventilation technology we call “Fenster”. They are basically holes in the wall that are normally covered by a glass pane, but if the air in a room gets bad, they can be opened to let fresh air in (we call this procedure “Lüften”). The most efficient way to apply this technique is to open all the windows of a room at once and close them again after 3–5 minutes, when all the air has been exchanged (we call this “Stoßlüften”). This is more efficient than the trickle ventilation approach, because it doesn't continually cool down the room. Of course it will be cold in that room for a brief time afterwards, but it usually gets quite warm again in under 5 minutes because of the heat stored in the walls and the floor. This technique is usually applied once or twice a day to the whole house, but it can of course be applied more often to specific rooms if the CO₂ concentration or moisture level has risen in that room, e. g. because of a party or after showering. This also solves the problem of the trickle ventilation approach that your amount of needed ventilation actually depends on the amount of people in that room.

[loadzofhobbies]

As a builder, I see all the floors in modern building techniques and echo everything you said in this video. That's why I bought a house that was built in 1855! Its very original, breath's beautifully and when it's cold I tell the misses and kids to sit under a blanket 😂

[juliangoffe]

I installed a heat recovery system in my home when I bought it. (MHRV = Mechanical heat recovery ventilation), the air is changed around 3 times an hour in every room, air is drawn in from outside, and is warmed from the stale air being extracted. So no trickle vents on any windows and therefore no draught from open vents, no condensation even when washing is dried in the house, no wet condensation on windows, no noisy extractors in wet rooms (kitchens and bathrooms), definitely no mould possible either, no CO2 build up from breathing and allergens minimised because of the constant fresh air intake. So cost me around £4, 000 7 years ago, but every home home should have one, it is just so much healthier. As soon as you want to save losing heat by insulating houses or make windows and doors airtight and not draughty you have to ventilate, so the MHRV systems, pass the heat at around 90% efficiency from the stale air being removed to the clean fresh air coming in. Lovely.

[Tensquaremetreworkshop]

What you need, of course, is a ventilation system with a heat exchanger. Common in Scandinavia. But we love old houses, and even pass laws to prevent the owners modifying them.

[cuebj]

Love the casual reference to dying. I did it three times in April 2020 with a massive heart attack. It was interesting. Felt slight disappointment I wouldn't be able to talk about it but - here I am now. Also small concern I wouldn't finish remaining jobs on house for wife.
I'd always said fear of dying was daft. If you don't think there's an afterlife, surely it doesn't matter. If you think you go somewhere, surely you've done the deal with the gatekeeper so you're going to be ok, if not, you're weird for ignoring terms and conditions on the ticket. Was, and am, happy to realise that, come the moment, that perspective held up.
Chat at door with a young charity fund raiser a couple of days ago - he said same and showed me knife scar on his arm. He's starting at medical school in October.

[MrSmid]

7:15 Roger that’s a good story, I was fitting loft insulation in a council house around 15yrs ago and same thing, a little old lady sat in the chair, her home was like a time capsule, her kitchen was near non existent, the old deep sink with wooden drier. Basic base units. Must of been from the 50’s. Seemingly she refused any upgrades offered. She seemed happy enough but I was shocked. Each to their own