eco & energy efficiency
poverty and bad indoor air quality Easy does it...
Clarissa Youden, associate director of Total Home Environment discusses how you can reduce building maintenance and fuel poverty, while offering dramatic health benefits
S
o you’ve got old housing stock, with complaints of mould, condensation and high heating bills. While a bit of remedial work –
insulating the loft and filling cavity walls – has done a little to alleviate things, nothing’s really changed. Residents are still grumbling, falling back on payments as they prioritise heat over rent. And what’s worse, there’s even more remedial decoration work than there was before. So why is this happening?
Firstly, the properties are probably still incredibly
leaky, with thermal bridging going on all over the place. Even with small five millimetre gaps in insulation, significant heat loss will still occur and you might as well have not bothered. Secondly, the windows are single or if you’re lucky double glazed, but because the last refurb was 30 years ago, they’re probably failing. Furthermore, it’s likely some of the trickle vents have been shut by residents as many people find them too draughty,
but they’ll still run appliances like the tumble dryer. Extractor fans also help deal with condensation, but when was the last time they were cleared of dust, let alone replaced? This lack of adequate ventilation is causing excess condensation, mould growth and awful indoor air quality. The solution is to make the properties completely
airtight, insulate them up to the hilt, put triple glazing in and provide complete whole home heat recovery ventilation to keep the air inside clean and healthy. This approach is termed as the EnerPhit Standard – the PassivHaus strategy for retrofit properties which leads to considerable improvement in thermal comfort, structural protection, cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency.
Condensation, mould, fuel poverty and bad indoor air quality
“The solution is to make the properties completely airtight, insulate them up to the hilt, put triple glazing in and provide complete whole home heat recovery ventilation to keep the air inside clean and healthy. This approach is termed as the EnerPhit Standard - the PassivHaus strategy for retrofit properties”
www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM March 2016 | 37
Condensation, mould, fuel
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