Have you been experiencing heavy humidity within your home? Have you noticed mould or mildew? Any musty smells? Well you may need to look at some more efficient forms of ventilation for your home. Below are a list of different types of ventilation you may need for your home in order to combat the dreaded mould and a little bit about the way in which they work.

Sub floor Ventilation

Mould lives in dark moist environments with no air flow. A sub floor ventilation system in your Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney home is a great way to combat this situation. By extracting air from a subfloor crawl space we are actually preventing that moist, damp, mouldy air from penetrating upwards into your home. The extraction process is actually pulling fresh air from outside in through the vents on the walls of your subfloor. The airflow being created then promotes drying. A professional ventilation company should design your sub floor ventilation system with the aim is to achieve cross ventilation through every part of the sub floor area.

Heat Recovery and Energy Recovery Ventilation

A heat recovery ventilation system exchanges fresh air from outside your property and uses the heat of the indoor air to heat the outside air as it comes in. Great during winter, though during the summer you would need the heat to be exchanged the other way around. An Energy Recovery Ventilation system does exactly this.

Once installed an Energy Recovery Ventilation unit can introduce fresh air from outside into your home. At the same time these ventilators expel the stale indoor air. With its inbuilt, highly efficient heat exchanger, it can recover 70% of the heat from the outgoing air and transfer it to the incoming fresh air. This means you get the benefits of security, no windows open, don’t lose heat and you still get fresh air into your home. Units can be ceiling or wall mounted and with inner air filters that are professionally designed to remove the pollutants of the incoming air, you will receive fresh and clean air at all times.

Bathroom Ventilation

Bathrooms and laundries need to be well ventilated. Showers, clothes dryers and washing machines all add moisture to the atmosphere in your home. If this moisture is not expelled it will have a direct impact on the air quality in your home.

It’s important to understand that baths, showers, washing machines and clothes dryers produce large volumes of moisture that if left without efficient ventilation would create hot humid air in your home which would quickly become a breeding ground for bacteria and mould. We’ve all seen homes that have been affected in this way and you should aim for preventative rather than corrective measures.

Mould can be extremely dangerous, especially to the elderly or young children and if you already have mould in your home you should immediately call in a professional for your mould removal as it’s important you don’t try and dry out the area before the mould is removed as you could spread it further throughout your home. One of our company’s most common callouts is for removal of mould from bathroom ceilings or walls. It’s far better to make sure you have the right ventilation for your bathroom in the first place.

Laundry and bathroom ventilation usually consists of extractor fans, ducts and external louvres. It’s important that you have a system that can cope with the amount of moisture that your home produces. If after being used your bathroom represents a steam room there’s a good chance that you don’t have the right type of ventilation system for your home and your needs.

Roof Ventilation

In summer your roof can reach temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius. If you are using your air conditioning system to combat the heat of summer it will be fighting this heat build up. By installing a roof ventilation system we can expel this air and the immediate impact is in reducing the amount of air conditioning your property will require which means you will spend less money and help the environment while keeping cool and comfortable.

Roof ventilation is a great way to reduce the heat in your home during the summer months and removes moisture during the winter months, which is the main cause of mould. During the winter months we all lock down our houses to keep the warmth in our homes but this also means we keep in the moisture content that we produce. The average person creates over 20 litres of moisture and as the moisture and heat rises into the space between the ceiling and roof, it creates the perfect environment for mould to form. Mould can be extremely dangerous, especially to young children and the elderly and the majority of people who have roof ventilation installed notice an immediate benefit once installation is complete.

Why does a roof space become so hot and humid?

The air in your roof space is a build up of not just the natural ventilation occurring throughout your home but also air extracted from your bathroom, shower and kitchen – especially range hoods or extractor fans over your cooker.

A variety of highly efficient roof ventilation fans and ‘whirlybirds’ can be used to extract the hot or moisture rich air from your roof space and create natural ventilation throughout your property and there are significant advantages in doing this. Hot, humid air in your roof space provides the perfect environment for mould as previously stated so removing this has measurable health benefits. Additionally, it can cause damage to the structure of your home by speeding up decay of the building materials. Both timber and metals are susceptible to decay or corrosion from this type of environment and adequate roof ventilation will help protect the longevity of your home, meaning you save money on expensive repairs later on down the line.

Which ventilation system is right for your property?

Our sister company Zephyr Ventilation can examine your home and make the appropriate recommendations for the design of a ventilation system to meet all of your specific ventilation needs. If you already have a mould problem, it is important that you give us a call at Mould Pro to inspect the situation before any new ventilation system is installed.