Indoor air quality or IAQ is an important component of building science. Our indoor air quality is often worse than what we breathe outside. Indoor air quality can be improved. The general rule of the thumb is dilution is the solution to air pollution.
One way to dilute the pollutants is to block them through envelope sealing especially here in San Diego from the ceiling area becuse of our typical construction with no base ment and an attic. We can limit the amount of pollution coming into our conditioned space by tightening our envelope. As with every measure with the house as a system approach we have to explore our remedy and determine if it might cause a problem.
By tightening our envelope we can make that air stagnate, trap dangerous and potentially deadly gases and raise humidity levels to the point that might breed mold. This is not our intention to solve one problem and create another.
The best way to find out if your home is too tight is a blower door test
There air new fresh air re circulation devices with merv filter that bring fresh air in and exhaust air out.
In Building Science we often re apply energy and use it better. Asking someone to buy a new system seems counterintuitive to saving energy. But we take the system as a whole approach. We are concerned about health safety and energy efficiency.
