It is always important to ensure that your surroundings are safe and are not a risk to your health. Buildings should always adhere to health and safety standards so that the occupants are free from the risk of disease. An important aspect of buildings that contribute to the health of the occupants is the sub floor ventilation. Proper ventilation will enable you to breathe in fresh air and will also keep termites away which can cause damage to the floor of the building.
Why Sub Floor Ventilation
A sub floor refers to an extra level of flooring that is positioned right on top of the floor joists, and another level of flooring is then placed over it which is the visible floor. A sub floor is usually added to a building so that the floor remains even and flat and also to increase its stability. When air between the floors absorbs moisture from the soil, the humidity of the air goes up which causes the flooring and the framing of the building to also absorb moisture.
Ventilation is therefore important in order to decrease the humidity of the air that is found between the floors. This can be done by replacing the dump air found between the floors with dry air from outside.
Need For Ventilation
Once you realize that your floor has mould and that there is a stale smell in the rooms of your home, then you may be in need of immediate sub floor ventilation. Dampness of the soil usually increases during wet weather, and the moisture easily gets absorbed into the floor and walls of your home. This dampness causes moulds that attract termites which end up destroying your floor.
Moulds can also discolor the tiles of your floor and the bricks that make up your home. Sub floor ventilation is therefore important to in reducing the maintenance costs of your home and also in retaining its value.
Types Of Ventilation
There are different methods that can be used for sub floor ventilation, and how much ventilation will be required will depend on the amount of humidity in that location. The use of air vents is widely used in ventilating the sub floor. This is where air vents are located on opposite sides of the sub floor and air can therefore get in through one side and out through the other.
There should be nothing blocking the movement of the air in and out of the sub floor. To make this system more effective, sub floor fans can be installed to ensure there is proper movement of air. The fans create negative pressure thus causing air to rush in from the vents.
You can decide to have fans which run throughout or ones which are timed. There are also fans which ran on solar energy which means that they do not run when it is cold. Fans should not run when it is wet since the air that comes in will be damp.
Another method of ventilation is compelled ducted ventilation, which causes air to flow freely in areas which are damp and those that are not easily reachable. Damp air is replaced by fresh, dry air from outside. This method uses fans and ducting connected to a power source.
