How to properly ventilate a cottage

More and more urban residents are moving to live outside the city, rebuilding their own country houses and cottages. And the point is not at all that a person needs unity with nature. A typical resident of a metropolis is much more accustomed to unity with each other in a subway car and much more necessary to unite with WI-FI. In fact, the resettlement outside the city is due to a sharp reduction in the amount of oxygen in the city air, and the need for it in all living beings is genetically incorporated. [contents] By building cottages, the owners hope that life outside the city will protect them from all the negative consequences that lie in wait in the city. But for some reason, most modern country houses built according to the «last word» of the construction industry, made of concrete and glass, insulated and insulated with double-glazed windows, are most similar to sarcophagi (not in appearance, but in terms of tightness). As a result, a person sees fresh air only at the moment of transition from the car to the front door of the cottage, and fumes from building materials, household chemicals, perfumes completely blur the line between a country house and a dwelling in a metropolis. The role of cottage ventilation is very important: with a properly made system, a person still feels clean and fresh air in his home, the human body receives a portion of oxygen, thanks to which it can keep the brain in a functioning state.

What should a high-quality ventilation system of a country house provide?

Properly designed ventilation systems for a cottage should provide:

• Clean air in the premises, without dust and extraneous odors and gases. Foreign impurities contained in the air of the cottage should not exceed the maximum allowable level.
• Ventilation should provide a constant level of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Oxygen must be at least 22%, and the maximum allowable level of carbon dioxide must not exceed 0.2%.
• Humidity in the rooms of a country house should be in the range of 40-60%.

Thanks to such indicators, a good microclimate is created for life, sound sleep and well-being in a country house. And how to achieve it, we will try to explain in this article. When drafting a cottage, the most important task is to choose the type of ventilation, and, by and large, there are only two of them: the first is natural, and the second is forced. What to give preference to depends on several main factors: the location of the house, the presence of nearby sources of air pollution and noise, etc. If your country house is located far from this disgrace, then you need to make a natural ventilation system, in all other cases, experts unanimously recommend the arrangement of mechanical ventilation.

Natural ventilation: its advantages and disadvantages

Due to the temperature difference between indoors and outdoors, the house is naturally ventilated. Colder air enters through natural openings (windows, cracks in doors) into rooms, passes through all rooms, carrying unpleasant odors, carbon dioxide, etc., and exits through exhaust openings. This is ideal. But in real life, it turns out that there are no natural cracks in the cottage and there is nowhere to get fresh air from. Here is the first drawback of this system. Further: when weather conditions change, natural ventilation may cease to function, especially in summer, when it is much hotter outside than in the house. Here is the second drawback. Third: the incoming air, especially in winter, needs to be heated, because according to the laws of physics, during natural ventilation, cold air enters the room, and warm air rises to the ceiling and leaves the house. Natural — of course, is cheaper, and forced, especially in modern hermetic houses — is more effective. But do not forget about the cost of the inevitable subsequent maintenance of your chosen ventilation system.

How to make natural ventilation in the cottage

If, according to all indicators, it is natural ventilation that suits you best, and it was not originally provided for in some way, then we do it ourselves.

• Initially, we make an air flow. To do this, stepping back 15-20 cm from the window frame, punch a hole for installing supply valves. They are recommended to be made in every room of the cottage. If you don’t have a desire to hammer a wall, then contact the manufacturer of your wonderful metal-plastic windows. Inlet valves can be mounted directly into the windows.
• We do air flow. To do this, drill several small holes in the bottom of each interior door for free circulation of air masses. Openings can be closed with a metal mesh for better sound insulation.
• We do an extraction. In the kitchen, toilet and bathroom, you need to break through the ceiling and roof. It is necessary to insert air ducts into the prepared holes, i.e. segments of a plastic or sandwich pipe with insulation in the attic area, and with umbrellas installed to protect against precipitation.
  

  Important! Make sure that the openings of the air intake ducts inside the premises are at a level of 25-30 cm from the ceiling.

• Fasten the air ducts to the wall with clamps, and seal the gaps with mounting foam.

Exhaust ventilation of a country house

If there are natural openings in the cottage initially, or during the construction process, supply ventilation was provided in the house, then you can make a variety — forced exhaust ventilation. For its arrangement, everything is done, the same, only exhaust fans must be installed in the air ducts and their connection to the network should be provided. But be careful, if the hood turns out to be more powerful than the natural inflow, then a slight vacuum may be created in the room, and a stronger hood will begin to draw air from other ducts. As a result, the smell of the toilet may appear in the kitchen, which is quite unpleasant. That is why the choice of exhaust or supply fans must be treated with special care. It is also necessary to approach with all responsibility the design and installation of exhaust ventilation in the kitchen. You can read more about this in this article.

Arrangement of the supply ventilation system at home

Supply ventilation in the house is done just in the case when metal-plastic windows are installed in it and there is nowhere for the supply air to come from.

1. To create forced ventilation, first of all, you need to install ventilation equipment in the attic of the cottage. It is better to use ready-made systems immediately, which include a complete set of equipment: heater, air conditioner, air filters, etc.
2. Next to the installed equipment, punch a hole in the gable or wall and connect an air duct with a grill to it. Connect it to the inlet of the unit: this will be the air intake.
3. In the ceilings of the premises, holes must be punched for the output of channels.
4. In the attic we collect the entire line and bring the air ducts into the holes prepared in the ceiling, on which we then put on diffusers.

If there are exhaust ducts in the kitchen, bathroom and toilet, then almost everything is ready, and if not, then the hood must be done, as we said above. Also, it is recommended to read how to calculate the supply and exhaust ventilation for living conditions on your own. Sometimes you have to do supply and exhaust ventilation in the house. It can be arranged both natural and forced. For natural — it is necessary that the hood be equipped in the cottage, and air flow. We have discussed each of them above. This is not difficult to do for any home craftsman who has the skills to work with tools. If you decide to equip a forced supply and exhaust ventilation system in your cottage, then make an inflow, as we described above, and install exhaust fans of the required performance into the exhaust ducts of the bathroom, kitchen and bathroom. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L73ja41IoYo

Calculating the performance of both supply and exhaust fans is very simple: you need to multiply the volume of the room by the required air circulation. Below we give the minimum values ​​of air exchange in different rooms.

• For a kitchen with a gas stove — 70 cubic meters / h
• For a kitchen with a window and an electric stove — 30 m3/h
• For a kitchen without a window with an electric stove — 50 m3/h
• For a bathroom and a bathroom — 50 m3 / h

Important!
Properly done ventilation of your cottage is your guarantee of health and longevity.