Frame houses have recently become very popular. Such buildings are costed very inexpensively, but living in them is quite convenient. There is only one drawback to structures of this type. In their construction, materials that are very poor in air permeability are usually used. Therefore, to improve the microclimate in such houses, it is imperative to arrange a ventilation system. And although the assembly of such a design is rather complicated, many owners of frame houses perform this operation with their own hands. Of course, the installation of the ventilation system should be carried out with the obligatory observance of all the required technologies.
Regulations
Ventilation in a frame house is a system whose main purpose is to ensure normal air exchange. Before proceeding with the assembly of such a structure, of course, it is necessary to draw up its detailed drawings. It is advisable to do this even at the design stage of the house, since the highways of similar systems in frame buildings are carried out inside the walls, before they are sheathed with plywood or drywall from the inside.
In our country there are certain standards that regulate the minimum allowable air exchange parameters based on the area of residential premises. However, calculations based on them usually have to be very complicated. Therefore, in most cases, the ventilation system in the frame house is designed, simply based on the fact that one living should have about 30 m 3 / h of fresh air. In most cases, this is quite enough.
System Type Selection
Ventilation in a frame house can have a different design. Of course, when designing a project, you first need to decide what kind of system will be installed in the building. Since the frame house by design resembles a kind of tightly sealed thermos, a simple exhaust circuit is not suitable for it. The most effective in such a building will be the supply and exhaust structure.
Key design guidelines
Proper ventilation in the frame house is equipped taking into account several important factors. When drawing up a project, the owners of the house need to decide on:
Where will the supply and exhaust installations be located. Usually they are placed in the attic.
How the air ducts will be laid. It is advisable to take them to every room. Moreover, in such a way that the exhaust line goes into the room at the top and the supply line at the bottom. For the bathroom and kitchen should arrange a separate exhaust riser. If there is no possibility of connecting highways to each room of the house, special holes should be provided in the walls and doors for air circulation.
What additional equipment will be used. Modern ventilation systems can be supplemented by recuperators, air heaters, air conditioners, etc.
Installation of supply and exhaust units
So, let's see how ventilation is arranged in a frame house with our own hands. Schemes of such systems are presented on this page. If you wish, you can draw up a project, focusing, including on them. As for the equipment, it is best to buy a ready-made supply and exhaust system for a frame house. Since modern constructions of this type are rather compact, the plants can simply be placed somewhere in an unused place in the attic. Sometimes they are even simply hung on the wall. If there is no place in the attic for the supply and exhaust installation, it can be located in the boiler room, basement or any room for household purposes.
Experts advise purchasing systems already supplemented by recuperators for residential frame houses. Such designs are convenient in that they save on heating. A recuperator is a device designed to collect heat from exhaust air discharged into the street and transfer it to the premises. The effectiveness of modern models of this type can reach 90%. In prefabricated factory ventilation systems, the recuperator, supply and exhaust units are usually a single unit.
Duct installation
Do-it-yourself ventilation is going to be done in the frame house most often using plastic ordinary or corrugated highways. The latter option is considered to be more convenient in the installation. Pipes are attached to the structures of the house on special clamps. In the walls in the places provided by the project, holes are made for air intake. Exhaust ducts lead to the roof. The entrance openings of the highways in the rooms are closed with special decorative grilles.
Valves
Special nozzles are installed in the openings for air intake from the street, to which the mains are further attached. Inside these elements, valves are additionally mounted. They are necessary in order to prevent external air from flowing when the fans are off. Also, special filters designed to clean the air flow are installed in such nozzles.
Heater
When deciding how to make ventilation in a frame house, you should think about installing this structural element. It often happens that in the winter, recuperators stop functioning due to freezing of condensate inside them. Installing a heater will avoid this problem. Such devices are designed to heat incoming air from the street. There are only two main varieties of heaters: water and electric. The first type of device is connected to an autonomous water supply system at home. Electric heaters are powered from the network and are used in residential buildings more often. Water heaters are mainly used only in large cottages with an area of more than 150 m 2 . Devices of this type are usually installed in the immediate vicinity of the air intake opening.
Air conditioning
So, now you know how to make ventilation in the frame house with your own hands. The schemes of such systems, therefore, include a supply and exhaust system, air ducts, a recuperator, and often a heater. But in order to make living in such a building even more comfortable, it is worth supplementing the system with air conditioning as well. After all, the air inside the frame house in the summer can be very hot.
The supply and exhaust ventilation in the frame house, the device of which is complex, is supplemented by air conditioners of a special design - ducted. Such devices consist of two blocks - internal and external. The first is mounted indoors in the duct system. At the same time, channels for several rooms can be connected to one block. They place the indoor unit either in the utility room or behind the casing, inside walls or ceilings. The external unit is installed on the street.
Ventilation in the kitchen and bathroom
For these rooms, as already mentioned, it is worth tripling a separate exhaust duct. In this case, ventilation in the frame house will be the most effective. If you connect the hood from the bathroom and the kitchen to a common one, under certain weather conditions, smells from these rooms will begin to penetrate into the living rooms. The length of the riser should be such that it rises above the ridge of the roof by at least 50 cm. The exceptions are those cases when the pipe is located at a distance of more than 1.5 meters from the ridge strip. With this arrangement, its upper edge should be at the level of the latter.
A special fan must be installed in the exhaust duct of the bathroom. There are several types of such devices:
fans included with the lighting;
turning on from a separate switch;
with a timer;
with motion sensor and hydrostat.
The latter option is considered the most convenient to use, but also costs more than models of other varieties.
Installation Recommendations
Ventilation is going to be in a frame house with the obligatory observance of the following rules:
Electric wires should be laid exclusively in special metal channels. You can also use cable ducts made of refractory plastic.
Ducts are attached to the structures of the house in a rigid way. Otherwise, they will vibrate and make too much noise. All nodal connections of the pipes themselves should be done as carefully and thoroughly as possible. An unpressurized ventilation system will not work effectively.
Supply air grilles should be located away from the places of permanent residence of family members.
As you can see, the ventilation scheme in a frame house can include a fairly large number of different kinds of elements. Therefore, the main difficulty in assembling such a design is to draft. In the event that any mistakes are made during its development, subsequently, various problems may arise in the owners of the house. The air in the rooms will start to overheat or cool too much, extraneous odors will begin to penetrate into the rooms, etc. Therefore, it may be worthwhile to entrust the design of the ventilation system to specialists. And actually the assembly of the system itself can be done independently.