Healthy Homes - A Kiwi Dream Episode 3

Asthma New Zealand presents Healthy Homes – A Kiwi Dream. This is a series of six episodes which showcase how homes are built and what can be done to make homes healthier which, in turn, keeps the people that live within them healthier.

Episode 3

In this episode, Katheren, Chief Executive of Asthma New Zealand focuses on what ventilation looks like and how we can use it to keep our internal environment healthy.

Moisture in homes

On average, we generate 10 Litres of moisture every day in our homes from cooking, showering, breathing and drying clothes indoors. That moisture is in our homes and if it doesn’t go anywhere, it condenses allowing mould to grow. Mould gives off tiny spores that can go into our respiratory system.

What causes crying windows?

Condensation on the windows has to do with the relative humidity in the air inside the room, when the air hits a surface that is too cold, like glass for instance, it condenses as it can’t hold that moisture. So, the warm air that we’ve used to heat up the room, find its way to a cold surface, the cold surface can’t hold the moisture, so it condenses. That water evaporates from the windows, into the fabric of that room (into bedding, curtains, walls). If moisture persists, mould will grow.

Using ventilation to manage condensation

Ventilation are the lungs of our house, but opening windows isn’t enough.

A ventilation system is an effective way of controlling moisture in homes. It controls the amount of air that is changed within the home, it takes air from the outside into the house, and takes air from the inside, out of the house. Balancing out the flow in a controlled way. With it, you can get rid of the pollutants in the home.

The eHaus difference

We know the importance of ventilation here at eHaus. Every eHaus is built with a Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation system which works effectively in the background, so you can breathe fresh air and stay warm while using less energy. Our homes have fresh filtered air, with up to 99% of pollutants removed. Meaning no moisture or mould will occur in an eHaus.