When thinking of ways to design a healthier home, ventilation and filtration are no brainers. Humidity control, however, is often an afterthought or not even thought of at all, according to one HVAC expert. However, finding the right humidity balance for a home and allowing a client the ability to control it can reduce respiratory issues and maintain high air quality. Find out how to control humidity and how to explain its importance to homeowners, including potential savings on the utility bills.
As a sales trainer for a major HVAC equipment manufacturer, I give presentations on indoor air quality to builders and mechanical contractors around the country. Most of them assume that my sole topics will be ventilation and air filtration. While those are a huge part of what I cover, they're not the whole story.
By now, all builders should understand that good ventilation and filtration equipment is the only way to guarantee clean, fresh indoor air. That's true for any home, but it's especially true for a high-performance home that has been detailed to reduce natural air infiltration. I recommend an air cleaner with a MERV 16 filter, which captures 95% of particulates at .3 microns (hundreds of times smaller than a human hair). That filter will remove 99% of asthma and allergy triggers from the home.
But while it's easy to grasp the importance of ventilation and filtration, what few of the building professionals I meet seem to fully grasp is the relationship between health and humidity. When builders and HVAC contractors talk about humidity, they tend to focus solely on comfort. And they doubt that most customers will pay for humidification or dehumidification equipment.
