Air purifier topic

I saw the air purifier topic and thought I would add some info that may help steer folks in the right direction.

I own a company that deals with building forensics, air sealing, insulation, ventilation, condensation, and sick building issues.

One phenomena that most people are not aware of is the stack effect in buildings. When the heat is on in the winter you have positive pressure on the ceiling of your top floor ceiling and as that air escapes into your attic space you are pulling in air from areas of negative pressure in basements and crawl spaces. In the summer when you run the AC this effect reverses and you have negative pressure at your upper ceiling and you are pulling makeup air through all of the funk in attic such as mold spores, mildew, dust, pollen, rodent droppings, insect remains, etc,etc.

The simple act of air sealing your attic will give you the following benefits. Increasing indoor humidity in winter, increased lifespan of HVAC equipment, reduced dust, reduction in allergic and asthmatic symptoms, reduction in incidence of colds and flu,
reduced drafts, warmer floors, less leaky windows, and most important happier wives.

One other thing is you will save some money but the health and comfort benefits that come with air sealing are so important and beneficial and potentially trans-formative to the buildings occupants that I generally don’t even try and sell saving money any longer.

If your home is more than 15-20 years old do not bother with an ERV or HRV (both are the same thing) as your home already leaks like a sieve and does not need any additional ventilation.

The average family of 4 puts about 3 to 5 gallons of water into the air of the home each day. If your home is too dry it is too leaky. If your attic is not air sealed your home becomes the filter and you are in effect living inside the air filter.

I have a 60 page Comfort and Energy guide that explains this in far more detail than I can here and also a DIY guide on how to do much of the work yourself. It is about 15mb and is to large to email so I will include a Dropbox link for anyone to get it if they wish.

Thanks chubs I appreciate the input

Comfort and Energy guide

Chubby,
I was a Job sup with the Nationals and Construction Manager for custom builders for over 20 years. I have been a out of the New Construction game for 10 years and never plan on getting back because of the MYTH “Building Science”.
To me Building Science is just a matter of follow the money. When the new energy code went into effect in 2000 they had problems before they even passed the code. Who pushed the new energy code the most? Air exchange salespeople. I have and still can poke holes in the “Building Science” theories. It’s just scare tactics and only drive up the cost of new homes. With that said we are making progress but at what cost? Why is it that when a new code comes to light and it cannot be complied to everyone looks the other way. ie rim joist in 2000 they just looked the other way and they still dont require a tall enough energy heel to allow for code compliant insulation at the most important area of the roof where ice dams occur.
Mechanical ventilation, seriously? People don’t even change their furnace filters when they should. Now let’s add 3 more. If those HRV/ERV filters aren’t changed/cleaned the system is not working and will cause more damage.
and HRV’s and ERV’s are not the same thing. They are close but there is a difference.
Also – how many times have the “experts” changed the way we insulate a basement? Come on, we all know the insulation should be on the outside, What took so long? Follow the money.
I am glad to see that the new code requires the exterior envelope to be wrapped in insulation. Unfortunately I think they need to up the R-value.
My question is where does it end? When nobody can afford a new home?
The Scientist rely on hypothetical’s not actual real life situations and when they do introduce a new code/technique their may not even be a product available to be code compliant and when that happens Inspectors inspect via exceptions and when that happens, well I need not say anymore.
PS I’m the guy that sits in the front row at CE classes and ask these same questions only to get the deer in the headlights look.
Couple questions I never get an answer to.
1) when a vapor barrier needed to be put under the basement slab. The code read (paraphrasing) cut poly close to all pipe penetrations. Why wouldn’t you state a distance ie 1″. “close” is relative and what one inspector thinks is “close” may not be what another inspector thinks is close.
2) Why is it a re-roof needs an ice and water inspection but new construction doesn’t.
I actually love discussing this stuff.
Rant over.

Interesting perceptions.

Much of what building science “recomends” is NOT adopted as code, and is fought by the money trail.

Additionally, many codes are vaguely written and ate assumed to be “complete”. As your example of poly beneath Crete. My contractors all tape/seal all poly penetrations. Many are just to lazy. Some municipalities will add language to codes, but most will not.

When I price a home, I know I am 3% to 12% higher than all other builders. For the homeowner that wants lowball price.. oh well, they get what they pay for. I have my standards and won’t deviate