At Lou Projects, we use the term ‘healthy home’ quite a lot. So what do we mean when we say our homes are healthy?
The Importance of a Mould-Free Home
To us, a healthy home is primarily a mould-free home. Many people are unaware of how dangerous mould can be to their health, with even short-term exposure potentially causing asthma attacks, allergies, and respiratory infections. While long-term exposure can have even more severe effects.
It’s estimated that mould is present in up to 50 percent of homes in Australia, mainly due to poor building practices that lead to inadequate ventilation and moisture buildup behind structural walls, floors, ceilings, and plasterboard.
When water gets trapped in these areas, it creates a breeding ground for mould, most of which is hidden from view.
Ensuring Proper Building Practices
When building, renovating, or extending a home, one of our primary considerations is ensuring proper ventilation cavities, breathable wraps, and waterproof membranes around the frame.
This creates a completely weatherproof and airtight building envelope, preventing moisture and humidity from entering and causing significant damage.
Our building wraps are permeable, allowing moisture to travel through via vapour diffusion (a gas form of water). The wrap’s pores are small enough to block water droplets but large enough to let vapour pass, enabling the entire house to ‘breathe.’
A breathing house can adjust to the surrounding climate and dry out quickly, reducing the opportunity for mould growth.
This works in conjunction with vented cavities in the external wall, which is essentially a gap between the back of the cladding and the wrap, allowing air to pass through and aiding vapour diffusion.
Internal Ventilation Solutions
Another crucial aspect of mould prevention is proper ventilation inside the home. Ventilation should allow dry, fresh air to enter while expelling moist, stale air, which accumulates from activities like breathing, cooking, and showering.
Proper ventilation keeps the air dry and moving, preventing the damp conditions that mould needs to thrive.
Typically, people ventilate their homes by opening windows to let in fresh air. While effective, this method brings in uncontrolled temperature air, compromising comfort and necessitating cooling or reheating the house (depending on the season).
To ensure proper and continuous ventilation, we recommend a Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) system.
An HRV system works 24/7 to remove moist, stale air from inside the home, and replace it with filtered, fresh air from outside. The filters remove pollutants such as pollen, bacteria, smoke, smog, and mould spores.
Additionally, the system allows you to set the temperature of the incoming air based on the season. For example, you can set it to 25 degrees in winter and 21 degrees in summer. The HRV system extracts warmer air from inside or outside and passes it through a heat exchanger, ensuring the air entering the home is as close to the desired temperature as possible.
The result is clean, fresh, filtered air at a comfortable temperature all year round, while also preventing the damp conditions mould needs to thrive.
Conclusion
Creating a healthy home is about more than just aesthetics and comfort—it’s about ensuring the safety and well-being of those who live there.
At Lou Projects, we prioritise mould prevention through proper ventilation and advanced building practices, such as using breathable wraps and waterproof membranes.
By integrating solutions like HRV systems, we maintain optimal air quality and temperature control, providing a living environment that’s not only comfortable but also health-conscious.
With these measures, we ensure that our homes are truly healthy, offering peace of mind and a higher quality of life for our clients.
