Ventilation in a house made of vulture panels: an overview of the best options and arrangement schemes

If you love warmth more than coolness, or you live in a cold region, then housing made of SIP panels is quite suitable for you. But along with the heat, you will get a house where the air often stagnates, the smell quickly deteriorates, a lot of moisture accumulates and it becomes stuffy. So that ventilation in a house made of SIP panels does not reduce its usefulness and is powerful enough, you need to think about air exchange in different weather conditions.

Agree, it won't hurt you to read about this before you start building. If you are already the owner of such a house, then there is an opportunity to improve it thanks to the steps that we have written about.

We have prepared a simple guide to ventilation in a self-supporting insulated wire, but with all the details. You will be able to understand which one is better, simpler and more justified. There is almost no general information in the article, except for brief information about the features of the material.

Why do we need SIP panels?

Housing made of self-supporting insulated wire panels does not need insulation, but it will not be comfortable without good ventilation. Its walls do not allow almost anything to pass through. Prepare for the need for an advanced air distribution system. There are three main options for organizing it.

SIP panel (structurally insulated, or structurally insulated, panel) is a type of sandwich panels. It consists of two large oriented strand boards (OSB) with insulation injected or glued between them.

SIP is used in low-rise construction. Houses receive good protection from external factors. Thanks to high quality wood and chip stacking technology, the walls will have sufficient mechanical strength.

Buildings from SIP panels receive a lot of usable area and built-in thermal insulation. They are built in warm and cold weather, in a short time thanks to simple assembly technology.

A house made of self-supporting insulated wire, like other frame structures, needs effective ventilation. Due to the fact that the walls do not allow air to pass through well, condensation and dampness appear.

Pipes in SIP-houses are selected with sound insulation, since the materials and construction of walls / ceilings significantly amplify sounds.

Ventilation of houses from SIP panels

In cold weather, more moisture condenses in a building made of SIP panels than in other houses. In summer, condensation also appears actively, but mainly only on the windows. Even when designing, you will have to pave paths for air ducts, find places for valves, a block supply and exhaust ventilation. Around the same time as for other utilities.

It will not hurt to install one ventilation hole in each room, and in the kitchen - both exhaust and supply. The most difficult thing will be with air exchange in technical rooms: in bathrooms, kitchens, rooms without windows for household purposes.

There are general requirements for air exchange:

• constant air movement, its renewal;
• uniform ventilation of all rooms;
• elimination of dirty air;
• comfortable temperature;
• lack of drafts.

For normal air exchange, natural ventilation with air supply and exhaust is required. Fans and ducts with blowers are added to the natural one (windows, ventilation ducts with gravity).

The second question is how to make balanced ventilation: to strengthen the usual or shift the emphasis to heat exchange or mechanical fans powered by the mains.

Option # 1 - improved ventilation pattern

It is a natural supply and exhaust system combined with mechanical ventilation as an auxiliary one.

In this case, separate exhaust ducts are made for the kitchen, bathroom, toilet, rooms without windows and small rooms. The pipes are ideally combined into one at the level of the upper floor / attic / attic and exited above the roof through one hole.

Supply system collected from one pipe on the roof and lowered to the height of the attic, give it a horizontal position. The channel at this level is laid to the maximum length. Ideally, the pipe reaches the most distant places in the house on both sides. Already from this horizontal branch canals are diverted to each living room and, if desired, to technical ones.

The exhaust and supply parts of the system are combined in a block in the attic. A heat exchanger is sometimes installed in the unit. The latter are more often used as elements of full ventilation.

The supply and exhaust unit usually looks like a box with four holes. Supply and exhaust ducts enter and exit them. The inflow pipe above the block should be made curved and horizontal from the side of the street - so that the air can more easily get inside.

To clean the air mass, it does not hurt to install a filter. They try to keep the air exhaust duct as straight as possible from the block to the space above the roof.

The branches of the main channels for supplying and removing air are supplied to the upper parts of the premises. Controlled valves are installed at the ends of the supply paths. The exhaust channels are closed with lattice hatches, and they are placed as far as possible from the entrance openings.

Rooms with poor circulation are provided with portable fans. In the kitchen, a mechanical hood is placed above the stove, and the air duct of this device is directed to the street. You can do this in a private house.

This entire system is supplemented with passive ventilators. The devices operate in two modes. Supply and exhaust operates due to the pressure difference. There is also through ventilation, which is organized by two such devices.

Option # 2 - using mechanical devices

The provided ventilation shafts become clogged over time. With this in mind, we can go the other way. Let's add blowers powered by a power source. Let's calculate their power so that they can perform their tasks without the help of natural air exchange.

Installing mechanical ventilation in a house from SIP panels will not be easier than installing natural ventilation.

Good mechanical ventilation consists of:

• several independent exhaust ducts;
• supply fans;
• valves of different types.

Let's start with the exhaust system. Mechanical fans can be installed in finished pipes or in separate ones with the possibility of realizing a more efficient pattern. We make at least 2-3 exhaust outlets on the roof.

Inside the house, we lower the channels to the bathroom, toilet, kitchen, basement. Preference should be given to a system with fans in the inlets and rooftops.

We organize the inflow through wall supply fans. Let's place them on the outer walls, one per room, and in the basement - two on opposite sides. Into rooms without external walls we supply supply ducts with an exit through the roof.

Some simply leave small openings in these rooms for outside air to enter. These passages are closed with plugs.

Supply fans for walls are of two types:

• for wall mounting;
• for installation in the thickness of the wall.

Install them from the inside, i.e. in the House.

Unforgettably wall valves three types, including mixed supply and exhaust. We put them where the air exchange is expected to be weaker. In the kitchen, we add a valve to the profile of the insulating glass unit. This type of window ventilator provides powerful micro-ventilation. We make the kitchen hood autonomous, we supply it with an adsorption filter.

In which case we add a supply and exhaust fan in the window or in the wall. Most of all, the device is suitable for kitchens. We can deactivate it at any time, but in cold weather the device will have to be turned off. The system is not suitable for ventilation without other devices.

Option # 3 - ventilation with recuperation

There is also an option with high-power ventilation, and so that the air does not get too cold, it should be heated in some way. Read more about what heat recovery is. Further.

Benefit bring supply air heaters, thanks to which it becomes possible to supply a lot of air from the street without disturbing the temperature regime. The devices run on a coolant, and their fans are powered by an electric motor. The air passes through the body and enters the interior warmly.

Thermal comfort is also achieved in other ways. Circulation systems remove air from the house to the outside. There he mixes with the street. This mass is sucked inside. As long as the resulting air reaches the rooms, it will become warm and much fresher. No harmful substances and unpleasant odors will remain in it.

Another option is a recuperator. The device uses warm air from different heat sources (kitchen hood, etc.) or simply from the room. In the exchanger, the air gives off heat and then goes outside, and then the cold street air heats up from it. The transfer of heat energy occurs thanks to the ceramic element that can store it. The outer end of the recuperator is protected by a canopy against gusts of wind, snow and rain.

With a temperature difference of more than 40 degrees between the room and the street, the incoming air will be about 5 degrees colder than the outgoing air. The energy efficiency of the home will remain high.

From the side of the facade of the house, the hole is placed slightly lower so that the warm and cold streams move better. The recuperators can be installed in several rooms at once. Primarily in those with access to the outer wall, as well as in basements.

The recuperators have an electric motor and several speeds (usually three). At the maximum, medium-power devices consume about 10 watts. If you add up the power of all such devices for a large house, then the power consumption will be low. Only the initial costs will be high.

Let's consider the preparation of recuperators for installation using one unit as an example:

1. We remove the casing-shell of the device.
2. We connect the wires. We simply fix them as needed: special adapters should already be on the recuperator. After installation, connect the device to the mains.
3. We take out the filter from the tube, which was covered by the outer shell.
4. There will be a serif line on the surface. The recuperator closest to the room edge indicates the minimum permissible unit length.
5. We take into account the thickness of the walls. For an outdoor SIP house, it is most often equal to 124 mm, 174 or 224 mm. Usually it is not enough for the recuperator to completely "hide" in the wall.
6. We cut off the tube - we are guided by the markings. If the thickness of the walls is not enough, we shorten it along the notch closest to the room side.
7. We recessed the filter back.
8. If the walls are not thick enough, simply install the hood - at the place where the recuperator is installed inside or outside the house. Sometimes it comes in a set.

Recuperators are sometimes installed without a shell, but with a dense layer of thermal insulation. This is how the highest density is achieved when the available hole diameters do not match the parameters of the casing.

If you find a more or less suitable crown for cutting, you can install the ventilation yourself: in a CIP house, the walls are easy to drill.

If you will attach the hood from the outside, but it does not match the relief of the facade, then just cut it off and seal it with sealant.

Buildings made of self-supporting insulated wire panels retain heat well, there is no point in spending a lot on heating the incoming air. Moreover, the warm season takes up a considerable part of the year. In terms of thermal insulating properties, SIP panels are more than five times more effective than brickwork.

At temperatures below 10 ° C, it will still be bad without preliminary heating, and at negative temperatures, the incoming cold air neutralizes the entire effect of SIP panels.

The task is simplified by selective supply ventilation. Parts of the building are excluded from the outdoor air supply system. You cannot do without a well-thought-out layout of the premises, where the air makes fewer turns. The supply system is ideally extended to all rooms.

Make valves with an adjusting plug in the hole. They are placed at a height of 0.5 meters above the floor, and the installation site is sealed with foam. With a well-organized supply of other devices, less will be required, and the rooms will always be fresh and warm.

Conclusions and useful video on the topic

Video instructions for installing ventilation devices in the premises of a house from self-supporting insulated wire:

Installation of the supply valve with detailed explanations:

The nuances of organizing ventilation in a SIP-house according to the features of a particular structure:

You have read about the strengths of SIP houses and what will definitely make itself felt. Consider leveraging existing ventilation. Add mechanical devices. Make them the main source of fresh air if the air conditions are not satisfactory.

Build a new system with high traffic, a large number of sleeves. Consider powerful heated supply air systems. These you will install with the least effort.

Write comments and ask questions. Tell us about the amenities and disadvantages of your home from SIP panels. Write down how successful you think the ventilation is. The feedback form is located below.