detached house

The air tightness of 15 detached houses was measured firstly immediately after erection and secondly after a period of 1.5 to 4.5 years. All the houses were timber framed ones, equipped with mechanical ventilation systems. Only two houses out of the 15 tested showed clear changes in air tightness. Thus the air tightness behaviour of the houses seems to be fairly constant.

Three different investigations of radon in Swedish dwellings are presented - a nationwide study conducted primarily to determine the collective dose to the Swedish population from exposure to radon and radon daughter, a supplementary study of newly built detached houses in order to find out whether theregulations in the Building Code prescribes acceptable radon levels in new houses built on normal ground, and measurements made by the local authorities in order to find houses with levels of radon daughters above the norm.

Presents a study to improve knowledge of the air tightness of the building envelope. The airtightness of buildings was measured by the pressure method and a literature study was carried out of corresponding measurements inScandinavia. The air tightness was measured mainly in timber frame detached houses,in some detached houses of masonry as well as flats. Notes that minorsealing techniques can improve Finnish dwellings, which are leaky compared to Swedish requirements. States that ventilation, heating and air infiltration must be considered together.

Describes a wind tunnel investigation of wind pressure distributions over a 1:100 scale model of a single family house, surrounded by identical building models in various regular arrays. Measures time-mean pressures at 122 locations on walls and roofs in a 90 degree wind angle sector. Calculates air change rates and corresponding heat losses for a full-scale building of the same type for a range of wind speeds and outdoor air temperature. Uses the full number of local pressure coefficients for the building surfaces as input data.

Tests a method which determines the infiltration of air and radon from the soil to a building. Makes measurements of total air flow along with usual airtightness tests. Describes practical tests in a detached house with a raft foundation on a gravel esker, and determines the permeability curves for thewhole house and the raft alone, and also the permeability of the soil to air. Describes the way the results are used for determination of air infiltration in different climatic conditions, and tests different radon reducing methodsusing the previously developed system analysis.

Measures air change rates in a 2-storey detached house with operation of various types of mechanical fresh air ventilation systems. Studies 4 systems, including 2 balanced systems and 2 exhaust-only systems. The forced ventilation rate is controlled at 0.15, 0.25, 0.4, or 0.5 ach. Develops expressions for the test house relating the house air change rate under winter conditions to the forced ventilation rate and the infiltration rate due to wind and temperature difference.

Reports measurements carried out from summer 1979 to summer 1981 in a well-instrumented unoccupied house, and in a less intensive manner in 60 occupied houses of the same construction. 

Provides the first results of a comparison of computer predictions of building energy demands with measurements in actual buildings - the Maugwil single family house and the "La Chaumiere" block of flats. Describes the buildings and summarises the measurement results and predicted values in graphs. Concludes the results indicate that the DOE-2 program can predict the thermal behaviour of buildings with an accuracy to within 5-10% on condition that it uses precise hourly meteorological and air change rate data. Stresses the important influence of the program user.

Presents the results of air leakage measurments in 18 single-family detached houses at the Midway substation, Hanford, Washington, performed as part of the Bonneville Power Administration Energy Conservation Study. Compares the change in energy consumption following various retrofit strategies. Measures air leakage in each house with the fan pressurization technique, before and after retrofits are installed.

Reports on a study carried out by HUDAC and DBR on four identical detached houses built in Ontario in 1977. House 1 was built according to the insulation requirements of the 1975 Ontario Building Code, the others were constructed with increased levels of insulation and air tightness. Some of the aims are: