Who's unhealthy, the House or the Occupants?

Everyone deserves to live in a warm, dry, fresh, healthy home. Everyone!

But how much is it about the house and what role do the occupants play??

It's popular politics to blame a segment of the community, but where does personal responsibility come into it?

A house as a building operates perfectly fine, until people are introduced.

It’s an innate object, standing, waiting, but not breathing, nor being.

If it’s cold outside, it’s cold inside.?

But, as soon as humans come home, the problems start.?

Cooking, showering, washing, drying, create humidity, leading to dampness and if not continuously heated and ventilated sufficiently, mould growth. Mould spores lead to asthma and other breathing disorders. This is universally recognised.

The acceptable solution is to “air the house out”, by flinging open alI the windows. I remember my mother doing this, but come on, who does this these days??Who has the time? (he says as he gets up and cracks open a window.)

Our houses are built better than those of my childhood. The way we live in them has changed too; everyone’s out the door by 08:30 and not back til late afternoon or early evening.?

Mum's no longer at home, housekeeping. More likely she's out working, earning income to pay the increasing mortgage.

Time is marching on, but our attitudes and thought processes have not.

My monitoring using Tether Ltd sensors over the last couple of years has provided an insight into how people actually live.

Not how they tell you they live.

Intermittent heating, leads to extremely cold bedrooms.

Despite attempts at education, the occupants of this home firmly believe that there is no harm in having a bedroom that is sub 10 degrees C. For them, it's always been that way.

This bedroom adjoins the living room, so should be warm, but the door is always closed at night. (A bit like their minds!)

The 3rd bedroom is at the other end of the house and with the door open, is perfectly comfortable, if a little hot on a sunny #christchurch day.

Auckland University recommends children's bedrooms be a minimum temperature of 19 degrees.

Yet EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority) advice is to do exactly that; intermittently heat the house to save power. How do you maintain 19 degrees in a bedroom if the heat pump is turned off overnight??

Heating is about staying warm, not saving power!

Cold bedrooms are uncomfortable, damp places. Humid air is harder to heat than dry air, so intermittent heating is likely to cost more in the long run, both via the power bill and doctor or pharmacy fees.

High humidity isn't good for the fabric of the house either. The surface mould you can see is likely to be far worse out of sight inside the walls or ceilings.

This has nothing to do with the construction of the home and everything to do with the way the occupants choose to live.

There is some personal responsibility needed here.

Cold bedrooms lead to sleeping with your head under the covers; something I used to do, before experiencing central heating whilst living in the UK. This would occasionally lead to near asphyxiation, where I had to wait until adrenaline kicked in and I burst out of under the covers like a purposeful popping porpoise!

I can't be the only person in #newzealand to have experienced this?

Poor ventilation not only leads to high humidity, but high CO2 levels. That drowsy, foggy, fat feeling means you are slowly but surely on your way towards the same asphyxiation I experience as a kid, night after night.

But most people have no idea, whatsoever, as what is not monitored cannot be measured. (It must be said that asphyxiation is unlikely, but high CO2 levels are still not healthy).

There has been recent calls to regulate requiring curtains as part of the Healthy (living room) Homes Act. This will not assist ventilation. In fact it's likely to make ventilation worse. But this is what Kiwi's are best at; solving one problem, by creating another!

Ventilation is critical for both occupants and the building fabric, as critical as being warm. The humidity needs an outlet. This ventilation needs to be constant and provide just the right amount of fresh air where it is needed in all weather conditions.

So what can be done?

Some serious education is needed to change our ingrained way of thinking. Some serious home science in schools would be a good start. Educating tamariki so they can educate whanau always works.

This needs to be a collective effort, without laying blame on a sector of the community. We need to work together in cooperation.

Better advice from government agencies, NGO's, well meaning groups and technical experts is needed.

An understanding that a house is an object that only becomes a whole system when it's occupants are included. There is no one quick fix solution, the whole system needs to be considered and addressed in totality.

There is a need to provide constant sufficient heating over the winter months. To efficiently maintain the warmth generated by this heating, insulation is required, preferably in an airtight envelope. This insulation will help keep the house warm in winter and cooler in summer, but without sufficient consistent ventilation, high humidity results in uncomfortable living conditions for the building and its occupants.

Papering over the cracks is not the solution.

However, the house can provide the heating, insulation and ventilation, but it isn't capable of turning the heating on, or turning extractor fans on, or opening windows before work, or retrofitting mechanical ventilation system or fitting more airtight thermal bridge free PVC windows. Sure, there can be a level of automation, but ultimately this is the job of the occupants.

Everyone deserves to live in a warm, dry, fresh, healthy home.

Everyone needs to take some personal responsibility to ensure they do their part to achieve this.

Starting in their own homes.