Exhaust fan and other ventilation to your Home

Exhaust fan and other ventilation to your Home.
Proper ventilation of your home is a priority in maintaining your own health and well as the long term maintenance of the building. Properties that are not well ventilated readily promote moulds and mildew that not only affect your health but also affect the building itself.
Some ventilation is as simple as opening a window. If windows are fitted with security screens or vent locks they can be left open at all times to provide fresh air and promote the removal of moisture, caused by simply living, from the building. This moisture is from breathing, showering and washing, cooking, clothes washing and drying etc.
We regularly are asked to inspect and report on properties where tenants have complained of mildew and mould growth. Inspection reveals improper ventilation as the cause. Keeping a house fully closed in winter months is not always necessary as many days the outside temperature is above the internal so a change of air is not detrimental to keeping the home warm. Running exhaust fans for an extended time would also remove the potential for mould growth.

Other ventilation is targeted to specific areas of the home.
Toilets 
Toilets and bathrooms with a toilet should be vented with a short glazed window with permanent mesh vent to the top and an Air Lock vent directly outside the door. The airlock vent needs to connected to a flue pipe out through the roof; where the toilet does not have an external wall for the permanent vent window an exhaust fan connected to the flue pipe is required. Obviously having a flued fan along with the permanent vent in the toilet is even better.

Bathrooms and Laundries
Bathrooms and laundries need to have at least a static vent of sufficient proportions to remove any airborne moisture from the room; an exhaust fan is better. Exhaust fans should be kept running after the use of the room to ensure all moisture is removed.
Kitchens
Proper ventilation of the kitchen is essential to remove cooking odours and moisture from the building. Current regulations do not insist on venting from kitchen fans and range hoods; although the local authority may make it a condition of building approval at time of issuing the building license to the builder. It is sensible to properly vent the kitchen to the exterior otherwise oils and fats from cooking collect in the roof space impregnating insulation which would create a fire hazard and harbour cockroaches and attract other vermin.