Fluxair Indoor Environment Solutions Inc.

Another annual conference wrap up with lot of new things learned, old friends revisited and some new made.

Tip of the week: STACK EFFECT Stack effect is name for natural occurrence within enclosed spaces. It describes vertical movement of the air following few basic ...rules: - warm(er) more buoyant air rises - cold(er) more dense air descends - taller the building stronger the movement Depending on the season there are opposite dynamics within indoor environments. WINTER (heating season): - as the air is heated it rises and pushes against ceiling and top side walls creating higher pressure area with relation to low areas - colder air drops down closing the cycle SUMMER (cooling season): - colder dense air drops to lower sections of the building and pushes against floor and side walls creating higher pressure area with relation to the top of space How does that effect comfort? - taller the building more vertical air movement creates drafts - depending on how leaky the enclosure is (THEY ALL ARE) more air gets infiltrated and exfiltrated through the gaps, cracks and breaks in the enclosure - air getting indoors often travels through spaces infested by pests or vermin introducing harmful contaminants - air leaking through the enclosure is carrying moisture which could condense inside the walls or other cavities causing microbial growth, building material degradation and providing ideal conditions for various pests CONCLUSION Most of the contaminants entering the indoor environment in winter come from the lowest parts of the building (basement) and in the summer they find their way in through the attic and top side walls. Same goes for the odors. Next week TIP: how to deal with it if it becomes a problem

Earlier this year we attended one of the top events in the building science community, named by many "creme de la creme of building science". Summer camp organized by Building Science Corporation and held in Westford, Massachusetts introduced tons of new information but also re-introduced some old stuff that we wrongfully forgot all about as it worked for us for centuries. Combining new and old materials in completely new ways can make our homes and buildings look and feel li...ke million dollars. Comfort, health and aesthetics are on top of our priority list of when it comes to not only our homes, but also our work environment. Choosing proper materials and making sure they are properly installed is the key towards any indoor environment optimum performance. Combined with other building features and systems it results in healthy and comfortable indoors with no IAQ problems. Pictures show backyard setup for 500 attendees with around 20 barbecues ready to go! See more

There is still 3 days to go...

Come visit us at GTA Home&Reno show in Mississauga, Feb 16-19

MAKE YOUR HOME/OFFICE: - Comfortable - Healthy and Safe - Durable - Energy efficient

HOME PERFORMANCE DIAGNOSTICS - Complete house check-up. House Air tightness Insulation condition HVAC Airflow, Heating and cooling capacity Ventilation and Air distribution... Ductwork sizing Combustion appliances And much more... See more

Finally! After long period of education and practice we are officially in the HOME PERFORMANCE DIAGNOSTICS field. It complements Indoor Air Quality making it a perfect Indoor Environment Solution.

Healthy Building Summit at Seven Springs resort was as always, better then the previous one. Excellent speakers lineup, family atmosphere, old and new friends and above all tons of new knowledge acquired put Joes event on the "not to be missed" list.

Come and visit us at National Home Show, March 11-20 at Exhibition Place Toronto! Booth is #4506

Another IAQA conference and opportunity to learn few new tricks of the field and also to worm up old bones down in Florida. Classes given by prominent practitioners and researchers alike shed some more light onto our still uncharted territory called IAQ. Unfortunately chronic lack of research funding makes it really difficult to establish proven link between so many indoor contaminants and human reaction to them. Of course, fact that every individual reacts in different way, at different dose, or doesnt react at all make things really interesting. That is the main reason we have no standards and set exposure limits for so much bad stuff that is out there lurking in the air waiting to jump on us for a free ride. And every hard work is eventually rewarded by after hours quality time with friends and colleagues.

Odor, odor, odor... there is nothing that comes even close when dealing with indoor contaminants. I am talking about those that cant even be identified. Persistent, stubborn and sneaky, most of the time combination of few different sources, one day you clearly smell them all over and next theyre gone... just so they can return day after in the middle of the party celebrating closure of odor problem book. And every person you ask for a help describes the odor in completely d...ifferent way. Of course, air movement, pressures, temperature and humidity all affect the intensity and composition. No matter how hard you try to control those parameters in order to make some sense of it, mother nature inevitably interferes and decides to shuffle things around even indoors as well as hardly any structure is air tight. Think a 30 or more year old house that has 20-30% of leakiness average. And here you are trying to create pressure differential of up to 10 Pa between two sections of the house. Good luck! If it is your lucky day youll manage to solve the problem without having to have half of the house torn down before exposing the culprit. So please people, call me only if you forget to close a lid on your paint can in the closet, if your garage is attached to the house and youre idling 10 minutes in it to warm up your car every morning, or if youre cooking 4 meals a days with a range hood fan motor seized...you got the picture See more

Importance of education There is a typical call which I, and Im sure all other practitioners in the field have been getting from distressed clients all the time. It goes like this: Hi, could you please test my air, something feels (smells) wrong. Or: I need my air tested to make sure everything is OK. And it goes on, but Im sure you see the pattern. Indoor environment quality is probably one of the most illusive-like concepts to general population and for that reason ed...ucation is very important part of my job. The way I (and most other competent professionals) work when called about a problem is to conduct investigation with the goal of determining the source of the problem, followed by creating a hypothesis which is then tested either by sampling the air for particular parameter/s (contaminant) or by using other necessary tools for the task. Should the hypothesis be confirmed and source of the problem has been discovered, recommendation is made for remediation. I emphasize this again, goal is to remove the source if any way possible, if not, next best thing is to isolate it. Should the hypothesis proved to be wrong, further investigation is taking place and new one is presented and again tested, and so on till you get it right. Investigations could be quite simple as only walk-through and visual inspection paired with the practitioners experience may prove to be sufficient, and on the other hand it may turn into a mission impossible including multiple air and material sampling methods, building science and air distribution (HVAC) system diagnostics in a multi storey building. See more

Nice little ski resort in the heart of Pennsylvania set the scene for another one of Joe Hughes (IAQ Training Institute) summer (or post summer) conferences called Research to Practice for Healthy Building Professionals. As always Joe put out incredible line up of speakers with the keynote being our fellow Torontonian Jeffrey Siegel, PhD from University of Toronto. As the title says, aspect was on Research to Practice and at the end, consensus was that the industry would grea...tly benefit from it. No matter how great the job is they are doing on each end, if there is no closer relationship between scientists and practitioners the progress in still developing IAQ field wouldnt be as as we would all want. The topics covered by the speakers ranged from building science, mould sampling methods and data interpretation, allergen research, HVAC system impact on IAQ, new materials used in construction and contaminants they emit into the environment, lot of case studies and some out of the box thinking projects. There is still a struggle in the industry to come up with definitive standards for air sampling, procedures and protocols and till then there will be lot of different opinions and sampling strategies and protocols will be based on individual practitioners knowledge and experience. Health Canada exposure guidelines for Residential Indoor Air Quality and recommended exposure limits are our starting point and minimum threshold in every investigation. See more