I live in a house built in 1837, which still has most of the original windows and doors. They were probably not very ‘air proof’ originally, but now, with the warping and weathering that comes with age, when it’s windy, there is a constant draught. I actually like the refreshing flow of air, and prefer it to modern sealed houses, which I find stuffy. It is centrally heated, so it’s not ever very cold, but it’s not, I suspect, very econonmical - but I can live with that.
Sealed. It saves all kinds of money and energy, and I’ve never noticed any feeling of stuffiness.
I build houses, and usually go the extra mile toward making them extremely efficient.
There’s some appeal to each. Like yours, my folks house was built in 1851 and there are all kinds of leaks, squeeks, smokey rooms, etc, but it’s what you’d expect and kinda adds to the ambience.
Our 2001 home though is way overbuilt with double pane vinyl windows, styrofoam stuffed inbetween the framing, twice the number of layers of stucco as normal (6), half again as much attic insulation, etc, etc, etc. Our HVAC bills are almost laughable for a house this size so I’ll take that and, when desired, I’ll just open a few windows.
Sealed… but I open the windows whenever the temperature is conducive. I do like fresh air, but I lived for a time in an apartment with badly sealed windows. Waking up in the morning to a 50-degree bedroom and frost on the inside of the window glass got old.
Sealed. When you live in a climate with 4-6 months of cold & snow, you want your house to be tight!
in a climate with severe cold winter sealed is good for economics and comfort. you can get heat recovery air exchangers to give fresh air in winter.
I am all about the fresh air, but I want it to come in through a nice clean window, or in Winter through an HVAC unit which warms it on the way.
In the leaky houses I’ve lived in, the leaked air brought with it a musty smell, having passed through an old wall and whatever mold or wood dust or decaying insect carcasses were in there.
Yuck!
But I really like the air in the house to be fresh, and can’t stand to walk into the house in the evening and get that heavy smell (or combination of smells) that hits you like a wall.
Sattua has it right. Windows can open for a reason. I’ll take a sealed, thermally efficient house that I can get some fresh air into if I so choose (and turn off all the heat or AC while doing so, thus saving money). It’s better for the environment and for my pocketbook.
My house was built in 1849, and for was totally uninsulated when I bought it. I’ve corrected that to some extent, but it’s still drafty. In the winter I compensate by wearing sweats and sheepskin slippers and sleeping under a down comforter, but I could wish my bathroom was warmer. When the weather is nice I always have windows open for fresh air.
I’ve wondered if replacing the windows would cut much of the draftiness, but I can’t afford the thousands of dollars to find out.
StG
This was a controversy when I worked for a public housing agency in Alaska. Even the energy people couldn’t agree. The long winters mean that a house is shut tight for most of six to eight months of the year, particularly in the more northern parts of the state. A tightly sealed house in that environment promotes mold growth because of cooking, breathing, etc. After building a lot of sealed homes, we had to go back and install fresh air vents because of the mold problems. Here in Portland I prefer a tighter house because, along with installing a heat pump and other measures, it helps bring energy costs down.
In commercial HVAC systems, you can set the percentage of “outside” air which is sucked intot he system. Most commercially zoned areas have minimum set by code.
Can this be done with stanadard residential systems? Or do they automatically only recycle the same air from the house? If the latter: YUCK! I always thought there was at least a bit of fresh air coming in!