Highly insulated homes and Asthma

Doesn't surprise me. I think in years to come removing chimneys from houses will be seen as a mistake.

Tim

I had serious asthma as a child in a house that was cold and had no central heating. It all disappeared when I moved to a centrally heated student accommodation, and never opened a window. Of course I also lost a rural environment and my mother, both of who I suspect had a serious effect.

I expect the dust mites and various fungi will love the humid and continuously warm modern airless centrally heated home.

No reason why airchanges cannot be done through a heat exchange but they tend to be hermetically sealed (at least until subsidence occurs). Have you seen the salts that come out of modern brick build?

Insufficient ventilation encourages moulds and from them mould spores.

Regards, Martin Brown

Or perhaps beer and kebabs have a prophylactic effect/

Owain

Asthma has all sorts of causes. eg Pollen, traffic fumes. So keeping the place shut tight can help in some cases. It's possible to buy stand alone air filters to help asthma sufferers. Also demumidifiers.

dope and kebabs perhaps

I seem to remember the BMA publishing research that laminate flooring instead of carpets was a cause of asthma - however NHS direct suggest that laminate flooring is better than carpets for asthma sufferers.

It could be, in a sort-of way, that both are true. The various substances of which both laminate, especially cheap stuff, and synthetic carpets are made might give off substances which cause asthma. Whereas mainly wood flooring and wool carpets might be good. So swapping either cheap flooring for either expensive one would be an improvement! (Obviously an ultra-simplified idea - surely reality is much more complicated than that.)

I do remember that the article said that carpets trap dust whereas laminate does not trap dust. Of course this was 13 years ago and was just about the time laminate flooring became popular and houses were been built without proper ventilation.

My kids have slight asthma and carpets are definitely less good compared to solid floors. Assuming you actually bother to hoover your solid floors :) Because dust bunnies are dust bunnies either way.

What used to get me was human and cat dander - house mites and also fungal growth. DRY houses - and that usually means warm well ventilated houses - are the key to health.

Too much insulation with low heating and not enough ventilation will do the job as well.

AIUI low humidity is bad, and almost unavoidable with CH and good insulation