The ventilation and leakage characteristics of suspended floors are not well documented. As part of a larger study of air flows in housing, the air flow through a suspended floor has been investigated under a number of conditions and methods of ventilation. The leakage of the suspended floor and the space beneath it has been measured and is compared with the house leakage.
Whole-building pressurisation tests can quantify the air-leakiness of a building's external envelope. The resulting information can be used in assessing the quality of the building fabric. At present there is little information regarding the leakage characteristics of large, non-domestic UK buldings. As a step towards providing more information, the Building Research Establishment (BRE) has developed and constructed a multifan pressurisation system known as BREFAN to pressurise large buildings like offices and hangars.
The air change rate in existing, older blocks of flats having natural ventilation has been measured by the tracer gas method. Measurements were made in the buildings in as-found condition. The average air infiltration rate was 0.26 air changes/h (with the ventilation ducs closed), with an overall ventilation rate of 0.47 air changes/h. The average overall ventilation rate is very close to that recommended on the basis of health requirements, although values both above and below this are encountered in many flats.
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