INDOOR CLIMATE CONDITIONS IN LIGHTWEIGHT DETACHED HOUSES IN COLD CLIMATE

Field measurements of the indoor climate have been carried out in 128 lightweight timber-framedetached houses in Finland and in Estonia during the years 2002-2005. The temperature and relativehumidity were continuously measured in bedrooms, living rooms and outdoors for each house at 1-hourintervals over a 1-year period. The studied timber-frame detached houses had different types of heatingand ventilation systems, envelope structures and indoor surface hygroscopic properties.An extended period of high indoor temperatures during summer suggests that thermal comfort was notconsidered in the original design. During winter, despite of almost ideal average temperatures, thevariations in temperature was larger than expected to be produced by modern heating systems andwell insulated envelopes. Minor differences in the daily amplitude of the relative and absolute humiditywere shown in the comparison of the hygroscopic and non-hygroscopic cases. A very similardampening effect was seen when balanced ventilation was compared to other ventilation systems. Thebuilding orientation and a large number of uncontrolled factors had an important effect on the indoorclimate because the variation of indoor climate parameters was much higher between single housesthan between subdivisions compared.