Insufficient ventilation, and what it costs later
Air movement is a structural question, not a comfort one.
Fully licensed & accredited
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NSW Fair Trading -
Australian Society of Building Consultants -
Strata Community Association -
Building Dispute Practitioners Society
In short: Ventilation recorded as insufficient on a Riverstone home at practical completion.
Why a house needs to breathe
Subfloor and roof spaces rely on cross ventilation to carry moisture away. Restrict it and the moisture stays, which is how timber gets a condition conducive to decay and to termites.
What insufficient looks like
Too few vents, vents blocked by insulation or landscaping, or an eave detail that closed off the path when the soffit went in.
What we found in Riverstone
Ventilation recorded as insufficient on a handover inspection, meaning the condition was built in and then finished over.
Why it is easy to miss
Nothing about it is visible from inside the house, and nothing about it fails on the day. It is a slow condition.
Fixing it
Additional vents, clearing what is blocking the existing ones, or correcting the eave detail. All of it is easier before the landscaping goes in.
Written by our local inspection team from work carried out in Riverstone. Licensed building practitioners.
