There is an opinion that the walls of the house must breathe. Why ventilation should breathe, not walls

When I laid out the first articles with the beginning of the process of erecting walls from aerated concrete, there were comments criticizing my choice of wall material. Among them were those in which readers wrote that the house would not breathe, that the walls should maintain a microclimate.

I think this statement comes from the supporters of wooden houses from a bar and round timber. The fact is that the seams between the timber have increased vapor and wind permeability. In fact, the walls are blown through, there is a constant air exchange. This is especially noticeable in windy weather. This creates the effect of fresh air inside, even without ventilation.

There are standards for indoor air exchange.

Ventilation should be responsible for air exchange, but not walls. Walls should impede air exchange, save heat as much as possible with thermal conductivity and vapor permeability. Vapor permeability for them is an unnecessary characteristic. Therefore, for example, all frame houses are hermetically glued with steam and wind insulation - from the inside and outside. It turns out a thermos house.

You can check the quality of gluing a frame house and a house of a different design with an air door. An article about it was here. Before the final installation of drywall. Where the film is weakly glued, it will come off.

To reduce the blow-through rate of wooden houses, external walls are sealed with a special wood sealant. Warm seam technology:

Ideally, ventilation in the absence of people in the room should also not work. Ventilation acts as an exchange of air with an increase in carbon dioxide and humidity. Rather, it should work at a minimum, keeping the air fresh. After all, furniture, floor coverings emit various organic volatile substances. In minimal quantities, but isolated.

For permanent residence in the house, ventilation is required. And not only with an exhaust system, but also with supply valves. For example, I cannot be in a city apartment if there is no micro-ventilation on 1-2 windows. So used to the fresh air.

But this method of ventilation through the windows is costly for the house (increased heating costs and draft).

It turns out that if the wooden walls are highly breathable, then ventilation is not needed either.The walls breathe, air exchange takes place, the microclimate is maintained. But the cost of heating in such cases (especially in frosty windy weather) will be serious. The situation will be saved only by heating with main gas.

In addition to wooden houses, houses made of wood concrete, expanded clay concrete (if there is no external plaster) are blown through. Even poorly built aerated concrete houses can "breathe" if there are many places with wastelands.

What would you choose? Breathable wooden walls or a thermos house with good ventilation?

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