Hello eveyone, hoping that you are enjoying your weekend :).

What exactly do you mean by ventilated? I am not really looking to ventilate in the winter, I want to keep my heat in. Even basements and crawl spaces are closed for the winter.

A ducted furnace should have a fresh air vent that draws outside air in

-Thanks RObert, yes i think is air tight, i think!! I have a steam boiler for the two apartments, really old.

-Linda To prevent moisture, remove odors, breathe new and clean air, etc.

-David i am new to this, i will have to do a research.

Unless your apartment building is built new or packed with latest foam insulation, I don't think you have to worry about that. All my apts are not air tight, even after hired professionals to do all the insulation work.

We have the heat recovery ventilation system in our house, periodically draw fresh air from outside.. The builder charged extra $3K for that if I remember correctly.. don't really notice anything different.

-AllyM thanks for sharing, i just wanted to see the different perspective of the landlords about this.

-6x6 you lucky then :D

-AllyM thanks for sharing, i just wanted to see the different perspective of the landlords about this.

-6x6 you lucky then :D

Unless you have rehabbed that old house down to the studs, and foamed the cavities, there is no way it is air tight enough to need ventilation. My house was built in the 1990s and was over insulated at that time, but I can still feel drafts in small spots.

I bet the steam boiler adds some humidity. Especially compared to a furnace blowing dry air. If this only happens once in a while, it could be just all the things happening at once and it overwhelms the place. Two units cooking big meals, taking a shower, weather etc. Sometimes when we focus on something, it seems worse than if we ignore it, unless there are some real health issues.

most utilities offer an energy audit for a very low price. This is exactly what you need. Energy auditors don't just measure energy loss they identify all the issues in the "WHOLE HOUSE SYSTEM"

Your problem needs to be properly identified and quantified.

I seriously doubt a building with an old steam boiler is at all tight.

a properly ventilated building has 3.14 natural air changes and hour and that is the 1st measurement you need.

if it is tighter you will need mechanical ventilation.

Various answers here...

If the house is "older"...(no exact definition, but let's say pre-1990) then you should not have any ventilation issues...most of those houses are not well-sealed.

If newer, then most HVAC people will draw the intake air for the furnace from either outside or the attic...creating the "fresh air turns" that are necessary.

Thanks again to everyone for your response.

-LindaJ no, i haven't rehab the house, i got less than a year with it. Yes i have steam boilers.

-nhsailmaker I got that thru Mass Save, they just did my Insulation, when you said:

"a properly ventilated building has 3.14 natural air changes and hour and that is the 1st measurement you need."

what are you referring to? Sorry, i am new into this of LL.

-Hoosier house is older than 1900... Steam boilers over 25 years old.

RentsDue no, how can i know that?

did Mass Save do a blower door ?

If so they can tell you the Cubic feet a minute leakage and that determines the air changes per hour

-nhsailmaker Blower door ? I don't remember them doing that...

No they didn't told me any of that that you mention, they did the insulation from outside, the while basement and the two floors.

If i give them a call, what am i saying? About the Blower door and to know the cubic feet leakage? Sorry i am new to this.

If they didi not do a blower door then shame on MASS SAVE. They did not do a blower door therefore they did not do an energy Audit. All they did was add insulation.

If they are at all connected to Federal $$$ then they are violating all standards.

Thanks nhsailmaker i really appreciated, i will ask for that, what should i be looking on them?

Go to their office and ask them to completely explain to them their energy audit they did of your home

In there is information that the Feds REQUIRE TO BE TAUGHT TO CUSTOMERS.

I use to run our NH weatherization program and educating Client is a 100% requirement mandated by Feds

there is no way they should have done insulation without doing a blower door with infra red camera to identify voids in insulation and air leakages

Ask for pre and Post blower door numbers.

If they did proper blower door guided air sealing with infared your number should be well below 1 CFM per square foot of building

Ask if they did a CFM testing on the bath fans and range hoods

they should have given you LED lightbulbs, Checked efficiency of heating units and tagged the results

I just checked out the MASSS SAVES web site -go to - Watch Our Video to Learn More About Home Energy Assessments

Ask for pre and Post blower door numbers.

If they did proper blower door guided air sealing with infared your number should be well below 1 CFM per square foot of building

Ask if they did a CFM testing on the bath fans and range hoods

they should have given you LED lightbulbs, Checked efficiency of heating units and tagged the results

I just checked out the MASSS SAVES web site -go to - Watch Our Video to Learn More About Home Energy Assessments

Thank you guys for your responses..

-nhsailmaker A supervisor called me, since Mass Save haven't finish all the job, they still need to finish the Attic, they won't send someone to do a post audit, at the time of the call, i did not seen your msg about the blower numbers, i call back and left a VM asking for it, still waiting.

-*Steve maybe i wasn't lucky enough for the blower door part.

Great news. dont wory about a thing until they do the blower door guided air sealing

BTL means Building Tightness limit. They should strive to air seal to that number

that is the 3.14 air changes per hour naturally. Tighter than that and they have to add mechanical ventilation like a constant low running bath fan

If the Mass Saves people are high quality they will stop after a period of blower door guided air sealing and calculate the cost of the improvement vs the cost of more effort. There is a point they stop because they reached the point of no return.