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Lessons Learned
One can see that after the ventilation renovation there was no tightening of the building envelope - the consumption of heating energy has increased
because of improved ventilation and leaks through windows. Probably the limited budget has prevented larger measures in connection with the ventilation renovation, the "savings" in other measures backfire with the increasing heating costs.
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In general, in the Finnish climatic conditions, day care centers have to be equipped with mechanical supply and exhaust ventilation if good indoor air quality is desired. This does not exclude other solutions if the design is carried out properly and the implementation is well controlled. Also in the case of mechanical ventilation, building owners should demand more detailed plans and calculations from designers, and also reserve resources enough for this in the budget. The plan must clearly state the number of people that the air flow rate is designed for. Calculated surface-area based air flow rate should always be checked by comparing it to person-based air flow rates. The ventilation rate should be maintained sufficient throughout the year. Based on the results, the quality of indoor air is poor in the children's rooms if the supply and exhaust air flows are only half of the recommended minimum value (currently 2 l/s/m² or 5 l/s/person). Hence, the ventilation system should be designed with more scope for variation, i.e. the supply and exhaust air flow/room should be higher than the minimum. Indoor air quality depends not necessarily on the air flow rates, but the effieciency of the ventilation and positioning of air diffusers is important. Also, the effect of the way heat is distributed as well the position of windows, lights and furniture should be determined to prevent complaints.
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