| Introduction
Outdoor respirable1 and inhalable2 fine particles (PM) are a significant factor which negatively affect health. Outdoor PM is known to penetrate into homes even when the doors and windows are closed. Due to the high portion of time spent indoors (90 per cent for most North Americans) the exposure of a person to outdoor-originating PM while indoors may be significant.
On a practical level, there are many fine particles of outdoor origin such as wood smoke, particulates from vehicles and industrial sources that should be excluded from the indoor environment.
Research Program
The objectives of this study were to determine how filtration and ventilation system operation can affect the indoor-outdoor relationship of fine particle concentrations in a home, as well as to determine the filtration effect of the house envelope on incoming ventilation or infiltrating air.
The study was limited to one, southern Ontario Canadian home with moderate airtightness. The house was operated with normal occupancy of two adults and with five distinct ventilation modes as follows:
Housing Research at CMHC
Under Part IX of the National Housing Act, the Government of Canada provides funds to CMHC to conduct research into the social, economic and technical aspects of housing and related fields, and to undertake the publishing and distribution of the results of this research. | 