This Old House!
They say the style and type of home we live in is a direct reflection of our personality. While that may or may not be true, for individuals who buy, renovate or inherit older homes there seems to be a love affair that creates a unique bond. While the newer homes can be true space age modern with all the technical bells and whistles, the older homes can incorporate some of these same technologies except they are blanketed in warmth and charm.
Many of the older homes have an abundance of real wood trim, book cases and stairways. They also may have some of the older lathe and plaster walls used before sheet rock was available. Many of these older homes have basements that are built with cinder block and not poured concrete and they may even have a fruit cellar or canned goods room that were so popular years ago.
Also, central heating and cooling were not used back in the early 1900’s so wood burning fire places or hot water radiators were used for heating. For cooling you just opened up the windows ( assuming you had screens) and doors and dealt with the heat like everyone else. And these older homes had little or no insulation and the windows and doors were not sealed very tightly so when the wind blew on the outside the curtains over the windows blew inside. This actually brought in fresh air ( along with all the other airborne particles from the outside) and provided a high rate of air exchange.
On the upside, the amount of fresh air that came into these homes helped keep a more “fresh air” feeling but also brought in a large amount of airborne contaminants and allergens. For people living in these homes today where there has been little upgrading or modernization of the walls, windows and doors, allergy season is a nightmare. If there has been no upgrade to a central heating or cooling system there is no way to move the air in the house through a duct system and then through a filter or filtration unit to pull out the airborne particulate. In addition, many of the older basements were built using earthen floors so the potential for mold was very high.
Pure Air Systems has been building fan powered HEPA based air filtration systems since 1985 and has a number of these units installed in older home with minimal or no central duct work. The PAS units are capable of moving up to 2000 CFM of air and can be installed as stand-alone units with ducts running from and to them to pull air from various areas, clean it then push it back to those same areas. This helps to maintain the integrity of the older home while making it more comfortable and livable for individuals who have allergies or other respiratory issues.
For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems please go to our website at: www.pureairsystems.com