The Urban Developer
AdvertiseEventsWebinars
Urbanity
Awards
Sign In
Membership
Latest
Menu
Location
Sector
Category
Content
Type
Newsletters
Untitled design (8)
FIRST RELEASE TICKETS ON SALE FOR URBANITY-25 CONNECTING PROPERTY LEADERS ACROSS THE ASIA PACIFIC
FIRST TICKETS ON SALE FOR URBANITY-25 WHERE THE PROPERTY INDUSTRY CONNECTS
SEE DETAILSDETAILS
TheUrbanDeveloper
Follow
About
About Us
Membership
Awards
Events
Webinars
Listings
Resources
Terms & Conditions
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Republishing Guidelines
Editorial Charter
Complaints Handling Policy
Contact
General Enquiries
Advertise
Contribution Enquiry
Project Submission
Membership Enquiry
Newsletter
Stay up to date and with the latest news, projects, deals and features.
Subscribe
ADVERTISEMENT
SHARE
13
print
Print
OfficeFri 17 Jan 20

Our Buildings Aren’t Made to Keep Out Bushfire Smoke. Here’s What You Can Do

faafa5cf-439b-4aa6-a135-c50263727269

In early December 2019, a Sheffield Shield cricket match between New South Wales and Queensland was played in bushfire smoke so thick that the ball was at times invisible to the spectators.

Since then, the rest of us have become far more aware of the hazards of bushfire smoke, and authorities have become more active in reminding us how dangerous it can be, especially during exercise. A standard piece of advice is to “spend more time indoors”.

But does it work?

Up until this year, with bushfire smoke lasting only a few days, it was good advice, especially for buildings that rely on recirculated and filtered mechanical ventilation complying with Australian Standard 1668 Part 2.

These buildings include shopping malls, cinemas, hospitals, larger offices and some of the buildings in some universities.

It’s fine in cinemas, for a while…

Unfortunately, if smoke is particularly thick or goes on for more than a few days, these systems get overwhelmed, which is why smoke detectors in many commercial and institutional buildings have been setting off fire alarms and why the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra was closed on Sunday and Monday.

Most houses or apartments are designed to be “naturally ventilated” under the National Construction Code, which means every habitable room has an openable window or a vent.

Closing the windows, vents and doors will reduce the “air change rate”, which is the number of times an hour the air in the room is replaced by outside air.

Less fine in homes

Regrettably, unless there is no wind, CSIRO research suggests most Australian houses are quite leaky by international standards, mainly because of leaky windows and doors.

Houses and apartments built before 1970 are the worst. Many have fixed ventilators just below the ceiling level, a hangover from regulations designed to ensure gas lighting did not cause asphyxiation.

These ventilators are now unnecessary and can be safely blocked off.

In normal times some leakage is not a bad thing, as it offers protection against internal air pollution from volatile organic compounds in furniture and building materials and cooking, smoking and heating.

But these are not normal times.

The length and severity of bushfire smoke appears to be unprecedented.

With bushfire smoke persisting for days or weeks, the standard advice to be “indoors” is less effective. While houses and apartments might be useful for keeping smoke out for a few days or so, they become less effective over time, depending on how leaky they are.

Take care

Before embarking on a campaign to seal leaks with draft stripping and duct tape, please ensure your that your range hood is vented directly to outside (preferably with an automatic flap) that if you smoke you do it outside, and that your furniture and fabrics are low in volatile organic compounds, which are chemicals that release vapor at room temperature.

If your house is sealed up, do not use a gas cooker without an externally vented range hood or use an unflued gas heater at any time.

Ensure your vacuum cleaner has a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter.

Remember duct tape or masking tape is likely to be very difficult to remove if you leave it on for more than a few days and may damage painted surfaces.

Air conditioners aren’t much help

Even if your house is well sealed, it’s likely the air in it will become similar in quality to the air outside over a period of several days. While the air change rate in your house might be low, it will not be zero.

A recirculating air conditioner, such as a split system, will make you cooler but most domestic air conditioning filters are not capable of removing the very small particles in bushfire smoke—the ones that most make it dangerous.

Evaporative air conditioners or window mounted air conditioners that draw air in from outside will actually make indoor conditions worse.

Some recirculating air purifier systems will remove bushfire smoke, but they can be expensive to buy and run.

Air purifiers can help, but they’re expensive

To be effective against bushfire smoke, the air purifier needs to be fitted with a HEPA filter.

The performance of many purifiers is less than stellar, but a Choice survey published just before Christmas is a useful starting point.

Choice is preparing a bigger test of more models which it will publish in March 2020.

It brought forward the test of six of them because of the fires.

Read more: From face masks to air purifiers: what actually works to protect us from bushfire smoke?


All six remove bushfire smoke particles with various degrees of efficiency, but their coverage area is limited. The Blueair 205 performed the best.

For people in an at-risk group, the use of an air purifier in a sealed-up house or apartment should help.

The only certain solution for someone suffering from smoke or concerned about its long-term impacts is to go to a building that has a recirculating HEPA filtered air conditioning system or move to a location where the air quality is better.


Author

Geoff Hanmer, Adjunct Lecturer in Architecture, UNSW

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

OfficeInternationalAustraliado not useCanberraResearch
ADVERTISEMENT
TOP STORIES
PGIM Real Estate Reimagines 444 queen street to 450 queen street brisbane
Exclusive

Coming, Ready or Not: Relic Stripped to Bone for Green Glow-Up

Renee McKeown
5 Min
Darwin has sat dormant for a decade but the resource rich territory is “on the threshold” of a boom for resources and new cities. Weddel and Palmerston
Exclusive

NT Eyes Looming Boom as Planning Commissioner Bows Out

Renee McKeown
5 Min
Exclusive

Gold Coast’s Greatest Moments Yet to Come: Evan Raptis

Phil Bartsch
7 Min
MODEL founder Rory Hunter HERO
Exclusive

‘It’s Massive’: On Mission to Prove BtR Green Equals Gold

Leon Della Bosca
8 Min
Potts Point Coliving EDM
Exclusive

Co-Living Shrugs Off Stigma as Overseas Money Moves In

Clare Burnett
6 Min
View All >
Office

A-Grade Perth Office Tower Comes to Market

Lindsay Saunders
Placemaking

Restaurant Revival Slated for Derelict Wynnum Ice Works

Taryn Paris
Build-to-Rent

Townsville’s First BtR Project Wins Green Light

Taryn Paris
Developer GEON plans to put shovels to dirt next year for the two-tower project in a North Queensland shopping precinct…
LATEST
Office

A-Grade Perth Office Tower Comes to Market

Lindsay Saunders
2 Min
Placemaking

Restaurant Revival Slated for Derelict Wynnum Ice Works

Taryn Paris
2 Min
Build-to-Rent

Townsville’s First BtR Project Wins Green Light

Taryn Paris
2 Min
Main Beach Odus Ari Tower Site Deal hero
Residential

Odus Doubles Down in $55m Main Beach Tower Site Deal

Phil Bartsch
3 Min
View All >
ADVERTISEMENT
Article originally posted at: https://theurbandeveloper.com/articles/our-buildings-arent-made-to-keep-out-bushfire-smoke-heres-what-you-can-do