Is ventilation worth the cost? The only way to answer this question is to put a value on the building and the health and comfort of the occupants, then compare that to the capital and operating costs of the ventilation system. What if you have a house with no ventilation system, and it develops a hidden moisture problem that causes the housing envelope to become infested with mold, mildew and rot? It can become a serious problem. Mold itself can cause thousands of dollars worth of damage to your home; in some cases can make a home uninhabitable.
How much damage would you be willing to accept? $500? $1,000? $5,000? More importantly, how much are human health and comfort worth? Is indoor air quality worth $20 a year? $100? $500? $1,000? $100,000?
Let's consider what a ventilation system actually costs. A fully-ducted heat recovery or energy recovery ventilator (H/ERV) installation would have a typical capital cost of $2,500.
Two thousand five hundred dollars would add $14.98 to your monthly mortgage payment (based on a 30-year loan at 6% interest). In most climates in the United States, the annual operating cost will be approximately $100 for such a system. So, the total yearly ventilation cost would likely be about $280, or about a $0.77 a day. A simple ventilation system, consisting of a small, quiet, continuously running, central exhaust fan might have a total cost (capital and operating) of less than 20% of the fully-ducted system but does not have a heat recovery feature.
We are already probably spending considerably more than that on health insurance and homeowners insurance. Insurance only pays for itself after we get sick or our house has been damaged. Most of us would agree that we would be better off not getting sick in the first place and not having to repair a damaged house.
Ventilation is like preventive medicine. The bottom line: Most of us would rather not spend the money, but we would all agree that ventilation is worth the benefits it delivers in the form of a healthier structure and fresh air to breathe. How much is your health worth?
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