A field study was conducted in Ottawa, Canada involving 31 homes with attached garages to evaluate the effectiveness of two interventions aimed at reducing the infiltration of pollutants from attached garages into adjoining living spaces. This paper describes the results of the second intervention where the airtightness of the interface between the home and garage was improved. Before and after the sealing intervention the air exchange rates (AERs), airtightness (ACH₅₀), and effective leakage areas (ELA₁₀) were measured for both the home and garage along with the garage-to-home inter-zonal air flows. Following the intervention, the garage-to-home inter-zonal air flow was reduced by 48.8% and the airtightness of the home and garage improved by 5.3% and 9.2% respectively. This study demonstrates that improved sealing of the garage building envelope is a practical, low cost, and effective intervention to reduce air infiltration from attached garages into adjoining living spaces.

Item Type:	Refereed Conference Paper
Keywords:	Indoor air quality, intervention, garage, field study, infiltration, airtightness, sealing
Research Division:	Environmental Sciences
Research Group:	Environmental management
Research Field:	Environmental management
Objective Division:	Environmental Management
Objective Group:	Air quality, atmosphere and weather
Objective Field:	Air quality
UTAS Author:	Wheeler, A (Dr Amanda Wheeler)
ID Code:	150482
Year Published:	2018
Deposited By:	Menzies Institute for Medical Research
Deposited On:	2022-06-16
Last Modified:	2022-07-13
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