Ventilation In Home Design
Took off in the United States in reaction to the 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic.
It was believed that homes and other buildings should be *drafty* to encourage fresh air indoors even in winter when windows were normally kept closed or rarely opened.
Much of this reaction was due to lingering miasma theories that *bad air* caused diseased such as the flu, thus one's home should be filled with fresh air as often as possible, heating bills be damned. *LOL*
For this reason older homes/buildings were fitted with heating systems and or boilers far in excess of requirements. They had to keep up with the loss of heated air due to the drafts. It is also why when such places are fitted with better insulation including new windows thus sealing them up and cutting down on all that draft, replacement heating systems especially boilers are sized much smaller.
Many of the "old country" or "old school" housewives one knew growing up and or today still insist on throwing open every single window in the house in winter once the household has departed for school/work. Those windows stay open for hours whilst the housework is started and supposedly is to "air" the house. One wonders what His Nibbs says about the heating bills... *LOL*
