Cross-ventilation - is it mandatory in apartments?

What is so hard to understand that ventilation through windows is the cause of the core problem? It's kind of funny that I can improve it a bit by building the house differently – oh, then why not do it properly from the start?

For the 5-10 nights per year when you really need to lower the temperature, yes, you need airflow. What you call that now – doesn’t matter. For the remaining 355-360 days, the window is simply a dumb idea for ventilation.

I don’t understand this tendency to sugarcoat ventilating through windows.

Ventilation has worked well for hundreds of years, and now suddenly it’s supposed to be the cause of the problem?

Because ventilation is also quality of life. Whenever possible, we live with open windows, that’s simply freedom, that’s nice. The birds are chirping outside, the stream at the pond is babbling, the frogs are croaking. That’s why I live in the countryside.

Why not do it “properly” right away? Some just don’t want to live with constantly closed windows. A controlled residential ventilation system costs money, both to purchase and to maintain. It needs servicing. Another additional effort that can be avoided by ventilating naturally. It may be an improvement for some, but it’s not a miracle cure.

Actually, the question has long been answered.
Window ventilation works if man/woman/... does it correctly... which unfortunately is sometimes not the case because...
Controlled residential ventilation and all the other variants work if properly planned, built, adjusted, and maintained... which unfortunately is sometimes not the case because...
There are (as almost always) 2 factions here, one wants to force/convert everyone to install controlled residential ventilation, the others don’t want that nonsense... = why do we seal everything airtight, only to then ventilate with "machines".
Within the first faction, there are also those who demonize trickle vents as botched work and those who believe that a couple of trickle vents are always and everywhere enough to prevent mold/...
For the second faction, trickle vents are nonsense because... but we already covered that.

A controlled residential ventilation system costs money, both in acquisition and maintenance. It needs to be serviced. Another additional effort that can be avoided by simply ventilating.

Much is of course a matter of taste – the croaking frogs, the highway nearby, whatever.

What I also feared but have been pleasantly surprised by since I have the system is the work – just the vacuuming time I save is worlds more than washing the filters every two months.

Where I definitely have to disagree is the maintenance costs. Nothing saves me as much money as the ventilation. And not just money – I also find it simply irresponsible to always have to send the heat out whenever I want fresh air and/or to get rid of moisture. Anyone who complains even once about heating costs and/or climate change should first start with a central ventilation system with heat recovery.

It is certainly not a miracle cure – but the ventilation has contributed at least as much to the stability of my marriage by eliminating all ventilation discussions as the car’s navigation system has by eliminating route arguments.

It is certainly not a miracle cure - but the ventilation has contributed at least as much to the stability of my marriage by eliminating all ventilation discussions

Then you have to defend it so vehemently, I am also a fresh air fanatic (without controlled residential ventilation), and the marriage is stable :rolleyes:

For the 5-10 nights per year when you really need to lower the temperature with it, yes, you need airflow.

And on these few days, it almost doesn't matter whether there is a second window for "cross-ventilation" anyway if there isn't any breeze;)

What I actually do on these 5-10 days is open a terrace/balcony door on the ground floor and the attic and then let the air flow from bottom to top. You can really notice how the air warms up significantly on its way upward as it moves through the floors. I don’t need wind for this and even let it flow in and out on the same side of the house. Meanwhile, the cooling system is already working and you can feel its effect massively from noon onwards. Thanks to the heat exchanger, cool, fresh air is always coming in.