Decorative ventilation grilles: types, choice

For a comfortable and healthy atmosphere in the house and apartment, normal ventilation is necessary. Its integral part is decorative ventilation grilles. It only at first glance seems that they are all the same. In fact, there are many subtleties and nuances, and the wrong choice can significantly impair the operation of the ventilation system. 

Types of decorative ventilation grilles

First of all, ventilation grilles are divided according to the place of installation. They happen:

• External or facade. For outdoor installation.
• Internal – for indoor installation.
• Refineries. This is a kind of internal, but they are placed on the ventilation holes that are located between the rooms, sometimes they are installed in the doors.

Decorative ventilation grilles for outdoor installation are most often made of aluminum and galvanized steel. For weather protection, they can be powder-coated. Such coloring withstands frost and heat, is not afraid of moisture.

Internal grates (and overflow ones too) are most often made of plastic, but there are also metal ones. They are more diverse in form and appearance. Overflows are distinguished by the fact that they have gratings on both sides – for opening an opening in both rooms or on both sides of the door. In them, the jumpers are located so that the light from one room does not enter another, but at the same time does not interfere with the movement of air. They are also called “double” or “double”.

By appointment

Decorative ventilation grilles are classified according to the way they are used:

• universal – supply and exhaust;
• supply;
• exhaust.
  

By name it is clear that they are placed on air ducts for various purposes. They differ in the installation of jumpers that direct the air flow in the right direction. Installing the supply grille on the exhaust air duct and vice versa will significantly worsen the air exchange rate and you need to be careful when choosing.

At the place of installation

Ventilation duct outlets are usually located in walls or ceilings. Accordingly, ventilation grilles are wall and ceiling, there are universal ones.

According to the installation method, they can be overhead or built-in. Overhead are installed on the wall, closing the duct outlet. They are what make them attractive – they can even be an element of decor. Recessed grilles are usually placed in places where air ducts go outside. They are needed to protect against the ingress of debris and small animals (mainly rodents). Since they are not visible, no one pays attention to aesthetics. They must be strong and reliable, and they can be made from a simple metal bar or even a chain-link mesh.

There are also decorative ventilation grilles for installation in the floor. Strictly speaking, in most cases, they have almost nothing to do with ventilation, since they close convectors or radiators installed in the floor. However, the name is retained. Very rarely, ventilation ducts pass under the floor, and then the gratings that close them are exactly floor ventilation. In any case, they are made of metals, less often – of wood, since the loads are still higher than with a wall or ceiling installation.

Ventilation grilles are also installed in window sills – if they are wide and heating radiators are located under them. In this case, usually either simple slit or openwork are chosen, which attract attention and are even decoration.

Another non-standard place for installing ventilation grilles is doors. Usually these are the doors to the bathroom or bathroom. For normal operation of ventilation in the bathroom and toilet, air flow is necessary. It is provided by making a gap under the door of 2-3 cm or by installing a ventilation grill in the door leaf.

Small meshes can also be installed to ventilate wardrobes or large wardrobes. You can put any wall model (for dressing rooms you may need a transfer), but there are also special furniture models. They differ only in size (smaller than usual) and a wide variety of colors. You can install them in the door, or you can – in the walls.

Materials

Most often, ventilation grilles are made of metal and plastic, wooden ones are much less common. Metal – aluminum alloys or galvanized steel, less often – stainless steel, bronze, copper and brass.

For external grilles, the metal is taken thicker, for internal ones thinner. If we talk about facade ventilation grilles, then you usually have to choose – to take aluminum, which will last a long time, but is not very resistant to physical stress, or durable galvanized steel, but which will begin to rust in a few years. The choice is not the easiest. Of course, the ideal option is stainless steel, but the cost of such ventilation grilles is very high, and it is not easy to find them.

Decorative ventilation grilles are made of plastic for indoor use. Most often they are white, but there are also colored ones. They are good in that they are light in weight and cost, easy to care for, chemically neutral, and not afraid of moisture. Their disadvantage is that they do not react well to high temperatures. Therefore, if the vent is in a high temperature zone, a steel or aluminum grate is placed there.

Brass, copper and bronze ventilation grilles are decorative elements and they look immodest. Monograms, decorations, ornaments – these are all practically mandatory attributes of such ventilation grilles. They are for wall and floor mounting, put them in window sills. Where they are rarely seen is on the ceiling. Usually there are a number of ready-made options, but many companies offer custom-made production and are even ready to draw a drawing according to your sketch. In the photo below there are several options for patterns, but there are dozens, if not hundreds of them.

Wooden grilles for ventilation are not common, but they also exist. They are placed in residential areas with normal humidity, since wood reacts poorly to high humidity. They fit well into the interior of a wooden house. If wood is present in the decoration, a decorative wood ventilation grill is the best solution.

louvred grilles for ventilation

The required speed of air movement through the ventilation system varies depending on the season or even the time of day. With a forced ventilation system, it can be regulated with a fan, and with a natural one, this is done using louvered ventilation grilles. Their slats (or they also say “cilia”) of the gratings are movable, depending on their position, the amount of air passing through them changes. There are two extreme positions – fully open and fully closed, and many intermediate ones.

There is a second option – with a movable valve. The principle is different, but the essence is the same – to block or open the air flow.

These gratings can be controlled manually – there is a small lever, by moving which we change the position of the slats. There are models with automatic control, but they are built into the ventilation system, the operation of which is controlled by the processor.

Blinds are external and internal. You can regulate both the incoming flow from the street and the outgoing one. It is convenient to put outdoor ones on ventilation ducts in the foundation. In winter, you can almost close them, reducing the ventilation of the underground to a minimum.

For indoor installation, adjustable grilles are placed for natural ventilation on supply or exhaust ducts. In general, it is convenient, but the mechanism requires maintenance, periodically the grate must be removed, cleaned and lubricated with movable joints. They become clogged with dust and dirt, which reduces the range of adjustment.

with check valve

Decorative ventilation grilles with a non-return valve do not allow air from the ventilation system to enter the apartment or house when the draft is overturned. The check valve is a thin movably fixed plate, the petals of which are bent when the air flow moves in the right direction and closes the lumen of the duct when moving in the opposite direction.

The non-return damper can be built-in separately, it can be in the fan or in the ventilation grille. In the ventilation grille, it is made in the form of a membrane – made of thin plastic. Such a device is built in infrequently, but you can add it yourself, do it yourself or put a free-standing valve.

There is no consensus on the question of whether or not a check valve is needed for ventilation. His opponents say that sooner or later the membrane or petals will stick and block the air flow. Probably so. But this is easily fixed – changing the valve or temporarily removing it is not a problem. But sometimes without it is much worse than with it. For example, the system is built in such a way that one cannot do without it. This is when forced ventilation is included in the same channel as natural ventilation. Then the non-return valve on the ventilation grille or air duct blocks natural ventilation when the hood is turned on. Otherwise, you will have to pull two separate air ducts, and this is difficult, expensive and not always possible.

Also, residents of high-rise buildings cannot do without a check valve. It is not very pleasant if your apartment smells of cigarettes when a neighbor smokes. And this is not the most unpleasant option. But in any case, the decision is up to the owner of the apartment or house.

Slotted

Sometimes the ventilation system is laid behind false ceilings. In this case, slotted ventilation grilles can be installed. They differ in size – long and narrow, suitable for installation in the side surfaces of suspended ceilings with a small height.

Due to the somewhat formal look, they are more often used in office and public spaces. You can also install it in houses and apartments by finding models with narrower slats – they look better.

Noise-absorbing acoustic

Conventional ventilation grilles are slats located at some angle. They can be arranged in one or two rows, they can have the shape of the letter V. This all changes the direction of the air flow and the speed of its movement, but does not affect the passage of sounds. And such ventilation grilles are not an obstacle to the spread of sounds, which is far from always acceptable in an apartment or house, since good noise and sound insulation is one of the important parameters of comfort. Therefore, for installation in doors, between rooms, on supply channels from the street, it makes sense to install ventilation grilles with sound absorption.

They have a more complex structure – soundproofing material is laid between the lamellas, which reduces the noise level to an acceptable level. Naturally, such products are more expensive, but without noise reduction it will be uncomfortable to live.

Fronton

One of the varieties of outdoor grilles for ventilation is gable. They are installed in the attics of private houses for ventilation of the under-roof space. They are made of powder-coated metal or weather-resistant plastic, which normally tolerates frost, high temperatures and ultraviolet radiation.

By type, they are almost always overhead, in shape they can be round, square, rectangular, octagonal; for mansard roofs there are asymmetric ones. The color is chosen either white – if there are white elements in the design of the roof, or in tone with the decoration of the pediment. Another option is to match the decoration of the facade of the house or roofing material.

In this case, it is better to install models with the ability to control the amount of passing air – with shutters or dampers. This option is very useful in cold and hot weather.