AAALAC International is a nonprofit association that works to promote the responsible treatment of animals in science. This is done through a voluntary accreditation program that sets high standards for humane animal care and use. More than 650 institutions around the world have earned AAALAC accreditation, demonstrating their commitment to quality animal care and good science.
 
WHAT WE WILL PROVIDE FOR YOU AND YOUR FACILITY:
AAALAC has very strict requirements for many different aspects of animal care. What we can do for you and your facility is ensure that the HVAC systems in your facility are working properly. By having your HVAC systems working properly, you will have the proper airflow, the proper room temperature, the proper room pressures, and the proper room humidity. After we have surveyed and accessed your HVAC systems, we will provide you with a full report as to any deficiencies and what can be done to improve them.
Described below is a break down of what we will survey.

AIR CHANGES:
Air changes, per hour or per minute, is the ratio of ventilation rate (per hour or per minute) to the room volume. We will determine the room's air changes by measuring all airflow leaving and entering the room, that is supplied by your facility's HVAC system(s).
This can include supply air, exhaust, and return air.

ROOM PRESSURE:
Room pressure is also tied directly into your facility's HVAC system(s). Room pressure is very important in animal facilities to help control cross contamination. To keep contaminants out of a given room, that room would be given a positive pressure. A room such as that dirty side of a cage wash, would be negative. Negative - air sucking into the room dirty cage wash, corridors Positive - air blowing out of the room animal rooms, surgical rooms, clean cage wash. Please refer to the layout below to see how proper airflow movement would look.


The above drawing is just for a visual aid. 
Please do not base your layout and design on this drawing.
The blue arrows demonstrate proper pressurization.
 
ROOM TEMPERATURE:
Another very crucial part of the certification process is room temperature. As long as you maintain your air handling equipment and have the proper equipment installed to maintain your heat loads, your facility should be fine. The room temperature must be maintained within a very tight range. To do so the room in question will be totally evaluated to determine any temperature issues.
 
ROOM HUMIDITY:
The room humidity is also another key control point.  your facility's humidity is directly reflective of your HVAC system(s), any moisture loads, and any exposure to the outside atmosphere. Humidity can often be very hard to control, but with the proper airflow
and system controls, humidity can normally be controlled to within very strict margins.

AIR FLOW:
The air flowing into a given room can and will determine all of the above factors. To first determine accurate airflow, we will survey your entire facility and the HVAC systems that serve it. We will ensure proper operation of your HVAC system(s), in order to maintain the needs of your facility. Once the airflow is at design at the unit(s) we will then begin to balance the airflow around your facility. Proper airflow to your rooms will help improve the other factors, pressure, humidity, temperature, and air changes.
 
OUR STEP BY STEP PROCESS:
We take our work very seriously, so we have developed a step by step process to improve your facility. To start off with we will survey your facility to determine existing systems, and their functionality. We will then do a facility readout including
temperature, humidity, and air flow. Once we have gathered all this data we will submit a written report to you showing all, if any, deficiencies. We will break down for you what we feel should be fixed in order to meet the above requirements. If at this point you would like us to continue the improvement of your facility, we can discuss what you would like to have done. If you would like us to take our service all the way through to the end, we will get your facility meeting AAALAC requirements and provide you with a report showing all pertinent information. We do not have flat rates for our services, due to the varying sizes of different facilities.  Please contact us if you are interested in having us survey your facility or to receive more information.