Blower Door Test

Service Description

We perform blower door test building envelope audit as part of the building envelope assessment or commissioning. Often is bundle with thermography and other professional equipments like smoke test and water test rack for AAMA and ATSM field testing. We also perform new home testing as part of their Net Zero Home Grants & Interest Free Home Retrofit Loans program, when available. A blower door test for buildings is a way to measure air leakage but, more importantly, it’s a way to find air leaks and fix them. Fixing air leaks is ‘low hanging fruit’ in terms of improving the energy efficiency of homes under construction specially if is performed before the insulation is installed. At the stage when the exterior weather resistant barriers (WRBs), is complete is recommended to perform a pre commissioning, because the cost of repairs is very reasonable. All you need to do to improve the air seal is take your time and be a bit more careful, and what’s the point of taping the joints of a membrane if you don’t do it well and it still leaks air? The operator then determines your ACH (air changes per hour) based on the house dimensions and the volume of air in the home. Standard new home construction in North America seems to return an average air leakage rate of about 3 air changes per hour. Some building rating systems set ACH targets that must be achieved. The Passive House air leakage rate has to be 0.6ACH or lower, which is several times more airtight than the average home and that is partly why a Passive House consumes several times less energy in heating. Even at 3 air changes per hour, which is much better than most older homes, the entire volume of air in your home will leak out and be replaced several times in a day. That is a LOT of heat loss. And it doesn’t only cause an increase in your heating bills, it also affects home durability since the air leaking out is often very humid; as that humid air finds its way through holes in the wall assembly, it can condense and deposit moisture in your walls. Moisture means rot and mold, rotten and moldy walls means home renovations are needed, and that means open up your wallet. Nothing good ever comes from warm air leaking out of a building in winter.

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