Tag: Blower door test

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Indoor Air Quality and Building Diagnostics

The post originally appeared on the Green Building Advisor website.

I recently purchased the CPS IAQ PRO SmartAir professional indoor air quality meter to use during energy audits and building diagnostics/investigations.  My intent with the purchase was two-fold, first to learn more about indoor air quality metrics by testing homes in my market, and second, to have a more accurate temperature/humidity/dew point estimation inside these homes.  I recently had the opportunity to use the tool on a building investigation, I’ll outline this case study later in this post.  First let’s talk about the features of the CPS IAQ PRO SmartAir.

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Why You Need Blower Door Testing

This article first appeared in issue 304 of Fine Homebuilding Magazine.

I bought my first blower door in 2009, back when new construction was in a downturn and energy auditing and weatherization projects were on the rise.  I took a 40-hour energy auditing training course at a local college which included hands-on training on how to use a blower door.  It took many tests before I became comfortable in its operation and understood the information it was providing.  Though one of the more expensive tools I own, I’ve been able to keep it busy and add this specialized testing to my business’s income stream.

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Shorts-If Cars Were Built Like Houses

I saw this video several years ago when I first leaned of Corbett Lunsford.  Shortly after, I purchased his book, Home Performance Diagnostics, a book on different testing methods for evaluating a home’s performance.  You can check out Corbett’s YouTube channel here, (1171) Home Performance – YouTube

The video struck a nerve with me, there are so many rural homes built in my area that have no inspections or performance testing conducted, they really are like the video.  If you are a homeowner, ask the contractor for performance testing, and if you are a contractor, find someone in your area to partner with, they may help to make you a better builder.

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Building Science-Tight Homes and Negative Pressures, When Should We Be Worried?

This post originally appeared on the Green Building Advisor Website.

A couple years ago I was asked to perform a blower door test on a new home.  The home was small with a footprint of only 1130 square feet.  When the test was completed, the test report indicated an air leakage rate of 91 CFM at the test pressure of 50 Pascals, .33 ACH50.  Completely unexpected for this code-built house.  (I actually measured the volume of the home again and ran the test two more times before I was convinced I had an accurate test.)  The contractor contacted me some time later and indicated the homeowners were noticing air coming through the exterior light switches when the dryer was operating.  The dryer was producing close to the same negative pressure as my blower door every time it was being used, a negative pressure of about 50 Pascals.  Is this a problem?

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Building Diagnostics-Single Point vs Multi-point Blower Door Testing

This Article first appeared in the September/October issue of The Journal of Light Construction.

The main purpose of a blower door test is to confirm the integrity and continuity of the air control layer or air barrier.  I have a few different options on how to perform a test.  Which option I choose is dependent on the reason I am performing the test.

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Testing-Failed a Code Required Blower Door Test, Now What?

2012 was the first year the International Energy Conservation Code required residential construction to pass an air leakage rate test, better known as a blower door test.  My area of the country requires the test to be at or below 3 air changes per hour at the test pressure of 50 pascals (ACH50).  (Other areas, typically warmer climates require 5 ACH50.)  Most new construction in my market has no problem passing the test, but I have had a handful of houses fail, usually the failed tests are by a builder having their first blower door test or the project is a very small home.

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Testing-Setting up a Home for a Blower Door Test

This post was originally published in the April 2022 issue of the Journal of Light Construction.  www.jlconline.com

Blower door testing a home requires much more than simply setting up the equipment and running the test.

When setting up a house for a blower door test, should you seal off the bath fans? How do you address that six-inch combustion air vent in the mechanical room?  Should the overhead garage door in the attached garage be open or closed? Continue reading “Testing-Setting up a Home for a Blower Door Test”

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Shorts-Attached Structures Outside the Air Control Layer and Blower Door Testing

Whether you are performing blower door testing or hiring someone to perform the test for you, it’s a good idea to understand how a home should be setup for the test.  Should a door be open or closed?  What can be sealed off?  How to address rooms attached to the house but are outside the air control layer?  That’s today’s topic, attached garages and three season porches.  How should those spaces be setup for a blower door test?

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Building Science-Ice Dams

This year seems to be a good (or bad depending on how you look at it) year for ice dam problems in my area, the intensity of ice dams seems to change year to year.  I was recently on an ice dam diagnostic with an insulating contractor and a general contractor, the home was built in the early 1990’s and there is evidence there have been issues from the beginning.  We spent a couple hours testing this home, I’ll get into what we found in a bit.

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