As building codes and eco-savvy customers demand more energy efficiency from their homes, it has fallen to the construction professionals to create an effective building envelope. In this task, the blower door test plays a vital role in helping builders to find the gaps in the building envelope and seal them.
Building enveloped that perform poorly reduce energy efficiency, increase ROI times, and increase carbon footprints and utility bills for building owners. A blower door test can help to establish the airtightness of small to medium buildings, measure the flow of air between different areas in a building and test the airtightness of ductwork.
Your time is money, so knowing where to focus your air-sealing efforts will help you to achieve the desired results in a blower door test.
If you have been administering your blower door test at the end of your build, then you may be missing out on an essential opportunity to make your building envelope even tighter. Doing two blower-door tests; one mid-way through your build and one at the end, will give you a unique opportunity to fix cracks and holes before they get covered over by insulation and sheetrock.
An energy audit is a series of tests run to determine the efficiency with which your building utilizes energy. Whether you are planning a renovation to reduce energy consumption, or have just completed a new build, energy audits establish the efficiency level of your building envelope. Energy audits help to show where you can get the most savings for your building buck and what improvements will give you the best return on investment.
