Blower Door Complete - Results were AWESOME

Hey folks,

Sorry for the long absence again.  I have been crazy busy trying to get this place finished (60+ hour weeks). I am on the home stretch and am afraid I will not have a lot of time for updates till after we move in, but promise to provide lots of updates, video, and time lapse once we get into the house.  In the meantime I will try to sneak in updates on the most important achievements.  In the meantime, please have patience, only a few more months to go (trying for Late March 2021 occupancy)

And today’s topic could not be more important.  I had my blower door test, and while I did not set a record (was trying to), I certainly did do VERY WELL.

After years of effort on the building envelope (literally the topic of this website), I finally had the opportunity to test to see if I would be a total embarrassment, or I could stand with my head held high and know that I had achieved what I had set out to do.

So without further adieu, the results

 

I want to thanks Michael and Deborah from H&H Small Space Solutions for coming down from Lillooet and performing the test for me.  I have now set two records with them; the worst test they had ever done, and now the best test they have ever done.

On a future update after occupancy, I will describe the products and process I took to achieve these results and why you WANT an air tight house and how it is healthier for you than a leaky house.

This was the pre-drywall test, and so now I have the opportunity to find the leaks and get it even tighter.  I recently purchased a FLIR Thermal Camera (thank you to Rod at ITM.com for a nice discount!), this will allow me to depressurize the house again (I can just use a small vacuum cleaner with a house this tight), and then look for cold air entering through leaks. So I may set a record yet!

This was one small leak Michael found at the bottom gasket of a fiberglass door I have installed leading to the garage. I actually was expecting these fiberglass doors to do much more poorly, so this is not too bad, and I should be able to address. Notice the wavy blue line, the camera is actually picking up the cold air being sucked in.

Unlike the sharp edges on the window frame in this photo which just show a colder building element (in this case the fiberglass frames around the window).  The dark blue tabs are the attachment brackets for the Cascadia Window and Door fiberglass frame windows.  Nice to see that there is not a lot of cold radiating away from the frame, indicating good insulation on outboard side of the frame preventing thermal bridging.  You can see some under the rough opening, which makes sense because there is a metal sill flashing attached directly to the window frame at this location.  But even this, is a fairly small cold band that does not radiate very far down the wall and should be significantly dissipated once the stud bays have been insulated.

 

 

Well, that’s it for now, I hope to have a very exciting update in a couple of days – cross your fingers!

Thanks for visiting!

“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” —Virgil L. “Stubby” Currence (1904-1981) American Sports Writer, Reporter, Columnist And Editor.

“Life is short but there is always time enough for courtesy.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) An American Essayist, Lecturer, And Poet Who Led The Transcendentalist Movement Of The Mid 19th Century.