Everything You Need to Know About Blower Door Tests!

Everything You Need to Know About Blower Door Tests!

What is a blower door test?

The blower door test is a test that determines the airtightness of your home. It ultimately measures air leakage and provides you with a quantifiable number that ensures peace of mind and energy efficiency. The test results can be determined by many factors, such as insulation values, window installation, construction or framing accuracy, vapour barrier sealing and more. The test also identifies the location of major air leaks, allowing you or the builder to correct the location to improve your homes building envelope.¹

What are the benefits?

The benefits are endless! If you choose to have the blower door test conducted on your new Landmark Home, you can achieve BUILT GREEN® certification, a third-party certification that labels your home as a healthy, energy efficient home. Homes with BUILT GREEN® certification are recognized industry wide. A BUILT GREEN® certified home will benefit from an increase in market and resale value. Additionally, recent research released by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association has shown homes with green certification sell for close to 10% more on average than homes without green certification.

From a comfort level, temperature variances are greatly reduced in a BUILT GREEN® home, due to the home’s air tightness (blower door tests are performed on BUILT GREEN® homes to test for air tightness so homebuilders can then balance the ventilation the house needs). “I don’t feel drafts around my windows and have noticed how well they block the outdoor noise.”²

Plus! You get rewarded for owning an energy efficient home! CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) will pay you an approximate $1000 up to $1700 rebate. This is a cheque issued after your possession, and it’s all yours! Ask our sales specialist for all the details or click here to learn more!

When do we conduct the test?

We hire a Certified Energy Advisor (CEA) who has been trained and recognized by Natrual Resources Canada to conduct the test, to ensure peace of mind and honest results. The test is completed before your possession date! We highly recommend all our homeowners choose to conduct the blower door test when purchasing to ensure all aspects of the home will pass the test so you can achieve BUILT GREEN® status!

How does it work?

The blower door test is a diagnostic tool used to measure the airtightness of a structure. A powerful fan is mounted in a temporary airtight frame of an exterior door. During a depressurization test, the fan pulls air out of the house, lowering the interior pressure and pulling air in from the outside through unsealed cracks and openings. A pressure gauge measures the amount of air pulled out of the house by the fan and coming in through unsealed cracks and openings. Results of the test can determine if there are unsealed cracks and openings in the house’s shell that should be sealed. Infrared cameras are used to locate every leak which can then be amended. Properly sealing a house will increase comfort, reduce energy costs, and improve indoor air quality.³

The equipment for the test includes:

1. A temporary door covering installed in an outside doorway

2. A fan that forces air into or out of the building

3. A pressure measurement instrument called a manometer to measure the pressure difference across the fan and the building envelope.¹

Anyone thinking of buying a house or building one should consider having a blower door test performed.⁴ It will help determine the cost of future energy bills, ensure high performance, peace of mind and it instantly pays for itself through the CMHC program!

Visit us to learn more about blower door testing for your new home!

_Resources:

_{1. “Home.” City of Edmonton :: Home, www.edmonton.ca/city_documents/PDF/GreenGuide-Glossary}

_{2. Built Green Canada: Invisible Benefits of Green Building, builtgreencanada.ca/benefits-are-not-always-visible-green-homes-are-healthy-homes.} 

_{3. “Blower Door Tests.” Energy.gov, www.energy.gov/energysaver/blower-door-tests.} 

_{4. Koones, Sheri. “Should You Get A Blower Door Test Done On Your Home?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Apr. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/sherikoones/2019/09/09/who-should-consider-conducting-a-blower-door-test/.}