Air Tightness improving and what it means. Airtightness is an important element of delivering a high-performance home in Donegal. Where airtightness is poor, heat may be lost through gaps in the house that are not visible. Poor airtightness is equivalent to having a large hole in your wall, even if the wall is well insulated. In Donegal, where the temperatures in winter range from 2-10 degrees Celsius, Airtightness is incredibly important. Improving airtightness may significantly reduce the size of that hole. This will help reduce heat loss and draughts in the home, increase comfort and will also improve the performance of your heating system.
An Airtightness test pinpoints the places in your home where you are losing heat due to the warm air escaping. Once you know the weak points you can take steps to decrease the amount of lost heat and therefore reduce your heating bills and have a warmer, more efficient home.
Air Tightness
- The average pre-works airtightness for the 408 pilot homes was 10.1 m3/hr/m2. The average post-works airtightness across the entire 508 homes is now 3.8 m3/hr/m2, a 63% improvement.
- After the initial phase of the Pilot, we brought in a requirement that all new homes must achieve an airtightness of ≤ 5 m3/hr/m2 and we provided a financial incentive for achieving ≤ 3 m3/hr/m2. Since that requirement was put in place, the average airtightness improved by 67% with 35% achieving ≤ 3 m3/hr/m2
- This greater level of understanding of how to improve airtightness has resulted in the delivery of more energy efficient homes that are more comfortable to live in.
- With increased airtightness, appropriate ventilation is necessary to ensure good indoor air quality. This is why SEAI require mechanical ventilation on all deep retrofit projects.
If you are building a new home in Donegal or thinking about retrofitting an existing home you will need an Air Tightness Test. Contact David today on 087 245 9497 or email [email protected] to arrange an Air Tightness Test in Donegal.
David McLaughlin is a fully certified and SEAI registered Air Tightness Tester in Donegal
(LISTED on the SEAI Directory of testers click to view)
I.S. EN ISO 9972:2015 – Thermal Performance of Buildings – Determination of Air Permeability of Buildings – Single Fan Pressurization Method.