Thank you for your interest. Barrier Sciences Group is no longer accepting requests for home energy audits. To find a service organization for your area, please visit the NRCan list of energy advisors and service organizations for existing homes here.
You can’t substitute airtightness, but airtightness can lead to substitutions. Starting December 31, 2016 planning for an airtight building envelope will result in savings. Having Barrier Sciences Group (BSG) perform a pre-drywall blower door test will allow you to find air leakages early enough in the construction process to take advantage of substitutions and avoid costly repairs. BSG is a certified energy advisor dedicated to making sure your projects run smoothly from start to finish. Pre-drywall blower door tests are crucial to ensuring that the home exceeds your expectations. When air leakages are found prior to hanging drywall, there is nothing in the way of finding and fixing every single hole. You can have an airtight building envelope every time.
Planning your building envelope for optimal airtightness will save you money on construction costs. If your building hits certain Air Changes per Hour targets, you can substitute costly materials and equipment with less costly alternatives. The only way to know if your building envelope is meeting those targets is by performing a pre-drywall blower door test. This makes having a pre-drywall blower door test a fundamental part of the planning process.
By spending a little time on a pre-drywall blower door test, you are saving a lot of time finding and repairing air leakages in the building envelope – air leakages are still easily accessible and easy to repair at this stage in construction. The more often you have a pre-drywall blower door test performed, the better you become at stopping leaks before they start.
Start by Performing a Pre-Drywall Blower Door Test
| Building Type | ACH @ 50Pa | NLA @ 10Pa | NLR @ 50Pa | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cm²/m² | in²/100ft² | L/s/m² | cfm50/ft² | ||
| Detached | 2.5 | 1.26 | 1.81 | 0.93 | 0.18 |
| Attached | 3.0 | 2.12 | 3.06 | 1.32 | 0.26 |
| Required | Substituted |
|---|---|
| Higher RSI/R-Value | Lower RSI/R-Value |
| HRV with higher efficiency | HRV with lower efficiency |
| Furnace with 98%, 96% or 94% AFUE | Reduce furnace efficiency by 4% AFUE |
| Fenestration U-Value = 1.6, 1.4 or 1.2 | Increase U-Value by 0.2 |
| Required | Substituted |
|---|---|
| Above grade continuous wall insulation with higher RSI/R-Value | Above grade continuous wall insulation with lower RSI/R-Value |
| Higher RSI/R-Value insulation between studs in above grade walls with continuous insulation | Lower RSI/R-Value insulation between studs in above grade walls with continuous insulation |
| Basement wall with higher RSI/R-Value | Basement wall with lower RSI/R-Value |
| Slab located more than 600mm/24in below grade and entire under slab insulation is higher RSI/R-Value | Lower RSI/R-Value depending on whether the slab is heated or unheated |
| Higher RSI/R-Value ceiling insulation with or without 250 mm high heel | Lower RSI/R-Value ceiling insulation |
Add Pre-Drywall Blower Door Tests to Your Planning Process
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Homeowners Canada-wide are eligible for the Canada Greener Homes Grant, announced on May 27, 2021. This new incentive offers up to $5,000 in grants for home efficiency retrofit renovations, plus a $600 reimbursement for pre- and post-work EnerGuide evaluations. Eligible retrofit scopes include home insulation, heating, doors, windows, photovoltaic solar panels, resiliency measures, and thermostats.
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