Passivhaus refurb diary, part 5: airtightness testing, take two

On Friday we re-ran the airtightness test on 64 Midmoor Road. Since the previous test we had used the fan that Paul Jennings of Air Leakage Detailing & Awareness Services left behind to identify leaks. It allowed the team to survey every inch of the house using finger tips to locate the slightest leak. Most of these were of the types we identified during test one, namely screw holes, damaged plywood, damaged taping and the like.

When we conducted the second test all the window openings were once again taped up albeit fairly crudely. The good news is that we have finally made it to one air change per hour at 50 Pa. We actually achieved 0.8 and are reasonably confident that we can hold it at this figure, if not better.

While this figure is still above the 0.6 for full Passivhaus compliance, it is good enough to satisfy the EnerPHit Passivhaus house standard that we hope will be ratified in the near future.

More important than gaining certificates though is the low heating costs that this house is almost certain to have. Many thanks to Paul Jennings, Dave Manby, Ray Weston and the rest of the team who have helped reach this milestone in the project.