Air Tightness Tests: Why are they important?

Look at our experience with air tightness in the video below, we have carried out the same text on our residence office.

As gas and electricity prices continue to rise, more and more people look to various ways of keeping these costs low. A common way of archiving this for most home and building owners is to ensure minimal heat loss, this is usually addressed by replacing leaky windows with more airtight double-glazed windows, having more effective heating systems or ancillary space heaters and finally the tried and tested layering of clothes.

At ecotecture, we have a fair few calls from people trying to reduce these costs on both their existing and new build projects. We always take a fabric-first approach to our projects and would often recommend an air tightness test be carried out before attempting any changes to the property.

Smoke Test at Ecotecture Office

We recommend this as, during the air tightness test, key issues that need to be addressed could be discovered and help the client get the most for their budget. Thermal imaging and white smoke tests are usually carried out during the airtightness test and these highlight gaps and leaks around the building structure as well as cold and hot spots in the structure that might have a significant impact on the project.

Thermal Image of front of Ecotecture Office

This way, the client gets a more problem-specific solution rather than a general overhaul of windows and heating systems that may not be required.