Blower door test

The blower door test was conducted today now that the spray-foam has been installed.  I was happy to learn that the result was ~2.5 ACH50 (i.e. 2.5 air-changes-per-hour at 50 pascals).

See video in my last post to learn more about the blower door test.

This means that the house is pretty air tight.

A further blower door test will be conducted after the house is finished and the result can only get better than this hopefully.

See photos below.

Blower door test fan/equipment

Computer that calculates the blower door test result

Meter displaying pressure difference between outside and inside house; and the initial blower door test result (note that the volume of the house is used to calculate the air changes per hour)

Spray-foam, landscaping and pre-drywall

The house has now been spray-foamed ready for a blower-door test to check how air-tight the house is.  We are hoping to create a tight thermal envelope by spray-foaming “up and over” the house.  This includes the roof rafters in the attic to the external walls to various internal walls for extra sound insulation.  We also ended up spray foaming the basement ceiling (as well as the basement floor before the concrete slab was poured).  This could be a very expensive physics experiment if the blower-door test doesn’t yield a good result!

Here’s a decent video about air tightness and blower-door tests:

We also have a lawn in the front and back yards (gardens), and a few shrubs/trees. Apparently we have the same turf as in the NY Yankees stadium!

The next stage is the dry-wall (sheetrock).

Lastly we are ready to start deciding on finishes – lots to keep us busy still:

• Countertops
• Paint and colours
• Tiling
• Wooden floors – we have already decided on an Oak floor in a stain of our choice
• Trim ranging from what goes around the doors to crown molding
• Doors
• More – we probably just don’t know it yet

Latest pics below.

Tree and front lawn

Back yard lawn 1

Back yard lawn 2 – that “thing” in the middle is a Propane tank

Spray foam 1

Spray foam 2

Spray foam 3

Spray foam 4

Spray foam 5

Spray foam 6

Spray foam 7

Spray foam 8

Stonework, fireplace, chimney, patio and more framing…

More pics from our last visit with comments:

Latest view of the house – see the stonework they’ve started

Chimney in the different colour brick which will hopefully match the grey siding we have planned

Kitchen space

Door into downstairs powder room

Looking into downstairs playroom

Start of the fireplace

Front porch

Close up of stone work

Internal framing

More internal framing

Even more internal framing…

Spray foam on floor before concrete floor is poured in the basement

Patio in rear of house

Beneath ground “tunnel” for electric wires