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)

Pre-thanksgiving update

It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  A lot has been going on.  Not quite ready for dry-wall yet.  The next stage will be spray-foam insulation.  Before that we are trying to ensure that nothing else has to go into the roughing/frame before the spray-foam is applied.

I had an inspection carried out on the house yesterday and everything has checked out OK which is great news.

My biggest worry at this stage is how the ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator) is going to work.  We are tightly insulating the house with the spray foam so there will be need for decent mechanical ventilation.  We have some fans in the bathrooms but also an ERV system with separate fresh air inlet and exhaust outlet; connected to the ductwork of the house.  But I am waiting until our Geothermal and HVAC installer is back from his Thanksgiving vacation to find out how he has designed the system and how I would control it.

Here are some very recent photos:

Recessed LED housing installed

Home run wiring for Cat6/Speakers running into basement

Some dry-wall (sheetrock) installed specifically for spraying foam onto

200A electric service located in garage

Further views of recessed LED light housings

Further views of recessed LED light housings

Basement framing – spray-foam will be applied in-between the framing

One of the Geothermal Ground Source Heat Pumps

One of the Geothermal Ground Source Heat Pumps

Hot water heater that is hybrid electric and by-product of geothermal. Got a large one to avoid potential issues with hot water running out when folks are simultaneously showering…

Attic ductwork

 

Attic ductwork

Attic ductwork

Attic entrance/exit

Attic entrance/exit

Pullout ladder for attic entrance/exit

 

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

We now have a roof!

We visited the house last weekend and it was pleasant to see that the roof had gone in. Here’s a bad photo taken from my phone:

Both the external and internal walls of the house have been framed. Fortunately our builder was able to make some of the changes to the plans we had discussed:

1. Wider 3 pane window in kitchen.
2. Make door to powder room accessible from main living space instead of via mud room.
3. Double-vanities in 3 bathrooms located upstairs and showers instead of bathtubs everywhere. The master bedroom will hopefully have a soaking tub as well as a shower.

My wife was particularly happy to see the size of her walk-in closet!

We have a lot of work to do now. The next steps are to:

1. Choose appliances and plumbing fixtures/locations given the plumber starts work today (Tue 20 Sep).
2. Start to work with the kitchen designer.
3. Go into details regarding insulation. We are planning on getting open and closed spray foam insulation to help get us to our overall future “net zero” energy goal. The idea is to create a “thermal envelope” up and over the house to minimize heat or energy loss. The key things to decide on are a) do we spray foam the basement floor and b) do we spray foam the basement ceiling? I am thinking of not going for a) but going for b). There are lots of resources out there on how to correctly spray foam but I have found lots of conflicting opinions out there. Hopefully I won’t have made the wrong choices!