Airtightness
The first airtightness contract we completed was in 2004. We spoke to the owner who approached us recently at an install offering his contact details if anybody was looking for a reference. He reminded us of the airtightness works we completed on his new build. Interested as always we asked to do an up to date airtightness test. We got a result of 2.7ach (air changes per hour). Not bad after 12 years.
Airtightness has to stand the test of time and quality products installed by experienced professionals are the only way to get value for money.
Regulation on new buildings states 5ach needs to be achieved which in fairness we think should be revised down considering improved ventilation options. A new home achieving 5 ach that has a hrv system fitted would have a hrv system that is operating under alot of unnecessary strain. The job referenced above cost us €3,800 to do excluding labour. Needless to say we took the time to get it right.
Who was doing airtightness systems at the time? Nobody!
The suppliers of the membranes, adhesives and tapes organised to call to site to us to take photos for their promotional materials. On writing this, our most recent airtightness test result performed by a third party company Clean Energy Ireland Ltd. was 0.565 ach. The standard that the Passiv Haus Institut sets is 0.6ach. This wasn’t a Passive House just a standard new build. This was the preliminary result which most contractors use to highlight and make corrections necessary. More often than not we use the Intello and SIGA systems as they manufacture the best range of sealants and tapes guaranteed and certified in Ireland for every range of surfaces we come across.