Blower Door - Slight Disappointment

Ok, we had what was supposed to be the second and LAST blower door test, but I am not happy with the result and I may have Dean Benton of Benton Green Energy come again after I have fixed some problems. 

Blower door reading on August 6, 2014

You may recall that a blower door test helps determine how much air leakage you have through the building envelope. The test involves putting a fan in an outside door frame and depressurizing the home to accentuate the air leaks. The house is depressurized to a level of 50 pascals which is about equivalent to the force of a 20 mph wind on the home. There are 2 main values that you get from the test - one is directly from the manometer as shown above and one is calculated based on the volume of the house. This article, Blower Door Basics by Martin Holladay on Green Building Advisor (GBA) explains it much better than I ever could.

Blower Door Set-up while we were at the rough-in stage. 

The number shown on the manometer above is called cfm50 or the amount of air that moves through the home at 50 pascals of pressure. The other number is ach50 or air changes per hour at 50 pascals.

Our previous reading was 98 cfm 50. The above reading is 235, but I think it leveled out at 220. In any case, the number has more than doubled - 2.4 times greater than the last blower door.

What happened??

Well, I have some ideas.

What do you think about this dryer vent? Do you think that there is some leakage around this pipe?

Dryer vent through the wall, not sealed around the vent pipe. This was installed AFTER the first blower door test.

What about the vent cover for the kitchen fan? Do you think that those little plastic louvers seal out air?

This flimsy plastic piece covers one of the fan vents. A similar cover was on the dryer vent. 

Now the photo below may show a less important air leak. This is the inside view of the Lunos e2 - a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) that exchanges outside air for inside air. It does go through the wall in large tube. We did seal the tube to the sheathing inside and out before the walls were closed in. Still it is designed to move air through the home. You may wonder why we go through all the trouble to seal up every possible hole in the building envelope and then deliberately install a fan to exchange air. Well, when you have a very well air sealed home, you need to move more fresh air through for the inhabitants, but it needs to be filtered, conditioned air, not random leaks. That's what the HRV provides.

Lunos e2 Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV)

The reason I did not calculate the ach50 is because I am confused about the volume of the house. The house is a Cape Cod design with kneewalls and sloped ceiling upstairs so I don't really know what counts as the house or not.

For example, the space above the bathroom and the bedrooms is not really sealed off from the rest of the house. It is within the thermal envelope of the building. Do I count that? I think so, but I am not sure. I am going to post a questions on Green Building Advisor to get their advice.

Area above the bathroom. You can see the Intello Plus smart vapor retarder from 475 High Performance Building Supply. The ceiling joists are insulated with dense pack cellulose. There will be a small door that fits in the opening. It does not set tightly to the frame, however. Is this within the thermal envelope?

So, the big change from the rough-in stage to almost completion (I know, almost completed at 18 mos later - crazy ) is the vents. We taped cardboard over the area where the vents were during the first test, but I don't know if you tape over vent covers when you go for the final test. That's another question for the knowledgable people at GBA.

I'll let you know more later. Thank you for visiting here. 

More Photos of the New Stairs

Andrew of Carolina Custom Stairs had quite a challenge installing the balusters on our S-shaped handrail. At the level of the S-shape, he had to alter the placement of the balusters so that there was no more than 4 inches between the balusters. Here are a few more photos of the stairs.

We are scheduled for the inspection for the Certificate of Occupancy (CO) tomorrow. We still have a lot to do, but mostly its finishing details - floor finishing, painting trim and such. These last things seem to take forever. So perhaps soon the perpetual house will be finished.

Thank you for taking a look.

Stairs Installed - Beautiful!

One of the last things we needed before getting a certificate of occupancy (CO) is a handrail on the stairs. Andrew of Carolina Custom Stair Works did a meticulous and beautiful job installing the stairs. Unbelievable. He noted that most people do not choose to have wood risers instead they choose MDF which is painted. It is much more difficult to install the oak risers because you have to miter the corners at each stair. I have a photo that demonstrates this and shows how beautiful it is.

Notice the S-curve on the left side of the photo. I really like that. This view also shows the color on the walls much better - Aqua Pura - I love it. John does not.  Balusters have been installed but I haven't gotten a photo yet.

View of the top of the stairs. Balusters will be painted.

I love the curve of the handrail at the top of the stairs.

Beautiful detailing of the stairs

This photo shows the expert workmanship of mitered corners on the stairs. We are thrilled with this work.

Well, I hope to get more photos today now that the balusters are up.

Almost Done

Today the stair guy is installing the newell posts and handrail which means that we can FINALLY go for our certificate of occupancy (CO) tomorrow or next week. Getting the CO doesn't mean that John can move in just yet though. We've still got some painting and floor work to do. Apparently you do not have to have your floors done before being allowed to move into your home. A homeowner might just want naked oak on the floor. It's not a code violation. The challenge may be to keep John from moving in before we finish the naked oak floor.

Anyway, here a few photos from the past few days. This is the upstairs bathroom.

The sun tunnel provides an incredible amount of light.

Now here is the Toto Promenade toilet. John says it is the best thing I have ordered for his house. He's still a little miffed at some of my paint choices.

One thing I really like about the toilet is the large flat top. In a small bathroom that makes a big difference. 

This photo shows the porch floor with the second coat of Waterlox. Rich (my brother-in-law) has been doing the staining and the floor finishing. It's beautiful.

Porch floor with 2 coats of Waterlox

The above porch was designed to be a cat porch where John could let his cats stay most of the time without them doing their cat business all over his house. Before we could get the house built, his favorite cat, Nub, died from renal failure (which might explain why he didn't use the litter box reliably). The only cat left was Gump seen below. Gump is 18-years-old and very skittish, almost feral. Somehow we were able to merge him with my cat family and he has now become my cat. That allowed the front porch to be simply a porch, not just a large litter box. Also he is good about going in the litter box so he has not become a problem for me. 

Gump begging for food.

Next I'll get some photos of the stairs. The stair guy (I don't know the name of his company off the top of my head) is amazing and quite meticulous. I think you will be impressed.

That's it for today. Thank you for looking at my blog.