Residential Blower Door testing only Available in Melbourne and the whole of Victoria.

Call us for all your air tightness testing needs on 1300 027 874

Efficiency Matrix have tested hundreds of Australian homes, and we are the leading air tightness testing company in Australasia.

New Homes and renovations need to meet at least 6 Star energy rating, which is equivalent to the heating and cooling requirements of 114MJ/m2/year in Melbourne.  In Reality, post-construction audits on some 6-star homes have found them to be performing like 2-star (384MJ/m2/year) or 4-star (198MJ/m2/year) homes.

This performance gap can be due to poor attention to detail. Bad thermal bridges, plenty of insulation inconsistency and air leakage.

Multi-dwelling residential available Australia wide.


Efficiency Matrix use calibrated, quarterly tested, state-of-the-art pressure testing equipment, to verify the air tightness of a building for energy efficiency.

Top reasons why you should seal your home and check it with residential blower door testing:

  1. Return on investment. Air leakage can be responsible for 40% of the heating load.  Draught sealing your home can save you significantly.
  2. Finding and reporting on issues you would not have necessarily have known about.
  3. Whole house comfort.  It will make your home more comfortable overall.  Having one room too hot and another too cold is less likely when you have an air tight home.
  4. Painless and immediate.  It’s quick, quiet and most of the time not very intrusive. Up to 80% of air sealing a home can be done in a day, and you’ll notice the difference immediately.
  5. Noise Reduction.  Air sealing also reduces noise from outside coming inside.
  6. Improve indoor Air quality.  If you have allergies, air tightness can reduce pollen entering the building envelope
  7. Pest Control. White tale spiders through to rodents are common pests that enter the building envelope via draughty homes.

Our thermal imaging technology helps people find trouble spots of draughts as well as potential issues with moisture and insulation inconsistencies.

 

Blower Door Testing can help identify and resolve the following:

1. Uncontrolled ventilation
In Australia, new and old homes can be extremely leaky compared to homes built overseas.   As a result, our buildings are “automatically ventilated”.   Over-ventilation can contribute to moisture problems, as it can be carried inside from outside air, people also producing more water vapour, by taking showers, washing and cooking which contributes to moisture problems again. That means that you still must ventilate, but we must ventilate more effectively. Permanently open or louvred windows should be avoided, otherwise, your heating costs are going to go up dramatically.  A controlled ventilation system (via Energy Recovery Ventilation systems) is the optimum solution. It always provides for the perfect air change.

Manometer Setup2. Leakages in the building envelope
Small leakages in the building envelope and a lack of insulation are sufficient to let warm and damp indoor air escape. On its way out, the air cools down and the water vapour carried along with it condenses. This condensation can accumulate in the insulation layer and can lead to mould infestation after a few months. Mould can cause damage to certain building materials and therefore can lead to serious building damage. This is why an air and windtight building envelope is absolutely necessary, for building health and energy efficiency.

A useful table to understand Air tightness benefits of a home.

ACH50Natural Air ChangesRating% of Bill% savings potentialVentilation Requirement
1.5.075Super2%NoneConstant energy recovery ventilation
3.5.18Excellent6%1 to 3%Occasional forced ventilation
5.25Better10%2 to 4%Occasional
7.35Good14%2 to 5%Small
10.5Fair20%3 to 10%Rare
201Bad40%5 to 20%Little to none

Graph of pressure tested homes in Melbourne

LocationBuilding TypeEst Build AgeVolumeAreaACH50Natural ACH
LavertonBrick Ven2010's3001005.9010.3
Mt ElizaBrick veneer with wood panel ceiling1970's54018012.96.65
BlackburnBrick veneer, internal ceiling boards, exposed beams1960's50418016.94.85
BrunswickWeatherboard1950's45011518.5.93
BrunswickWeatherboard clad, renovated ext and internal2000's1504015.2.75
BlackburnDouble Brick1960's54018016.63.83
AscotvaleWeatherboard with Evap Cooling1960's28010021.981.99
TemplestoweBrick Vaneer1990's50025011.22.56
Mount WaverlyBrick Vaneer2000's518.220316.886.84
Mount WaverleyBrick Vaneer2000's4421708.87.44
KeysboroughBrick Vaneer1990's28011213.57.68
Box HillWeatherboard1960's30012013.62.68
BrunswickBrick double1990's91827010.47.52
Wheelers HillBrick Vaneer with Evap Cooling1970's38115824.011.2
Wheelers HillBrick Vaneer1970's38115819.711.99
Wheelers HillBrick Vaneer1970's38115810.01.5
RetrofitSizeAir Change Per hour at 50PaAir Change Per hour at Ambient
Evap Cooling installed158m224.011.2
No Evap Cooling158m219.711.99
Draught proof home, Caulking and window and door seals158m210.01.5
StandardHouse Leakage based on floor area of: 210 square metres
ACH50
PassivehausPassive House.6
CGSB149.1Canadian R-20001.5
ATTMA TS-1UK, Best Practice, residential
3.4
Oregon3.5 to 5 is Tight, great
3.5
ASTM E779LEED, 1.25 sq in at 4 Pa / 100 sq ft. Envelope
4.7
PA HousingTight < 5 Housing Research/Resource Center (PHRC)
5.0
EEBAEnergy and Environmental Building Association Guidelines
5.2
EN13829Most European countries
6.1
Oregon5 to 7 is good
7.0
PA HousingModerate < 10, Leaky > 10 Housing Research Center
10.0

A retrofit case study to show how air leakage in a home changes after resolving trouble spots (this included pulling out a 2-year-old evaporative cooling system).

Retrofit Air tightness of a Brick Vaneer home.

Should you have any concerns in your home that air Leakage maybe pushing up your heating and cooling costs, don’t hesitate to get in contact with us regarding residential blower door testing.

Blower Door testing

Always insist that air tightness testing is conducted using the ATTMA standard.

For a bare-bones example air tightness test report, click below, for the Master Builders Course.

Generic Example Blower Door Air tightness Report

Setting up blower door