Blower Door Testing

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

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:

Return on investment. Air leakage can be responsible for 40% of the heating load. Draught sealing your home can save you significantly.
Finding and reporting on issues you would not have necessarily have known about.
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.
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.
Noise Reduction. Air sealing also reduces noise from outside coming inside.
Improve indoor Air quality. If you have allergies, air tightness can reduce pollen entering the building envelope
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.

2. 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.

ACH50	Natural Air Changes	Rating	% of Bill	% savings potential	Ventilation Requirement
1.5	.075	Super	2%	None	Constant energy recovery ventilation
3.5	.18	Excellent	6%	1 to 3%	Occasional forced ventilation
5	.25	Better	10%	2 to 4%	Occasional
7	.35	Good	14%	2 to 5%	Small
10	.5	Fair	20%	3 to 10%	Rare
20	1	Bad	40%	5 to 20%	Little to none

Location	Building Type	Est Build Age	Volume	Area	ACH50	Natural ACH
Laverton	Brick Ven	2010's	300	100	5.901	0.3
Mt Eliza	Brick veneer with wood panel ceiling	1970's	540	180	12.96	.65
Blackburn	Brick veneer, internal ceiling boards, exposed beams	1960's	504	180	16.94	.85
Brunswick	Weatherboard	1950's	450	115	18.5	.93
Brunswick	Weatherboard clad, renovated ext and internal	2000's	150	40	15.2	.75
Blackburn	Double Brick	1960's	540	180	16.63	.83
Ascotvale	Weatherboard with Evap Cooling	1960's	280	100	21.98	1.99
Templestowe	Brick Vaneer	1990's	500	250	11.22	.56
Mount Waverly	Brick Vaneer	2000's	518.2	203	16.886	.84
Mount Waverley	Brick Vaneer	2000's	442	170	8.87	.44
Keysborough	Brick Vaneer	1990's	280	112	13.57	.68
Box Hill	Weatherboard	1960's	300	120	13.62	.68
Brunswick	Brick double	1990's	918	270	10.47	.52
Wheelers Hill	Brick Vaneer with Evap Cooling	1970's	381	158	24.01	1.2
Wheelers Hill	Brick Vaneer	1970's	381	158	19.711	.99
Wheelers Hill	Brick Vaneer	1970's	381	158	10.01	.5

Retrofit	Size	Air Change Per hour at 50Pa	Air Change Per hour at Ambient
Evap Cooling installed	158m2	24.01	1.2
No Evap Cooling	158m2	19.711	.99
Draught proof home, Caulking and window and door seals	158m2	10.01	.5

Standard	House Leakage based on floor area of: 210 square metres	ACH50
Passivehaus	Passive House	.6
CGSB149.1	Canadian R-2000	1.5
ATTMA TS-1	UK, Best Practice, residential	3.4
Oregon	3.5 to 5 is Tight, great	3.5
ASTM E779	LEED, 1.25 sq in at 4 Pa / 100 sq ft. Envelope	4.7
PA Housing	Tight < 5 Housing Research/Resource Center (PHRC)	5.0
EEBA	Energy and Environmental Building Association Guidelines	5.2
EN13829	Most European countries	6.1
Oregon	5 to 7 is good	7.0
PA Housing	Moderate < 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).

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.