$200 — Blower door testing. Air leakage testing is now a requirement for most construction projects in the Denver Metro area with the adoption of the 2015 IECC Residential Energy Codes. This includes new construction and renovations where the addition is 30% or larger than the original home. Air leakage testing is now required to ensure that new buildings use less energy to heat and cool the home. A tight home is an efficient home.
Air leakage testing involves performing a blower door test on the building to determine how leaky the home is. The new codes are fairly strict and attention to detail during construction is required to pass these tests.
New Construction: For single family homes, the test requires that there be no more than 3 air changes per hour, or 3 ACH. Townhomes with attached common walls are allowed 4 ACH in Denver County. ADU’s are also permitted 4 ACH in Denver County.
Multi-Family Blower Door Testing
How Our Multi Unit Tests Are Different From Our Competitors: To help you pass air leakage testing on townhomes, we use multiple blower door fans to isolate the common walls. With multiple fans in place running simultaneously, we are able to test only the specified unit without air leaking between the common walls. This greatly increases your chances of passing the test on the first try and provides an accurate air leakage number for each unit.
Pricing: $200 Per Unit.
Additions: For additions that are more than 30% of the original square footage, the city highly recommends having a PRE-TEST performed to determine the air leakage of the original home. The ACH number that is reported at the time of the initial test is the benchmark for the final test once construction is completed. The home must perform at the same ACH or better during the POST-TEST. Performing a pre and post test is much easier to pass since there is no specific ACH required to pass. If the contractor does not perform the initial PRE-TEST, than the requirement to pass is 5 ACH upon completion of the project. This number is much more difficult to attain in some older, leakier homes. It is highly recommend that you perform a PRE and POST test to increase your chances of passing this test.
Pricing: $200 Per Test.