Real-time ventilation and infiltration measurements were made on ten single-family homes. Seven of these had crawlspaces and were in the Pacific Northwest Two had daylight basements and were also in the Pacific Northwest. The other is an energy efficient demonstration "smart" house built in Rocklin, CA, and was built on a crawlspace. All of the homes were tested under heating season conditions. The home in Rocklin was also tested under cooling conditions. Each house was divided into multiple zones, including buffer spaces, and each test period lasted about a week.
Blower Doors are used to measure the air tightness and air leakage of building envelopes. As existing dwellings in the United States are ventilated primarily through leaks in the building shell (i.e., infiltration) rather than by whole-house mechanical ventilation systems, quantification of airtightness data is critical in order to answer the following kinds of questions: What is the Construction Quality of the Building Envelope? Where are the Air Leakage Pathways? How Tight is the Building? How Much Ventilation Does the Air Leakage Supply?
Now a widely used diagnostic tool, blower doors have revolutionized the way most professionals approach retrofit work. This introduction explains how blower doors work, what can be gained from their use, and what a typical blower door test involves.
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