How a Blower Door Test Can Help Improve Your Home Comfort and Indoor Air Quality

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Has your older Maine home been a bit drafty lately, or have you noticed an increase in dust throughout your home? Or maybe you’ve realized that your new home is costing you more than you estimated for utility costs, and your heating and cooling equipment are struggling to keep you comfortable. These are all signs that your Maine home is full of air leaks. 

Regardless of what is causing you to take notice of the air leaks in your home, you probably want to resolve the issue, and residential air leakage testing can be a great help. Blower door tests are the industry standard when it comes to whole-house air leakage tests, and they’re used to resolve home air leakage rates that are too high for optimum comfort and efficiency. Here is what you need to know about how they work and how you can benefit.

What Is a Blower Door Test and How Does it Work?

The blower door test was invented in Sweden in the ’70s and had shown up in American homes by 1979. The goal of a blower door test is to provide a reading of the total air leakage throughout a building, and this is done by attaching a large fan to an exterior door with a special pressure gauge device attached. 

A blower door is temporarily attached to a home using an airtight skirt made of a plastic material, then all other exterior doors and windows must be shut, while interior doors remain open. Once the set-up is complete, your blower door technician will turn the fan on to create a negative pressure inside the home (the fan blows the air out, not in). 

After a few adjustments to complete the pressure gauge readings, the blower door test is complete and your blower door technician will be able to assist you in understanding the findings!

Understanding Blower Door Test Measurements

When a blower door fan creates a negative pressure within your home, outside air is pulled into your living space through whatever pathways it can find. With all of your outside windows and doors shut, this only leaves tiny, hard-to-reach, and often invisible air leaks for outside air to travel through. At this point, the pressure gauge is measuring:

  • If your home is airtight enough to reach 50 pascals

  • How many times the air in your home is replaced with outside air (Air Changes per Hour, or ACH)

  • The resulting air leakage in Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM)

  • How much air infiltrates your home naturally, without the blower door

These measurements are used to understand how air moves freely into and out of your home. So, how can an experienced home performance contractor like Evergreen Home Performance use the results of your blower door test?

What Happens Next?

A blower door test is all a part of a greater home diagnostic service, called an energy audit, and the data is used to select the measures needed to increase the overall comfort and efficiency of your living space. Your Evergreen Home Performance Energy Advisor can utilize infrared thermal imaging during the test to help locate the air leakage locations. Then, when your Evergreen technician crew arrives to air seal, they seal them up until your home is as airtight as possible. This is called air sealing

Air sealing provides you with greater control over your indoor temperatures, and the blower door test data helps determine how much ventilation your home needs to keep it safe and healthy. Usually, existing home ventilation equipment (like range hoods and bathroom fans) can be optimized to do the job.

What’s more, the same infrared imaging can be used to locate areas of poor insulation. Replacing outdated or damaged insulation can increase the overall effectiveness of your home improvement project, and should be completed alongside air sealing. 

With proper air sealing  and insulation, your Maine home will be:

  • More comfortable

  • Healthier to live in

  • Less expensive to heat and cool 

  • Less drafty

Want to keep Maine’s unpredictable outside air away from your comfortable and healthy home? Schedule an energy consult with Evergreen at or get in touch here.

Is your home drafty and full of air leaks?

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A thorough inspection of our (older) house and its energy needs. Competent and personable work crew.

Jacob Watson

This team of individuals was professional at all times. They set up barriers that kept the dust at a minimum. They conducted an air flow audit and cut the draft circulation from the outside in half by sealing cracks. They hauled out the old insulation and replaced it with blown in insulation with an R - 60 Value. They also did the rebate paperwork so that I could get my $1500.00 rebate from the state of Maine. I highly recommend Evergreen Home Performance!

Daniel B.

Rockland

I used to spend winters in the bathtub because my house was so cold. This was my first winter roaming around my whole house comfortably. This even led me to decorate a little. My heating oil usage has been reduced by over a quarter: I rarely have to boost the thermostat because the temp stays at a constant. The Efficiency Maine rebates, together with the energy savings, make it affordable for me to pay for the loan I took out to finance the project. I do not worry about my pipes freezing.

Claire Helene Bevan

Camden

Update 12/2018: Evergreen has completed Phase II of my house (insulating and installing air/moisture barrier on exterior walls, replacing old windows) and now that heating season is upon us, the difference is astonishing. The house is tight as a drum and so easy to keep warm. Worth every penny. Thank you all! Working with Evergreen was a positive experience from start (no charge energy audit) to finish (a MUCH more comfortable home). Brian Robinson spent a lot of time with me on the audit, explaining clearly what he was finding in my ca.

Rebekah W.

Rockport

We had a fantastic experience working with Evergreen to insulate our roof this winter. Everyone was extremely friendly throughout the process - the crew at our home worked hard, were approachable with questions, and the team leader even showed me around the project to point out specific areas they were working to improve.

Joel Wentz

Evergreen was so helpful in securing us Efficiency Maine funding for a big attic insulation project early this winter. They did all of the paperwork, and totally guided us through a vermiculite removal process that included a payment from a trust for the procedure. I could instantly feel the second floor being so much warmer than before. The boiler does not kick on nearly as frequently since they completed the job. It was worth every penny! Brian Robinson was so thorough throughout the whole process including a full walk through after the job had been completed.

Todd W.

Camden

I am very pleased with my experience with Evergreen Home Performance. I met several times with Richard Burbank and he was very detailed in his explanations to all of my questions. He provided me with several options for improving the insulation to our home. The team of installers were very professional and respectful of our home. They did a great job of cleaning up every day after the days work and they were also very responsive to all my questions as well as we collaborated to get our home better insulated. It was a pleasure to work with Richard and…

Brian C.

Falmouth

Greetings one and all! I am writing to express my gratitude to all involved in my insulation project.  From start to finish, I appreciate the universal theme which was maintained by each and every one of you, to ensure that my home was insulated and protected from freezing pipes as if it was your home. Andrea, thanks for helping me navigate my way to the project. Nate, thanks for the thorough initial assessment and the time you took to explain this project to me, step by step. Brian, thanks for setting up my project - so happy

Michele

Last week, my oil company asked if we were using some other kind of fuel because our usage was so much less than they had expected We are very happy with the results; the house is much more comfortable

Steve T.

St. George

We needed basement encapsulation to stop moisture coming up into the house from our regularly flooding basement. We had mold growing on windowsills and furniture. All the staff were friendly, respectful of our home, and easy to work with. Humidity has gone from 70% down to 40% and mold has not grown back after two months. Very grateful.

Sarah C.

Belfast

Bryan, Dave and the entire Evergreen team are wonderfully professional, prompt and thorough. I enjoyed working with them and look forward to continued work as we upgrade our home! Thank you so much for your professionalism, fairness, time and diligence.

Cait

Yarmouth

Professional, friendly and hard-working staff. The product/approach they use for insulation is top notch. We felt the difference immediately, both from added warmth and eliminating drafts. The team and management were easily available to answer our questions or coordinate meeting times. Highly recommended.

Kevin J.

Yarmouth

We initially contacted Evergreen through Efficiency Maine for an energy audit, which was conducted promptly and professionally by Justin McEdward, one of their Energy Advisors who is BPI-certified. After a thorough inspection of our newly purchased home, Justin explained in great detail what we needed and did not need. It was agreed that Evergreen would remove all of the existing attic insulation, which was not adequate, and replace it with blown in cellulose, to a rating of R-60.

Thomas W.

Scarborough

Our house still the most efficient home we’ve ever lived in. And we have you folks to thank for that! A special howdy to Brian Robinson please!

Bruce O’Donal and Eva Butler

Evergreen has a professional and reliable team of people who do excellent work. If you want the best of the best in the area, select Evergreen to accomplish your insulation needs.

Mary E.

St. George

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