I would love to see how your home's blower test compares over time after a house has settled and materials such as aerobarrier have had chance to deteriorate.
Yo Matt! I recently bought a house built in 1990 and had watched your aero barrier videos. That influenced me to have my house aero sealed before moving in- they took it from 7.50 ACH to 2.50! Certainly not passive house, but $3500 well spent. This should compliment the the new HVAC pretty well, thanks for pushing this aspect of home building! Congratulations on your build and getting close to 1,000,000 subs.
CONGRATULATIONS!! I just finished building my family a 3000 square foot ICF house. For my blower door test all I did was close the dampers on my ERV and ended up with a .22 ach50!!! Thanks for all the tips on things to look out for. ( not too bad for a first-time build) The look on the guy's face when he did the test made me think I had done something very right or something very wrong.
@@buildshow so is there a point you would say that there is diminishing return for your effort. also if your house is that tight and you live in a place with frequent power outages for extended time. how would you deal with that in a low tech way.
@@zombiemaster123456 maybe investigate passive ventilation methods related to chimney’s and the venturi effect. Will require some forethought before building the house to maintain control over your thermal envelope but ventilation can be done without an electrical connection.
@@zombiemaster123456 you could get solar plus battery storage. It's getting cheaper and more popular every day. If you live in an area where it snows you could use a generator. Or a combo of both. I know there are systems that automatically turn the generator on when the batteries get low for snowy or cloudy conditions.
All the considerations you made and the diligence you put into building your home has paid off. Congratulations. Thanks for sharing the journey with us!
I just finished insulating and air sealing my reno. Started with an 8.5 ACH 50 before Aero Barrier and finished with a 2.99. The house was built in 1876 so I don't think the 2.99 finale number was terrible considering what we are working with. I am excited to see what the final number will be when I fix several of the big issues we found during the air sealing and once the house is finished. I think anything under a 2 would be amazing.
That’s very excellent. We finished 3y ago pretty much everything except 2nd floor and we’re at 5.16 on a 1960s. But we were not targetting high efficiency/were not knowledgeable enough. Wish I had found this channel before!
@@buildshow Yes, I think I can get it under 2. My windows are the biggest issue right now. They are all double-hung Marvin Windows around 20 years old. The house moved around a lot when we did the major structural renovations so the windows need to be re-shimmed and probably need new weather stripping/seals. Other than that I hope after the drywall goes in it tightens up a little. The next step is an ERV system. I got a quote from Zehnder and it was double what I expected it to be so it is going to have to wait. Thanks for all the great content!
@@FJB2020 the spray foam was 15k and the air sealing was $2700. House is right around 2200 square feet included walkup attic. All closed cell foam average depth of 3.5" and 9 foot tall walls all around. All roof decks, exterior walls and a small spot outside underneath a kitchen addition were foamed. I got a quote for 11k for the Zehnder ERV unit, install not included.
Congrats Matt. I've been learning from you for years. I'm an owner builder and I'm super thankful I had all the great info from you to implement on my build. Our energy bill is actually a fair bit higher in the summer because in the winter doing some cooking or laundry pretty much heats our house. Thank you.
Just got the final airtightness test on my new Passivhaus build in the UK and scored 0.06 ACH 50, yes that is 0.06 and not 0.6! Very pleased with that :)
@@mattrandolph4006 The airtight layer was clearly defined around the whole building - in our case it was a layer of 12mm Durelis VapourBlock board. Every joint in that board, every interface with it, eg windows and floor and every penetration through it, eg cables and pipes, was meticulously sealed with airtight tape and/or grommets. We did not screw through it or do anything else to it unless we absolutely had to and then we added extra sealing if we thought there was any chance of leakage. That’s about it really other than using Passivhaus certified windows and doors which have triple air-seals on them as well as being triple-glazed.
Have been following this build and congratulations on completion and a great test result. Glad to see they recognize the window adjustments- we find this is often overlooked and not addressed with certified homes. Some things to note about the blower door test. The International PHI standard requires 0.6 ACH50 or less. Phius - the US standard uses a different metric of 0.06 CFM/SF of building envelope - it would be good to see the results in this metric with taping only the dampers/openings allowed per the ANSI/RESNET Standard 380-2019. Also, Phius requires a multi-point test with pressurization and depressurization results averaged.
I know nothing about Texas geography, but out of sheer boredom and curiosity, I was able to find your house based on what you said at 12:40 in just a couple of minutes. That jet black metal roof is very unique! As a roadway designer and map nerd, I couldn't help myself lol. Anyways, congrats on the 0.25 score and Merry Christmas!
Congratulations on the amazing blower door results Matt! 👏 I'm praying for a gr8 result on the house Steve is designing now. We'll definitely do the aerobarrier treatment. Merry Christmas & God Bless you all! Cheers, Eric
Congrats Matt! Very happy for you, I did a full remodel for my family, lifted the house, gutted it and used a lot of your videos and insight and hit a 0.9 ACH/50 and was so excited, saw it in you too so congrats and thank you for pumping out such good content!
Congrats Matt. And thanks for posting all the videos of house while it was under construction, as I learned a lot from the videos. All of the detailing and diligence to achieving airtight construction paid off. Hope you get the house Passive House certified.
Fantastic video! I didn't do anything special to our house prior to the blower door test. Just close the windows and turn off the HRV. We were able to attain 0.6-0.7 ach, we have alot of doors and windows on the south side for the sunlight to come in, was happy with that!
Merry Christmas to you nd your family. Great job with the door test!! Aero sealing is a good investment, will pay you back in time. Never did whole houses,but did lots of duct work. Above coil,all the back to return boot. Pretty sure it's the same stuff in your house. Non toxic,environmentally friendly latex,or a form of it . Came in gallon jugs,I swear it was just thinned out Elmer's glue. Thanks for test,results. But didn't expect any thing less frommmm THE BUILD SHOW !!
We just built a home and our blower door test came back at 1.76 ACH50 which I was happy with, code here is anything less than 2.5. An issue I am facing now though on very cold days for extreme temp differences such as 15 degrees or less outside and I keep my home around 72 is a considerable amount of moisture buildup on my interior windows. I believe this to be a result of the tightness of the home, but I am really not sure if that is the case or not. I have to run a dehumidifier during those times to help remove that moisture buildup and even then I may have to clean the windows off in the mornings. I will say it is not the entire window, mainly just an inch or so from the sill on top/bottom windows.The windows are Marvin Elevate double hung so I know they are good quality windows, however I am worried that with them being wood that rot and mildew issues are going to form if I cannot resolve these issues. My other thought was it was potentially from our Master Bath that builds up a lot of steam from showers. I have a 150 CFM exhaust that I run for an hour or more after the shower so I feel that I am more than removing any excess moisture that may have built up. Anyone else experience these same issues?
Awesome job! I was right there with waiting for the final report. You and your team did a great job of controlling the elements and you did a great job of sharing all aspects to get there. Thanks
@@trevorhardy3544 don't forget the formaldehyde in all the millwork. The glues in the plywood all contain formaldehyde. But that's a really good hypothesis @wj the home builder!
@@cognitive-carpenter You piqued my interest here are my findings; The formaldehyde emissions from plywood tend to be at their highest immediately after the manufacturing process. This is when timber sheets are bonded together using phenol formaldehyde adhesive. However, the formaldehyde emissions do eventually subside after a few weeks. Manufacturers also apply phenolic coating to plywood to help lower emission levels even further. By the time the product reaches your plywood supplier, their formaldehyde emissions will will have become close to negligible.
Jake! When are you moving to Texas from COMO? That town has gone down hill since I left there in 2010. Texas would welcome you! Matt, awesome home build! Excellent work! I’d love to hang out on a job or for a day on a job!
Matt, impressive job. That filter says it all. Would be great if you did regular updates on the filters to see if they continue to be so dirty. Wish you did a test without taping off windows and doors - they are always problematic to adjust (and keep adjusted).
It is always going to be expensive.. time costs money, and a lot of it. To do the details needed for this kind of building, you will be nitpicking everything.. and if you have a contractor doing the work, you will be paying time and money on their crew to do it. It will explode the costs to your build quite exponentially.
@@kadmow There are some small enough but the nature of condensate with spores and mold and fungi (OH MY!) would probably clog those in days. A piece of duct tape would do the job for the blower test.
A very important point to emphasize is that things happen, like your unadjusted windows and your missing damper, that might then require a second (or 3rd or 4th) final visit from your third party verifier. The cost and timing of those additional tests puts a lot of pressure on builders and verifiers to lie. No one wants to pay an extra fee or schedule an extra test but maybe if it is not considered “extra” but common, typical, usual then everyone would be better off. A typical scenario is this: Punch list items, final painting, one or two installations, lighting, cleaning crews, landscaping are all happening in anticipation of a fixed move-in date. If a problem is revealed during a blower door test that can not be found or fixed in time then the pressure builds. If that problem causes a house to fail either envelope or duct tightness tests then the pressure increases exponentially. This scenario is so common that I think it should addressed. But this video was about your home which is, by the way, impressively built with high standards being met for efficiency, health, quality, functionality, beauty, etc. Well done.
Color me impressed, sweet! it would be nice to see what you get after you adjust your windows and put in the damper in the exhaust fan and just use the built-in shut-off for the Zander, to have a closer to real life reading.
Thats AWESOME! It was about the same as pre drywall which really speaks for the phenomenal job everyone did with your house! Also your house would likely be less dusty and dirty compared to a leaky house i am sure
12/21/21; great job Matt on building g your house with such impressive blower door results! Yes this was a bigger investment in time/labor & materials/equipment, but big wow on your air quality- especially considering your daughter's allergies/Asmah condition. Yur buddy Jake Gruden was very knowledgeable on details of air quality & blower door testing. Kinda fancy blower door too! So keep us YT viewers informed of your progress getting (yourself & house) certified in that 'Net-0' energy rating. Great job, great investment. Hope you get more jobs building this type high end house. Also let us know your electric bill compared to your other house/ this house with previous owner. Merry Christmas!👍👍👍😊
Congrats, very tight! You had top notch, super efficient products installed throughout and I would be curious as to the electrical usage over the next year.
I'm going to be building a house in Idaho and compltetly understand how to airseal exterior walls, top plates, etc. How are you sealing the ceiling penetrations in your sheetrock? The LED canlights have a seal but in my experience it isn't foolproof. I was thinking of taking a froth pack and walk the attic during sheetrock and seal around each of those ceiling penetrations.
Congratulations matt. What a wonderful achievement after so much hard work. Thank you for continuing to share all this great information. I've been out of the trades for a few years now. But i have lots of projects and add ons to do and my first home, and ive just been compiling ideas for the last few years from you and other builders I've seen. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Regarding air filtration/purification, air particulate and pollutants have been linked to SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and current recommendation is to use a HEPA air filtration unit in the room the baby sleeps in.
What's involved in adjusting the doors/windows? Does this require someeone from the manufacturer to resolve? I"m curious why this couldn't be done instead of just taping them off.
I think it is similar to cabinets, anyone with a screw driver can adjust. Not everyone can make sure it is level, closes all the way, does not 'over close', and lines up with the other cabinets. I would assume that any professional window/door installer could adjust it without an issue, the only difference between a pro and the manufacture is if the manufacture does it you KNOW your warranty will be protected and subject to less 'hassle' in the event you need to use it!
Would love to come to Austin and buy a days time with you to look at my plans sometime in the spring. Building 3200 square foot single story home on slab. Plans are going to have to meet hurricane code, as well as Southern Building code. First phase is build a 70 x70 steel building for material storage during construction and will eventually be my shop/ man cave. House will be 2x6 exterior framing with metal roofing by Shefield Metal. Let me know if a meeting is possible. Dropped off design for home to architect yesterday and won't be ready to submit to County for approval til sometime in April. Thanks.
Did you also tape off the sink, shower drains, laundry drain etc, those might be the only remaining holes I can think of. I guess you could plug the drains and add a bit of water to cover the drain, shower needs tape
Did you ever reveal the build cost? No problem if you changed your mind but you did sate that at the cappy house stage and didn't see it. If not, just the approximate product/item or install costs where possible. There are no actual costs for most things, just a mention of things free or discounted which I understand is quid pro quo but saves looking if its way too expensive. Great house, workmanship and analysis through. Congratulations on you project and reaching Passive House objective!
If you change the balance on your mechanical ventilation so you have positive pressure in your house, wouldn't that help keep things like bugs and pollen out?
Commendable that a builder (Jake) has had his own blower door. Just think of the change in build quality if every builder had one so they could measure/remediate at every major stage.
Congrats on the low measurements. What are the measurements on getting your house certified, and what is that certification called? Will it let you get lower house insurance rates? Is it just to satisfy your curiosity and provide peace of mind?
Yep his Mike Holmes build it better came thru. It was one of the early videos, I asked if his inner Mikes Holmes was going to come out. It's been a long journey, glad to see the project coming to the end.
Re the cost saving - ?? the cost of replacing filter elements per annum?? (Or are there washable options, vs Electrostatic Precipitators ?? - Run on Solar PV Electricity for a "zero net cost" ).
Matt -- did you install the Fantech makeup air system that includes the controller to automatically open and close the dampener? I installed this system in my house during our kitchen remodel -- the contractor I hired thought I was crazy for putting this system in, and he didn't really calibrate it - but nevertheless it works pretty well! Looking forward to see your video on this - and hopefully you can share some tips on how best to calibrate the controller.
Congrats on getting a tight house !!! Does the make up air unit cost a lot to run all the time ? Do you have to watch what kind of cleaners you use due to fumes in a tight house ?
It uses around 50-170 watts. It isn't that much considering the massive benefits it provides. Their daughter has asthma so you bet they watch anything that may cause her any respiratory issues. But the unit is always taking stale air out and bringing fresh filtered air in, fumes won't be any higher than a normal leaky house. They are probably lower because the air is constantly changing.
I was inside a massive warehouse and they had garbage can sized jets idk why they were doing that maybe for heating or air movement to suck out dust dirt and fumes I think they were welding stuff inside
I know code is 3. But in my area of South Jersey I am pretty sure the new houses are not getting blower door test for final inspection. What would ACH be of standard build of a quality home builder that is not really focuses on this but is not sloppily leaving holes in the house?
Between 3 and 4 from the (quality homes) homes I have inspected in the last 7 years in the PNW where the requirement was 5. I guarantee in large developments.....the score was bullshit when the card reads 5ACH.
My issue is spending tons of money to make it a passive house. What is the heating and cooling costs on average for a comparable size house? My 4600 square foot house cost less than $100 per month on electric and during the winter months my nat gas is around $90 for around 4 months in Northern Virginia. I dont see the value of dumping tons of money above $100 sq ft, which is what my house cost.... Its like going solar: it would take me 20 years to pay off the panels at less than $1200 a year in electricity to replace 100% of my usage.
I would love to see how your home's blower test compares over time after a house has settled and materials such as aerobarrier have had chance to deteriorate.
Yo Matt!
I recently bought a house built in 1990 and had watched your aero barrier videos. That influenced me to have my house aero sealed before moving in- they took it from 7.50 ACH to 2.50! Certainly not passive house, but $3500 well spent. This should compliment the the new HVAC pretty well, thanks for pushing this aspect of home building!
Congratulations on your build and getting close to 1,000,000 subs.
Wow, I was wondering what that cost, and that does seem like a great investment.
What state is your house at? Did you see a big drop in bills?
$3500???? How long will that never take to pay off...
CONGRATULATIONS!!
I just finished building my family a 3000 square foot ICF house. For my blower door test all I did was close the dampers on my ERV and ended up with a .22 ach50!!! Thanks for all the tips on things to look out for. ( not too bad for a first-time build) The look on the guy's face when he did the test made me think I had done something very right or something very wrong.
So awesome! You are officially in the .00000001% club of the best homes built in America this year! Well done sir
@@buildshow so is there a point you would say that there is diminishing return for your effort. also if your house is that tight and you live in a place with frequent power outages for extended time. how would you deal with that in a low tech way.
@@zombiemaster123456 maybe investigate passive ventilation methods related to chimney’s and the venturi effect. Will require some forethought before building the house to maintain control over your thermal envelope but ventilation can be done without an electrical connection.
@@zombiemaster123456 you could get solar plus battery storage. It's getting cheaper and more popular every day. If you live in an area where it snows you could use a generator. Or a combo of both. I know there are systems that automatically turn the generator on when the batteries get low for snowy or cloudy conditions.
@@mannyr9225 Ya but thats not low tech.
All the considerations you made and the diligence you put into building your home has paid off. Congratulations. Thanks for sharing the journey with us!
I just finished insulating and air sealing my reno. Started with an 8.5 ACH 50 before Aero Barrier and finished with a 2.99. The house was built in 1876 so I don't think the 2.99 finale number was terrible considering what we are working with. I am excited to see what the final number will be when I fix several of the big issues we found during the air sealing and once the house is finished. I think anything under a 2 would be amazing.
That’s awesome Lou. Huge reduction and sounds like you can even get lower!
That’s very excellent. We finished 3y ago pretty much everything except 2nd floor and we’re at 5.16 on a 1960s. But we were not targetting high efficiency/were not knowledgeable enough. Wish I had found this channel before!
@@buildshow Yes, I think I can get it under 2. My windows are the biggest issue right now. They are all double-hung Marvin Windows around 20 years old. The house moved around a lot when we did the major structural renovations so the windows need to be re-shimmed and probably need new weather stripping/seals. Other than that I hope after the drywall goes in it tightens up a little. The next step is an ERV system. I got a quote from Zehnder and it was double what I expected it to be so it is going to have to wait. Thanks for all the great content!
How much did it cost?
@@FJB2020 the spray foam was 15k and the air sealing was $2700. House is right around 2200 square feet included walkup attic. All closed cell foam average depth of 3.5" and 9 foot tall walls all around. All roof decks, exterior walls and a small spot outside underneath a kitchen addition were foamed. I got a quote for 11k for the Zehnder ERV unit, install not included.
Congrats Matt. I've been learning from you for years. I'm an owner builder and I'm super thankful I had all the great info from you to implement on my build. Our energy bill is actually a fair bit higher in the summer because in the winter doing some cooking or laundry pretty much heats our house. Thank you.
Just got the final airtightness test on my new Passivhaus build in the UK and scored 0.06 ACH 50, yes that is 0.06 and not 0.6! Very pleased with that :)
Can you share what extra steps were taken to get your house so much tighter?
@@mattrandolph4006 The airtight layer was clearly defined around the whole building - in our case it was a layer of 12mm Durelis VapourBlock board. Every joint in that board, every interface with it, eg windows and floor and every penetration through it, eg cables and pipes, was meticulously sealed with airtight tape and/or grommets. We did not screw through it or do anything else to it unless we absolutely had to and then we added extra sealing if we thought there was any chance of leakage. That’s about it really other than using Passivhaus certified windows and doors which have triple air-seals on them as well as being triple-glazed.
Wow
Have been following this build and congratulations on completion and a great test result. Glad to see they recognize the window adjustments- we find this is often overlooked and not addressed with certified homes. Some things to note about the blower door test. The International PHI standard requires 0.6 ACH50 or less. Phius - the US standard uses a different metric of 0.06 CFM/SF of building envelope - it would be good to see the results in this metric with taping only the dampers/openings allowed per the ANSI/RESNET Standard 380-2019. Also, Phius requires a multi-point test with pressurization and depressurization results averaged.
I love seeing how humble Matt is in attributing his success in this aspect to Jake and Steve.
I know nothing about Texas geography, but out of sheer boredom and curiosity, I was able to find your house based on what you said at 12:40 in just a couple of minutes. That jet black metal roof is very unique! As a roadway designer and map nerd, I couldn't help myself lol. Anyways, congrats on the 0.25 score and Merry Christmas!
Right!
Also, you could’ve gone back to several other videos of the neighborhood, picked an address from the neighbors’ house and plugged away too.
Congratulations on the amazing blower door results Matt! 👏
I'm praying for a gr8 result on the house Steve is designing now. We'll definitely do the aerobarrier treatment.
Merry Christmas & God Bless you all!
Cheers,
Eric
Congrats Matt! Very happy for you, I did a full remodel for my family, lifted the house, gutted it and used a lot of your videos and insight and hit a 0.9 ACH/50 and was so excited, saw it in you too so congrats and thank you for pumping out such good content!
Great results and congrats on getting soooo low. It took a while and wasn't easy thanks for taking us along on the build.
Congrats Matt. And thanks for posting all the videos of house while it was under construction, as I learned a lot from the videos. All of the detailing and diligence to achieving airtight construction paid off. Hope you get the house Passive House certified.
Would love to see an update in the future details the houses energy utilization. Congrats!
Fantastic video! I didn't do anything special to our house prior to the blower door test. Just close the windows and turn off the HRV. We were able to attain 0.6-0.7 ach, we have alot of doors and windows on the south side for the sunlight to come in, was happy with that!
Merry Christmas to you nd your family.
Great job with the door test!!
Aero sealing is a good investment, will pay you back in time.
Never did whole houses,but did lots of duct work. Above coil,all the back to return boot. Pretty sure it's the same stuff in your house.
Non toxic,environmentally friendly latex,or a form of it . Came in gallon jugs,I swear it was just thinned out Elmer's glue.
Thanks for test,results. But didn't expect any thing less frommmm
THE BUILD SHOW !!
We just built a home and our blower door test came back at 1.76 ACH50 which I was happy with, code here is anything less than 2.5. An issue I am facing now though on very cold days for extreme temp differences such as 15 degrees or less outside and I keep my home around 72 is a considerable amount of moisture buildup on my interior windows. I believe this to be a result of the tightness of the home, but I am really not sure if that is the case or not. I have to run a dehumidifier during those times to help remove that moisture buildup and even then I may have to clean the windows off in the mornings. I will say it is not the entire window, mainly just an inch or so from the sill on top/bottom windows.The windows are Marvin Elevate double hung so I know they are good quality windows, however I am worried that with them being wood that rot and mildew issues are going to form if I cannot resolve these issues. My other thought was it was potentially from our Master Bath that builds up a lot of steam from showers. I have a 150 CFM exhaust that I run for an hour or more after the shower so I feel that I am more than removing any excess moisture that may have built up. Anyone else experience these same issues?
I love to see how genuinely concerned you are. Love your show from South Australia
Congrats! I just ordered tilt/ turn windows for an upcoming project. That one WILL be under 1 ACH!
Awesome job! I was right there with waiting for the final report. You and your team did a great job of controlling the elements and you did a great job of sharing all aspects to get there. Thanks
My guess is the house doesn't even have the typical "new house" smell because of the CONTINUOUS air flow! 👍👍
no. it’s because he literally built a house with near zero vocs.
@@trevorhardy3544 don't forget the formaldehyde in all the millwork. The glues in the plywood all contain formaldehyde. But that's a really good hypothesis @wj the home builder!
@@cognitive-carpenter there is voc-free options for everything you just listed….. and yes, airflow helps. it’s a no-brainer.
@@cognitive-carpenter You piqued my interest here are my findings;
The formaldehyde emissions from plywood tend to be at their highest immediately after the manufacturing process. This is when timber sheets are bonded together using phenol formaldehyde adhesive.
However, the formaldehyde emissions do eventually subside after a few weeks. Manufacturers also apply phenolic coating to plywood to help lower emission levels even further.
By the time the product reaches your plywood supplier, their formaldehyde emissions will will have become close to negligible.
Jake! When are you moving to Texas from COMO? That town has gone down hill since I left there in 2010. Texas would welcome you! Matt, awesome home build! Excellent work! I’d love to hang out on a job or for a day on a job!
Nice looking blower door kit! Nice video, we love seeing discussions like this on Air toightness, Matty Risinger! From Down Under.
I can't wait to have a house like this! Great job!
Great job on your score!! Matt, how much to come to South Carolina and build our new dream home? Put you up at Kiawah will your here.
Matt, impressive job. That filter says it all. Would be great if you did regular updates on the filters to see if they continue to be so dirty. Wish you did a test without taping off windows and doors - they are always problematic to adjust (and keep adjusted).
My guess is all that filth is from the highway. I wonder if any of his neighbors has a filtration system to compare
As someone that thermodynamics... Straight A's... This is impressive. If it wasn't prohibitively expensive, every house should be built this way.
It is always going to be expensive.. time costs money, and a lot of it. To do the details needed for this kind of building, you will be nitpicking everything.. and if you have a contractor doing the work, you will be paying time and money on their crew to do it. It will explode the costs to your build quite exponentially.
happy for you, followed the whole journey. Learned a lot. Congrats bud. See you at IBS hopefully
Wow ! AMAZING! I'm glad for you Matt! Great work!
This is an awesome home. Such a wonderful place for your family.
Leakage points you probably missed - the condensate drains for your mini-split units.
AND THIS PAGE IS BEING SPAMMED!!!!
Poop. Totally yes
(do they make backflow preventers, small enough for those??)
@@kadmow There are some small enough but the nature of condensate with spores and mold and fungi (OH MY!) would probably clog those in days. A piece of duct tape would do the job for the blower test.
A very important point to emphasize is that things happen, like your unadjusted windows and your missing damper, that might then require a second (or 3rd or 4th) final visit from your third party verifier. The cost and timing of those additional tests puts a lot of pressure on builders and verifiers to lie. No one wants to pay an extra fee or schedule an extra test but maybe if it is not considered “extra” but common, typical, usual then everyone would be better off.
A typical scenario is this:
Punch list items, final painting, one or two installations, lighting, cleaning crews, landscaping are all happening in anticipation of a fixed move-in date. If a problem is revealed during a blower door test that can not be found or fixed in time then the pressure builds. If that problem causes a house to fail either envelope or duct tightness tests then the pressure increases exponentially.
This scenario is so common that I think it should addressed. But this video was about your home which is, by the way, impressively built with high standards being met for efficiency, health, quality, functionality, beauty, etc. Well done.
Curious, what does the A/C filter look like that's been filtering interior air?
That would be awesome too see a comparison
Color me impressed, sweet!
it would be nice to see what you get after you adjust your windows and put in the damper in the exhaust fan and just use the built-in shut-off for the Zander, to have a closer to real life reading.
Thats AWESOME! It was about the same as pre drywall which really speaks for the phenomenal job everyone did with your house! Also your house would likely be less dusty and dirty compared to a leaky house i am sure
12/21/21; great job Matt on building g your house with such impressive blower door results! Yes this was a bigger investment in time/labor & materials/equipment, but big wow on your air quality- especially considering your daughter's allergies/Asmah condition. Yur buddy Jake Gruden was very knowledgeable on details of air quality & blower door testing. Kinda fancy blower door too! So keep us YT viewers informed of your progress getting (yourself & house) certified in that 'Net-0' energy rating. Great job, great investment. Hope you get more jobs building this type high end house. Also let us know your electric bill compared to your other house/ this house with previous owner. Merry Christmas!👍👍👍😊
Congrats, very tight! You had top notch, super efficient products installed throughout and I would be curious as to the electrical usage over the next year.
@@RandySeverino and whats the problem? ERV/HRV savings in heating/cooling recovery far offset fan consumption
Applaud your efforts and you sharing it all with us.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
You seem to have a lot of contacts in Missouri. Pretty cool since I live in STL.
hi from colorado good to see you are in have a great Christmas good job
I'm going to be building a house in Idaho and compltetly understand how to airseal exterior walls, top plates, etc. How are you sealing the ceiling penetrations in your sheetrock? The LED canlights have a seal but in my experience it isn't foolproof. I was thinking of taking a froth pack and walk the attic during sheetrock and seal around each of those ceiling penetrations.
Congratulations matt. What a wonderful achievement after so much hard work. Thank you for continuing to share all this great information. I've been out of the trades for a few years now. But i have lots of projects and add ons to do and my first home, and ive just been compiling ideas for the last few years from you and other builders I've seen. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Good job - have enjoyed your journey with this house.
Great job Matt, enjoy your new home. Merry Christmas
Congrats my brother, awesome job!!! Can you share what vents y'all used for the intake and exhaust on your Zehnder system?
Fantastic score, my best was 0.7 on a traditional masonry house in UK
Darn good! 👌🏻
well done Matt. Merry Christmas from Brisbane Australia.
Well done! That’s an amazing number! You worked hard and did a lot of smart things to make it happen, and it paid off! Hoping I can get sub-.5 also!
Wow, congrats! I’m not that surprised as I have been watching all your vids.
Regarding air filtration/purification, air particulate and pollutants have been linked to SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and current recommendation is to use a HEPA air filtration unit in the room the baby sleeps in.
Worth highlighting that Jake posts great videos on TH-cam, too, on his "Aarow Building" channel.
What's involved in adjusting the doors/windows? Does this require someeone from the manufacturer to resolve? I"m curious why this couldn't be done instead of just taping them off.
I think it is similar to cabinets, anyone with a screw driver can adjust. Not everyone can make sure it is level, closes all the way, does not 'over close', and lines up with the other cabinets. I would assume that any professional window/door installer could adjust it without an issue, the only difference between a pro and the manufacture is if the manufacture does it you KNOW your warranty will be protected and subject to less 'hassle' in the event you need to use it!
How can this be the final number.. I don't see why we could not have waited to see this video later
@@DozIT From the sounds of previous videos the final adjustment seems to be included in the price, or the promotion.
Congrats Matt... Great Job 👍 0.25 ACH@50 is Tight
Thank you Matt.
Would love to come to Austin and buy a days time with you to look at my plans sometime in the spring. Building 3200 square foot single story home on slab. Plans are going to have to meet hurricane code, as well as Southern Building code. First phase is build a 70 x70 steel building for material storage during construction and will eventually be my shop/ man cave. House will be 2x6 exterior framing with metal roofing by Shefield Metal. Let me know if a meeting is possible. Dropped off design for home to architect yesterday and won't be ready to submit to County for approval til sometime in April. Thanks.
Merry Christmas sir, great show.
Did you also tape off the sink, shower drains, laundry drain etc, those might be the only remaining holes I can think of. I guess you could plug the drains and add a bit of water to cover the drain, shower needs tape
P trap blocks air
Congratulations!
Awesome! Congrats!
Congrats Matt and team. Well done!
Congratulations ! Great Job
Extremely impressive, especially considering the constraints of the existing slab and 2x4 framing.
Excellent stuff bro
Would be very interesting to see some lab analysis of air quality outdoors vs indoors in regards to exhaust pollutants 😷 nice work 👍
Nice work, congrats!
Did you ever reveal the build cost? No problem if you changed your mind but you did sate that at the cappy house stage and didn't see it. If not, just the approximate product/item or install costs where possible. There are no actual costs for most things, just a mention of things free or discounted which I understand is quid pro quo but saves looking if its way too expensive. Great house, workmanship and analysis through. Congratulations on you project and reaching Passive House objective!
would you ever test at say 100 Pa? any reason to do that or not to with modern HVAC systems?
If you change the balance on your mechanical ventilation so you have positive pressure in your house, wouldn't that help keep things like bugs and pollen out?
Commendable that a builder (Jake) has had his own blower door. Just think of the change in build quality if every builder had one so they could measure/remediate at every major stage.
Nice work!
Congrats on the low measurements.
What are the measurements on getting your house certified, and what is that certification called? Will it let you get lower house insurance rates? Is it just to satisfy your curiosity and provide peace of mind?
If a water pipe burst when you’re out, you’d come home to an aquarium! Great work Matt and trades folk.
just like Jumanji
I’m going to be using Aerobarrier on our new construction build coming up 2nd quarter this year
Yep his Mike Holmes build it better came thru. It was one of the early videos, I asked if his inner Mikes Holmes was going to come out. It's been a long journey, glad to see the project coming to the end.
Can anyone provide a pointer to how building with a basement (partial or full) versus slab changes things? Thanks in advance.
p.s. Congrats Matt!
what brand of step stool did you use in this video?
love you both!! Amazing work
Would be great to see a test like this on a house that was built sealed up tight 20 years ago to see how they hold up over time.
Re the cost saving - ?? the cost of replacing filter elements per annum?? (Or are there washable options, vs Electrostatic Precipitators ?? - Run on Solar PV Electricity for a "zero net cost" ).
Here in the UK a pair of filters costs £24 and they last 180 days, so £48 per year or $64
Matt -- did you install the Fantech makeup air system that includes the controller to automatically open and close the dampener? I installed this system in my house during our kitchen remodel -- the contractor I hired thought I was crazy for putting this system in, and he didn't really calibrate it - but nevertheless it works pretty well! Looking forward to see your video on this - and hopefully you can share some tips on how best to calibrate the controller.
Congrats on getting a tight house !!! Does the make up air unit cost a lot to run all the time ? Do you have to watch what kind of cleaners you use due to fumes in a tight house ?
It uses around 50-170 watts. It isn't that much considering the massive benefits it provides. Their daughter has asthma so you bet they watch anything that may cause her any respiratory issues. But the unit is always taking stale air out and bringing fresh filtered air in, fumes won't be any higher than a normal leaky house. They are probably lower because the air is constantly changing.
congratulations, Matt and crews!
Matt you built an amazing house Congrats !
Great job Matt. Can you post a link to all of the products you used on this?
@@avery4528 I have most of what he used for trades. Interior fixtures and whatnots isn't what I need really. In planning on my own houses
Good job Matt, worth the effort.
How would a commercial vestibule help for the front door area?
Congratulations
I'd love to see Matt do an ICF build.
In a very hot and humid climate like Texas, the thermal mass of ICF would be undesirable.
He has featured some other builders' ICF projects in the past.
I was inside a massive warehouse and they had garbage can sized jets idk why they were doing that maybe for heating or air movement to suck out dust dirt and fumes I think they were welding stuff inside
Matt... I'm noticing that Zip system products are pretty much unavailable here in Oregon. Any help or tips?
I'm so jealous of that zehnder.
I know code is 3. But in my area of South Jersey I am pretty sure the new houses are not getting blower door test for final inspection. What would ACH be of standard build of a quality home builder that is not really focuses on this but is not sloppily leaving holes in the house?
Between 3 and 4 from the (quality homes) homes I have inspected in the last 7 years in the PNW where the requirement was 5. I guarantee in large developments.....the score was bullshit when the card reads 5ACH.
At what point did this become an obsession with you?? Obviously that is extremely impressive!! Congratulations!!
Congrats. I can’t recall if you put a sphincter seal in the dishwasher emergency drain. Hmmm part of me thinks you did though.
Nope. Just a pTrap with mineral oil
Nice video!
I’d love to do a VOC test in this home along with CO2 Logging.
My biggest question is will the additional material & labor cost during the building process pay off if you live in the house less than 25 years.
My issue is spending tons of money to make it a passive house. What is the heating and cooling costs on average for a comparable size house? My 4600 square foot house cost less than $100 per month on electric and during the winter months my nat gas is around $90 for around 4 months in Northern Virginia. I dont see the value of dumping tons of money above $100 sq ft, which is what my house cost.... Its like going solar: it would take me 20 years to pay off the panels at less than $1200 a year in electricity to replace 100% of my usage.
I’d love to do a VOC test in this home.