Will Spray Foam Dramatically Tighten A House? Let’s test!
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@matt I know you've spent a lot of effort on air barrier during construction. Can you maybe do an episode on approaches to remediate already finished homes? My 1972 PNW house feels like the wind simply blows through it and I could really use some guidance on how to address it.
That is crazy, my dad would say thats stupid, because houses need to breathe, but i am of the opposite and they only need to bring in as much outside air as needed. Great job Matt, keep up the awesome content and information, we all appreciate it.
One to check…. The spray foam causes an insulation coat around your power cables so worth double checking the cable size against the derating factors of having insulation sprayed over them. Power cables like free air not insulation
Love the Show!
Yea, as a DIY fixer (of a 110 year old house right now), the only concern I had was using spray foam to glue down all those exterior wall cables. In addition to checking/de-rating any of those circuits, 40 years ago some poor person who wants to replace a cable will be cursing all that foam.
Other than that, a _very_ impressive result!
eh, building codes already assume wiring is in an insulated environment. there could be a low-voltage system that fails, but honestly, you're more likely it will just be dysfunctional and catch fire than have wiring that overheats due to insulation. code and liability mean products have a very high overhead for over-heat/over-current conditions.
@@somedude-lc5dy u
Hi,
Thanks for your comment ….
I’m based in the UK but have worked both in the UK and internationally on building projects but as a rule generally building code and cable sizing will not align. ( in fact the electrical regulations vary drastically between country to country which is a worry)
I’m an electrical engineer and it’s my personal responsibility to check where and how cables are installed and what route they are run through. This is more relevant in a commercial environment more so than a domestic house, but the rules still apply.
For example if I have a power line designed to run in free air or in conduit or behind a wall, that’s running all day in a warm temperature then someone covers it in spray foam ?
The cable will run at a higher designed temperature, copper terminals overheat, volt drop becomes an issue, thermal issues on the cable becomes an issue and RCD tripping becomes an issue…..Be it, over time.
Design it right and it’s not a problem…. That’s the point I’m making.
Hope this and helps.
S
@@PaulPlaceway
Hi Paul
Thanks for your comment
If you have a house of that age then spray foam is not for you….
I live in London in a Victorian terrace house which is circa 150 years old. Made of brick and lime plaster.
Love them as I do but they are designed too “breath” i.e. get wet and dry out quickly. Spray foam would cause a load of problems…. Plus if your wiring is older than 40 + Years the I Would recommend a rewire with new circuit breakers
S
Go up in wire guage and don't run any circuit over 80% capacity and the wire will be fine and not overheat. 12-2 with 20 amp breakers and receptacles with nothing over 80% total load at peak usage and you will be fine.
I would love to see a video on tightening down an already built/finished home. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there like me who have an older home that is beyond leaky!
He did a video about that. There is a blow glue of some type that seals all cracks no matter where they are and it can be applied to a finished home. You’ll have to look thru his playlist
I saw a reference further down I think it’s called Aero Barrier
@@4philipp Thanks for looking that up. I checked them out and their website says that stuff is during rough-in or stud remodels. I'm wondering if there is something similar you can do in an already finished home?
This is really something you don’t want to do in a home that wasn’t specifically built for this.. and as good as all this sounds I see more Rott in brand new homes built to these extremes then I do 200 year old houses.. there is something said to beating able to breath.. if at any point any moisture enters the house it’s now a fish tank cause there is no way for it to escape.. and as for someone who deals with remodel all the time I can tell you there is no caulk, foam, tape or anything that handles being wet 24/7 every thing breaks down when moisture is introduced.. I’ll take a leaky 20yo block home and a few extra on the electric any day. The cost in repairs later down the road won’t be covered by the short term savings..
Maybe if I lived in Arizona or some other dry climate this would make more sense to me? But in Florida 5yo homes have entire walls and framing completely rotted and leaky homes built 20+ years ago not maintained wood that looks as new as the day it left the lumber yard despite having infiltration issues through old roof bad flashing etc..
@@fishrrelaxing9361 You are right, leaky houses do work. But I would say that a house that is well-sealed and well insulated for its climate, plus mechanical ventilation, works as well. What doesn't work is something in between. Then it's possibly an issue waiting to happen.
This is why I want to build my own house. There are things I want to do that a builder won’t do or won’t do as I would. I have built several homes start to finish growing up with a family owned business as a kid, building in various trades growing up, and helping friends and neighbors build homes.
I want to do things like joist tape to all the framing studs prior to sheathing with zip r or similar products, use r-guard cat 5 on the exterior, caulk the insulated sheathing to the studs, use aero barrier after caulking and close cell spray foam after that. This is all if I do a gram house.
If I do a block or icf house, I have a buddy who owns a line-x company who wants to spray the inside and outside of the block walls for cost. This is because we saw a test where they used line-x on a block wall and made it nearly impenetrable with explosives. I figure if he does that, the wall will be completely water and air tight.
If I ever get the free time and extra money to do a custom build, I will start a channel to show how it does.
Been there and done that and still had to do 90% of the adv air sealing myself. Contractors have too many jobs waiting for them to double the amount of time required for a job. That is, unless you have a 7 figure budget and wont be spending it on sq footage.
is it really worth the extra expense and effort to try to air seal a home to that tightness well in excess of the energy code requirements? what are the gains you are actually looking for? is it energy savings from infiltration? to keep allergens and pests out? tight temps and RH control? you still need outside air for ventilation and continuous intake and exhaust to maintain the RH and pressure balance. Too tight of an envelope will cause new problems and need more advance solutions, and diminish any returns from energy savings.
@@robertficek7586 yes to all, I live in south Florida, so heat, wind, rain, and flying debris are issues here. A completely airtight box with exterior air filtration won’t have other issues. I am going to build my home to rival the construction of the pyramids. I know that what I build will last the test of time and anything Mother Nature can throw at it in the area I live.
@@ryanlaabs6034 Concrete is not eternal though, so you are not goin to rival the pyramids, unfortunately. But for some generations you should be good!
@@PierSilver the pyramids are concrete. You actually think they moved blocks of stone that big?
I'd be really curious to see you do a video on how to work with old houses. I have a 1910's house with original wood siding that's obviously is very leaky but I've hesitated to do anything because I'm worried about screwing up how the house deals with moisture.
My concern also, is the moisture.
@@Lughnerson no need to worry guys, think about how moisture becomes a problem, right? We have condensation, especially concerning here in the NE and to a lesser extent humidity. If you have a leaky house, your goal should be to ensure that warm, moisture containing air does not come into contact with cold surfaces. The problem is when the condensation is hidden, like when the air goes through your walls and past the fiberglass, condensing on the cold sheathing. I just saw this in my crawlspace, which had fiberglass insulation around the rim joists. All the cavities we soaked behind the fiberglass. If you have an old leaky house, you gotta make sure you keep the air flow up. In my case, I have a fireplace that sucks in outside air and heats it, positively pressurizing the house. I am still not sure how I feel about that, as if there is no easy escape, I am driving that warm, moist air into places I don't want it.
@@Lughnerson Yup. Mortgage companies in the UK are dead against closed cell spray foam, largely because it's just not breathable
That moisture eventually just rots the wood
If you do a good vapor barrier and at least an R-10 rigid insulation to the exterior, sealed tight, rain screen over it, before the siding, and install an HRC air exchanger, you won't have any moisture issues.
Thanks for the honestly and disclosures about products and sponsors. Good info.
I got Sprayfoam on my house in 2015. It was the best move I did. It saved me money in heating and A/C.
My just completed a 952 sq ft shop got a blower door test of 0.78 ach. It has (2) 10 ft x 8 ft overhead garage doors in addition to (2) standard doors and (6) awning windows. The air barrier consists of exterior plywood sheathing sealed with fast flash and the ceiling drywall. A strip of tyvec covers the top plate and is sealed to the sheathing and to the ceiling drywall with air dam, completing the air barrier. So even with conventional construction, conventional materials and products, and mostly conventional details, it is possible to get a reasonably air tight structure. I did all the work except for the concrete forms/placement/finishing and roof truss fabrication, and had no prior building experience.
Great job! Now I'd like to see the house tested again in say 10 years to see envelope longevity.
22 years later still great! Basement is exposed so it's easy to inspect.
Prolly gotta tape/seal the windows/doors cause those seals will be shot by then.
I came here to make the same comment. What is the longevity on foam airtm tightness
We have been living in a foam wall filled house for 8 years and I can tell you it is still tight.
@@23strawbale i would imagine the foam prevents most shift/warping in the framing so the only change would be foundation/ground changes or UV damage on the outside right?
Now I wanna know what the ACH score would be after drywall
Me too
What is the lowest recorded on a passive house?
@@srt4b th-cam.com/video/yVK0R4C8FpE/w-d-xo.html
and that was 9 years ago.
@@srt4b 0.06
Matt you got the same blower door score as mine pre drywall but my house is icf!
Wow that’s crazy tight. Can’t wait to see what the finished house rating is.
Excellent work! I hope Ken knows that RetroTec carries additional blower door plugs that restrict airflow even more (Range 74 - Range 3) for the tightest of building envelopes.
Hearty congratulations for achieving your goal. Wonderful demo and numbers
Back in the 1980's I built my first home before I put in the regular battening insulation . I had a company come in and do a flash coat of spray foam. How what a difference we found out quickly that you had to make sure you closed doors. And if you wanted to build a fire in the fireplace you had to open a window. Power bill was very low. It was worth the experience of the foam
Two questions regarding the closed cell spray foam.
1. Long term off gassing?
2. Fire resistance?
great questions i hope matt would answer or do a video on
closed cell does not have as many issues with off gassing, but a good ERV/HRV system would handle that and is necessary for any tight built house. for fire resistance, rockwall will take care of most of that and for any area without rockwall (roof area), there is fire resistant paint used over it that protects it.
the "building a better attic" video he just released covers the fire resistance question
This was so awesome to see. I love the work you do Matt and how you emphasize the importance of fine craftsmanship like excellent air sealing. It was also great to see Kent in this video, I was getting excited while watching you and Kent get excited lol. If I every move to Austin down the road, I want you building my house. Stay safe!
Would be interesting to have someone convert this to actual dollar savings, versus cost to build. In other words, the bang for the buck. :)
Only Matt's wife has ever seen him this excited. 👍❤️😀
Ooooooh Baby!
Exceptional job Matt!
The sound change is astounding!
Pretty sweet! My last project we tested at a similar stage as you we had a 0.4495 @ACH50 which we more or less declared the windows were leaking as they were rated at
You can call up the window company and get real data for the windows!
This is good to know into. Next I want to see how much of a difference open cell spray foam makes.
I would expect considerable difference between open and closed.
@@TimGallant I would as well, that’s why I want to see it done. I want to see how much of a difference it would make. Does open cell do half as much? 10% as much? Nothing?
Nice job Matt! I can only dream of ever having my house built the way houses should be built. I’ll just keep plugging away trying to improve my 5 year old spec house built by a good, but old school builder that still believes houses need to breathe.
Not a builder dont have the knowledge but I do think you make a great point. Build it too tight then you have to invest in mechanical devices to bring in fresh air.
Absolutely love the before and after!
Any tighter and you're going to need the little HVAC blower fan to test it with!
TBH the duct blaster probably would have done it. I regularly test 20,000 cu.ft. homes that get like 2.50ACH@50PA with the duct blaster. I believe itll move about 1500CFM before it maxes out, where as the model 6000 he is using can move around 7700CFM
@@cameroncole6575 I believe it. The last house I did (a mere 1560 sq ft) came in at 1.49 ACH. The regular fan had all but one hole covered. And it was borderline still flowing too much air. (I'm sure the reasoning was because the house was only 1560 sq ft. A larger home would have allowed more air to flow.) Anyways, to verify the results, we did hook up the HVAC fan. I took a picture because it was funny to look at! My HERS rater said he'd never tested a whole house with a HVAC fan.
@@wjthehomebuilder HAHAHAHAH, yes it is funny to see the 2 side by side. The HVAC fan looks so cute in comparison ahahahah.
That's a good idea though, verifying the results with 2 different fans
Ok I’ve subscribed for quite a while , been building for a long while in ca . I’ve moved to Tennessee and am building a 900 sq ft tiny home using most of these practices. Except I used prosoco mvp , with all the joints and door openings sealed with there products. Doing the inside the same all closed cell . My windows are on back order not many so all custom extra air tight also . Love the size it allows me to go ALL out and do top of the line on heat n air , well everything. And to top it off it’s on a mobile home frame , cuz it’s on my kids property n it’s lots cheaper tax wise . Lol heck Matt in even allowing for my kohler stem shower you showed . It’s so tight I’m really wanting a blower door test just to see . If you read this can you direct me to someone in the Memphis Tn area that does them . Dang I want one so bad when it’s time . Heck your people probably gots Prost this point . But I figured I’d ask . Thanks for the great videos and advice along the way . This will be the FIRST MOBILE HOME built to this standard I’m thinking . Thanks
Nice! Now, do that for a northern climate house with a different "dry" direction.
Excellent call on the bugs, pests, etc. Even mold, spores, etc. Really neat design!
Nice video ….. thanks and it’s impressive building processes to get that great ach number.
I'm speechless...and for me that's saying something!
I have such house envy whenever I watch these videos. The closest I'll get is buying used and having Aero Barrier pumped in before I move in.
All those little details add up, very impressive build and I am jealous as I can see daylight between the windows in the rental I'm currently living in!!
Man thats amazing! That is a true testament to a phenomenal builder and obviously crew (as there are many behind the scenes that had to be on the top of their game to have an outcome like that) as well! You all did an insane job and should be ecstatic
VERY IMPRESSIVE NUMBERS !! Thanks for giving me alot of good info for when I build my new house. Now I have to figure out how I'm going to get you to help build it.
We love our R 40 foam filled walls. No drafts and quiet. We did fiberglass in the ceiling. We live on an exposed hill that get a lot of wind and the house never makes noises Today it was hot and with our open exposure to the south our house stayed cool. Hot to us is 80, but we get some -30 nights in the winter. I also seal around all wires and pipes. Unsealed wires going vertically tough interior walls create a chimney effect on moving air in the wall.
What phenomenal execution for phenomenal numbers. I'm curious what that number would be if you had traditional studs. It seems like TStuds allowing for an uninterrupted layer of CCSPF in the walls really helps tighten things up, as long as plates are sealed.
Another great video!! That spray foam guy on the top of the ladder though...
It would be great to see a test where you rock wool an area and pressure test it. Then pull the rock wool out and spray seal it, then do the pressure test again. Couldn’t do a whole house due to cost, but as large an area you could.
I have lived in Romania and England for some time. I can attest that those windows are amazing, and definitely contribute to the tightness.
I've lived in England, France, Slovakia and Moldova.
I hate them. They open in, and you can't 'lock' them open :(
Do Aero Barrier just to see how tight you can get it!
I just hope your dog doesn’t have gas.
Nice job!
I was gonna say hope I don't have gas... Ha
I love and support everything Matt’s doing from a building science standpoint, but I also love musing about the intersection of lifestyle and mechanical management of indoor air quality.
I look forward to figuring out how many air changes I get from letting my dogs and kids in and out all day long in the summer…not to mention mid-winter bedroom “Honey, would you please crack the window?” requests.
The gaps in my house are so big if I did have a dog with gas I could send him outside without opening a door.
@@petersharp90 me too!😅🤣😂
Remarkable piece of work and great advice. Thanks for posting.
Great job from a michigan builder. I been in a house before that the builder insulated all the interior walls also. Omg it was like getting in a rolls royce. The house was super quiet. I could barely hear myself speaking in there. I had to speak louder.
Congratulations Matt to you, your team, and partners. Wonderful to see the accumulative hard work pay off.
An interesting test is to see how much spray foam can compensate for average air sealing. I suspect given what we see here it would be significant
Nice work, Matt! Awesome video and love the enthusiasm as always.
Is this your first customer build after your own passive house? Incredible result, that gonna be one happy owner!
Window manufacturer?!?! Suppliers?!?! Thanks again for another great video Matt!!!!
In Az we have a lot of leaky block homes i wonder what would be best practice to get them up to modern standards when remolding.
I'm really interested to see the final score. I wonder what happens due to the invariable penetrations that will occur hanging siding, etc.
Matt: What a great result! You really know how to do it.
@Matt Love the videos, this one reminded me of an old colleague who told me a story about building a house for the military or for a military contractor where he or rather the group doing the build was able to tighten the house up so much they had to poke holes in it for ventilation. While today that may be meh, doing it in the 60's when he said they were building these houses was not normal. Oh, he specifically said they did it with polyurethane but he didn't give details.
What the memory spark is a question, can you do a video on the evolution of the venting systems, back when he was telling me the story the implication was that the building was to tight and just didn't fly. It seems having watched your videos on the subject that the HVAC/environmental controls need to match the shell of the house being built.
I think you have a long history doing remodels and new construction plus the industry contacts to make a video about "house tightness" or environmental control very interesting.
-MG
When the blower test is done how were the other interfaces handled that need air exchange like kitchen exhaust fan, dryer vent, and ERV system? Were these simply blocked off?
All the intentional openings must be sealed off for this test since we are only concerned about accidental leaks that allow outdoor air to move indoors from and then to places we don’t want.
We used R Control Panels for a home and storage building. The foam is steam expanded polystyrene. Super-insulated structures. Need Air Exchange for home.
really curious to see how much an air tight house affects the cleanliness of the house when its being occupied. I'd imagine it will make a house a lot less dusty and easier to maintain as well... would love to see you get into this when its complete!
A huge amount of 'dust' is dead skin cells. If there's multiple people there will always be 'dust'.
Would pressurizing the house as they apply spray foam fill any air leaks like the atomized callking spray does?
I would not expect it would improve it much. It might push the foam into cracks but i don't know if that's much better than completely covering the cracks. It won't hit the small gaps that get missed by foam that an aerosol sealant would hit.
But that's just a keyboard warriors thoughts.
Doubt it would help much, but a decent amount of over pressure might help with worksite cleanliness as any airborne particles might be pushed into gaps and not just lighting on horizontal surfaces.
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that done.
This was really informative. Thanks.
That is awesome. Well done man
Very impressive blower door score👍🏾. Next is a thermal bridge test and it’s perfect 🤩.
How do you perform a thermal bridge test?
Great job as always! As a curiosity thought, how would the roof nail penitration affect the score and next the siding nails, all before spray foam?
Thank you for all you do to increase our knowledge.
Congrats on the record tight house. 👍 I am a big energy efficiency nerd and love the idea of using all the next level tech to create better homes. However, I believe this is diminishing returns and only for the wealthy. We are building standard framed homes on vented crawlspace, Edge Gold subfloor, vented unconditioned attics, standard OSB exterior sheeting with house wrap, standard vinyl Milgard windows, fiberglass batt insulation. We’ve achieved as low as 1.19 ACH @ 50. This was achieved at a total cost of $1200 for air sealing.
1.19 is freaking amazing
I'm with you there. I'll use PassivHaus standards but I won't go full PassivHaus
How timely. I'm in talks with my contractor right now about insulation. I want all un-vented attic space, and he is a traditional builder wanting to insulate the ceiling with vented attic.
Question I have always had about Blower door tests that I have not heard answered is: What about all the mechanical ventilation in the house during the test? Is the range hood plugged and all bath fans plugged? Dryer vent? If so, what is a real world test result with them unplugged?
At this point in the test the range hood is likely taped off or plugged. Bathroom exhaust hoods may be non-existent as they are likely tied in to a closed HRV or ERV system. You can get away from a dryer vent with a heat pump dryer. There are quality exhaust hoods you can get that should be nearly air tight to back draft.
Yet the chance to have a butchered spray jobs is high and then having voc issues from a never curing foam.... Even if it goes well repairs and water leaks double in price to repair. Use zip sheeting with Rockwool or normal insulation and keep your home repairs low. We will look back at this and say what idiots thought spray foam was a smart idea
The moral of the story is Matt proved spray foam is unnecessary. 0.8 ach50 at framing is super-tight. Something like cellulose/wool insulation would be a much better option for health reasons. And cheaper.
LMAO
Take the good with the bad. Idea of the zip system is good and than just do Rockwool
So, here's a thought: what if you did spray foam anywhere where the outside materials had a joint? Everywhere else, you could just use bat insulation. Wouldn't that essentially accomplish the same thing but be a LOT cheaper?
i wish someone would do a test on cost of air conditioning with various builds, say build a few big sheds and build one how the typical house is done with an open attic and fiberglass to closed attic and fiberglass and radiant barrier and another with spray foam.
everyone keeps telling me your house needs to breathe, your roof needs airflow, spray foam isnt better than fiberglass, etc.
Great job Matt
this is not specific to how tight, but with how you are building these house are they stronger for weather or earthquakes
Great job on new construction. Can you do one on a 100 year old house in Houston that is pier and beam balloon construction? House has been redone, but floors are cold, should we use spray foam under the floors?
I bought an old Victorian and had a blower door test done… 21ACH at 50pascals. I don’t even know where to start to seal up this leaky brick. I dream of a passive house now
@@vinski_ thanks, I’ll look it up.
But I doubt it’s possibly unless I put in a significant amount of money.. house has board sheathing.
@@Pilot_405 That's exactly where to start. As you said, it's going to take a $ignificant amount of ca$h but simply replacing the board sheathing with Zip-R or even with OSB or plywood will be an improvement.
@@michiganengineer8621 fair, just the wrong time to start with the market. I also have to consider my vapour barrier is on the inside (up in Canada), s of I don’t think Zip-R will work, but I wish it did
Check with your regional energy efficiency alliance (NEEP, NEEA, etc. eepartnership.org/about/regional-energy-efficiency-organizations-network/) or utilities. They should have some programs that can help, although the rater that did the blower door should have been able to give you some recommendations. However, some generalities are:
* seal the rim joist in the basement/crawlspace and top plate in the attic
* seal and/or replace any ceiling lighting fixtures
* seal any wall penetrations for plumbing, telephone & cable...
* install plate gaskets on electrical outlets
* check for any open utility chases running through the building. Sealing the the tops and bottoms can reduce stack effect; the chase will likely have many leaky openings into the home, but capping the ends will minimize those leaks.
* leaky ducts, and especially any wall or floor duct cavities used for ducts (a terrible idea, but common in older homes, especially returns ducts in the floor) will leak like a sieve. Replace those you can get to, or at least seal them very well; bonus, you waste less energy heating/cooling the basement/wall/attic.
* If you're not going to strip the walls bare on the inside or the outside anytime soon, dense pack cellulose in the walls can reduce infiltration a bit, but someone needs to make sure that the assembly will be able to dry properly.
* Adding taped continuous insulation underneath the siding can tighten the home and add needed R-value to the wall.
If you have older combustion equipment (dryer, water heater, furnace//boiler, fireplace), someone should also do a spillage test after air-sealing to make sure that you're not back-drafting on any of that equipment, sucking carbon monoxide into the home. If so, it may be time to add a power vent, or replace with more efficient direct-vent equipment.
@@belg4mit that’s a lot of good info, thanks.
There are a lot of rebate programs for my province, so I’ll use that as much as I can.
I’ve also opened all the walls and will start from there; no insulation in the walls either.
And I just pulled the old boilers out for a hydronic heat pump, so we should be good. Thanks
Amazing results Matt !
Matt, question for you regarding the European windows. Maybe you've covered it in another video. If so a link would be great. Typically the European windows don't come with nailing flanges. Do you get them with flanges? If not, how do you prefer installing flange-less windows?
Huber needs to make a Zip-R panel that they'll warrant for roofing applications. Or possibly we should be moving towards SIPS for roofs, even if we don't use them for walls. SIPS, in general, seem under-rated.
Do you have to worry about balancing indoor and outdoor air pressure?
Also, what do you do with things like the fresh air intake, bathroom fans, range hoods, fireplaces, etc when doing the blower door? The fresh air intake alone seems like it would be that final 17 square inch hole in the envelope. Do you temporarily close those off for the test or do they have dampers?
Road to 1M Matt! :)
Can't wait to see the test once everything is completed. Maybe down to 10?
Follow the drywall finish with the spray caulk application and you have some kind of sealed envelope!
Hi, first I would like to say that you are doing a great job, I'm building houses and buildings in the last 30 years in NYC and now in Panama, I own a spray foam rig and from my experience if you spray,with a closed cell) the house from the inside (as you did) you don't need to worry about water and air leakages and do all the extra work that you did , the spray foam will take care of it
I have a question. If you were on a budget, would you save the money on all the supplies to make it air tight or just spend the money on floating caulk? Aerobarrier?
Man congrats on that accomplishment, is so encouraging for persons like me that have the goal of becoming a high efficiency builder ,,, can you be my senzei??? Lol
Ken should do voice overs on nature documentaries or audiobooks - he has a very soothing voice !
So well done; way to go Matt!
If there is an air gap at the stud or spray foam has a hole to the sheathing will this cause mold on the drywall
Hi Matt, I really could use your advice. Our 1978 built townhouse in VA "might" need a new roof in the next five years, as it shows old water damage and the roofer advised to change the roof sheathing decking in the "near" future. We just signed a quote to Spray Open Cell Foam on the under decking of our attic, as we have a new slip HVAC unit in the attic, which we want to protect, and which will provide an air return to circulate the attic air.
Question: would you advise using a 1/4" rigid board or other substrates to separate the Spray Open Cell Foam from adhesion to the roof deck sheeting? This, would allow us easy removal of the roof sheathing decking for future servicing/replacement in five years?
Someday Matt will build a SPACE STATION
in Alabama, letting air in during July IS bulk water lol. Leaving the backdoor open for 10 minutes is like letting a sauna into the house.
Awesome job Matt. Quick question, what do you do about bathroom vents and range hood vents in a passive house? Dont these vents when not in use function as a large leaky hole? How is this solved in the industry?
Need to add make-up ventilation to offset any fans pulling air from tight homes.
@@ArthurDentZaphodBeeb right but what about when they are not running, they would become make up air themselves.
@@srt4b They need back dampers to only allow one-way airflow
@@ArthurDentZaphodBeeb Awesome thanks that answers it. I appreciate the insights
Would've love seeing the camera up close to the small areas you were spraying the foam to see how it's actually done around those tight areas (like around the electrical boxes/outlets, etc). Otherwise, as always, a great video.
Amazing job!
0.27 ACH!!! and done on an everyman's budget! Great Job!
Everyman's budget? I don't think so.
that what new home need be at now you will save alot money i bet your home will stay cool for 3 to 5 days when its 100F outside in texas heat they need update building code in texas hot or cold temp in that house man....
Jumping high five for that one!!
I wish he would have done some graphic overlays, or picture in picture, so we could see a close up of what the blower door gauge looks like as it's running. And still shot close ups of the details he was describing. I would have also liked to see a smoke test to find those 17 square inches, was it spread out like at the foundation, or a specific window or vent penetration causing it.
interesting , Thank You .
Amazing numbers! Now Matt can build u-boat's!
Wow Matt, BRILLIANT JOB!
I love how you're doing the Doc Joe "Perfect Wall" with Zip or Zip-R. Your zip tape guys must be awesome. :-)
** Matt, was "Professor" Steve Baczek the Architect on this home?
** Is this a TX home?
** With 0.27 ACH50... will you still do the Aerobarrier? :-)
Cheers,
Eric
Wondering what your thoughts are on longest lasting roof or restoring and keeping existing roofs lasting the longest... maybe for perpetuity with the right treatment? RoofMaxx, Verdin Perma-built, synthetic rubber, elastomeric coatings, roof paint, etc. Mainly, I'm concerned with all the waste in asphalt shingles and leaving those up as long as possible safely. Seems unlike asphalt road material that's like the most recycled material on the planet, asphalt shingles are no way. What's the scoop on asphalt fiberglass shingles alone? Scam or are/were homeowners being scammed? The RoofMaxx looks impressive and guessing the price point can come down with other products and/or maybe just cleaning with the right follow-up. Let us know Matt! Thanks for sharing as always.
8:25 camera man is looking in at Matt like my dog when he’s stuck at the bottom of the stairs
The more interesting test would be to see how much the CF foam improved the blower door score WITHOUT prior airsealing.
Are the numbers slightly skewed because the foam takes up volume within the envelope and that is not adjusted for in the computer?
just as i thought if i want to make my house passive and save on the extra 16" of exterior wood i should just button up everything really tight use high quality doors and windows and instead of rock wool use foam for outer walls.
Congrats, that's an awesome number!
Top left “@“ is x’ d out but should not be because with @ turned on and test pressure set to 50, the gauge will give display what the ACH would be if we were exactly at (@) 50 Pa.