I'm a builder in Norway and here we have to test every new building, the requirements for new houses are below 1 air exchange per hour. We just tested 6 connected houses and got a score of 0.22 which we were quite happy with, seeing as passive house standard is 0.6 We obviously use mechanical ventilation in all houses to ensure sufficient fresh air. This comment is not meant to brag but inform, I have to say I was a bit surprised to hear how leaky an average British house is
UK houses are on average some of the oldest in Europe, but sadly we have a house building industry which incredibly resistant to any change which means even now we are building some really poor houses.
There are dozens of old home improvement videos here on youtube like This Old House or Holmes On Homes which will show you everything from simple insulation improvements to full on renovation tricks.
It'd be good to see more of these practical kind of videos, Robert. I mean, not that this is a DIY channel, of course, but I think people would love and appreciate videos where there's actual practical advice that they can follow. Like, honestly, it could be as simple as just watching someone run some sealant around the edges of their window or skirting boards or whatever. It might not sound like the most riveting of content, but I bet you it'd end up as one of your most watched. Basically, most of your viewers are already 100% on board with this sort of thing. They don't need "the green sales pitch" so much, as the "and here's how, in reality, you'd actually do it" practical stuff too. Particularly when we're talking insulation and heat leaks and such. This is actually the cheapest - yet most effective - measure anyone can take. You know, if you're not using the energy in the first place - because you don't have to turn the heating on or, when you do, it's less frequent and turned down - then that's the best thing for the environment, and your wallet. And compared to buying heat pumps, solar panels and house batteries, a few rolls of loft insulation and a tube or two of sealant is not going to break the bank for most people. It's something nearly everyone can do, doesn't cost much and yet is amongst the most effective measures possible.
Freaking yes! I had an air tightness test before this episode, and it shows exactly how much air is leaking, and it shows how I can make my house more air tight I intend on adding an MVHR too
I had to replace a fitted kitchen unit. I've never had to see behind before. What I discovered was a ventilation brick that was left over from when many years ago there was an old fashioned larder in the corner of the kitchen. Basically an A5 sized brick mesh to the outside. I used spray foam to seal it and it has had a profound difference on how warm the house is. I also did wonder how ants could get into our kitchen, so a double bonus there.
Kitchens are often bad due to being hacked about over the years for updates. Mostly the old holes just get left. Ours was freezing for a decade until we finally worked out where the holes were, and bunged them up (And rationalised the plumbing so fewer holes through the wall+EWI.
If you have a gas cooker, that may have been required ventilation. www.gassaferegister.co.uk/media/2194/tb-005-a-gas-cookers-in-internal-kitchens-eng-wales-iom-and-guernsey-vent-requirements.pdf
My bungalow was really airtight, had to run a dehumidifier most days in the winter to get rid of the condensation. Got new windows which have trickle vents in the top, which don't close completely. Have a lot less damp now, and haven't noticed it getting any colder than before. What would be better still would be mechanical heat recovery, using a heat exchanger to pre-heat incoming air with extracted air. But that's quite expensive, might have a look at it next year.
Shouldn't be expensive. Here in Latvia, you can get so called mini-recuperators starting from €150+delivery. At that pricepoint you are looking at 20-25m³/h airflow and a very simple switch to operate it. And they are relatively easy to install - just drill a large hole in the wall and shove it in there. At higher pricepoints you start getting higher airflow, remote controls, apps, and sensors that regulate airflows based on airquality.
Just had NATTS in to perform the test after seeing this video. So glad I did, what a superb service and really informative, not only found air leaks but advised how to resolve them. Thankfully not a great deal of work to improve things and a surprisingly good score of 4. The house previously suffered issues of condensation and mold, but I fitted a PIV unit a number of years ago which resolved that. Have a potential (with the ventilation unit) to get down to 0.5.
Definitely going to get this done... I have been looking for the leaks and found lots. Especially around badly fitted double glazing. No insulation between the frame and the wall.... Lots of form fill.
@@dalemoore11 if your home was leaking as bad as mine and spending £10 a day on energy I am sure you would do something to keep the cold outside. A warm wife is a happy wife.
a test like this costs about $300 here in GTA, Canada... you can do something similar by turning on every exhaust in your house (washrooms, kitchen range) and going around with an incense stick to feel for leakage
@@markthomasson5077 a kitchen hood exhaust can pull 400cfm (depending on model) and each bathroom exhaust can pull 80cfm (again, depending on model). Combined together, that's definitely enough to depressurize a house and you will feel that make up air leaking in.
Great to meet you today Dean….it’s clear you’re very passionate about ecology and renewable energy sources…keep up the good work :-) Asiya and Lauren :-)
What I like about this is its a way of determining if the builder has actually done what they said they've done, need to ensure its performed by an independent organisation that doesn't get backhanders!
I live in a 1930’s semi detached . Walls insulated , loft insulated and fully double glazed . Over the years I’ve lived here I have constantly plugged gaps . It’s an ongoing project as I constantly find more places were the heat leaks
Changed my loft hatch from a plywood leaky hatch to a sealed and insulated one and the difference was amazing and noticeable instantly. Also sealed up above my daughters wide double glazed window - again noticeable improvement just standing by the window no longer cold.
All properties. This is just unnecesary. My windows leak a lot and i still have to open them ocasionaly to let some fresh air in. People who have everything airtight cant even close windows without getting wet walls and mold
I've had this done in many (newer) properties, it's great. So easy to justify making incremental improvements. In older properties with solid walls (my latest is two foot thick basalt) with damp problems, installing a Positive Input Ventilation System (PIV) to push out moisture you need some small leaks in the property to exhaust the slight positive air pressure created from inside to out
We made one from a car radiator fan in a bit of OSB. It's gone round several local houses. You don't get an accurate ach number, but it's easy to pressurise to 40 or 50kPa on normal-sized houses (50 is the test for the standard) and then you can go round finding all the holes and take as long as you like over it. It's usually easier to put it in a window-opener than in a door. A bit of pipe with water in (manometer) suffices for a primitive pressure guage. Later we got a better one, and a hot-wire anemometer for accurately fiding and quantifying leaks. I didn't fancy paying £300 either, although now we've done most of the work I will do so soon to get an calibrated number (and calibrate our contraption).
You can diy it! Close up the house, and then run the cooker/kitchen/bathroom extractor fans all at once. It’s not as powerful as a blower door test but if these these can pull smoke out of a cold fireplace, then they’re good enough. Then go around with a thermal camera/ir thermometer to find where cold air is leaking in. My 2nd most recent video has me going around my house with a thermal camera. They can be had for around £350 and they aren’t just handy for energy audits, they are excellent tools for all kinds of diagnostics.
Well the kit is £6k and the course for how to use it and calculate air permeability is expensive and time to train and to do several test houses. But yeah I absolutely hear you a cheaper alternative that doesn't do all that would be really beneficial. Combining with themal cameras in winter can be even more revealing. Shame they didn't showcase using smoke with the fan to find leaks.
Honestly, it's annoying that it isn't mainstream. I reckon the people who know about this either knew about it before this video OR are people who are already interested in this sorta stuff, so it's not exactly reaching the masses
If you seal your house and suffer condensation now the experts suggest positive input ventilation. Basically window with small vents or extract fans. So contrary to sealing up your house totally. It's not black and white it's a compromise, some air flow is important for healthy living. A balanced view is required.
Thanks for this, useful thing to have done. What I like is this is possible for renters to do as well. I'd like to see more videos on things renters might be able to do, as not everyone owns their own home and can fit heat pumps etc.
It is possible for renters definitely. What we need to do is get the government to change the regulations so that they count this towards EPC scores for existing housing. Currently they just assume a score of 15 for every house and you can’t change the score so can’t show an improvement, but it’s different for new builds! Please tell the government and your local MP. We need to change this so that landlords have an incentive to do this.
When renting old farmhouse I did my own draught proofing, cheap and easy, gaps round windows, doors, open letterbox (!!), under kitchen sink, skirtings and loft hatch - but that did need a stepladder. EPCs are truly rubbish. Suggesting unsuitable cavity wall insulation (solid walls) and taking no notice of thermal mass etc.
We used to do these tests for installing halon systems in computer rooms. In a domestic house, be aware if you seal the house too well you will probably get condensation and damp. The air needs to circulate. You also need to exchange oxygen and co2 with the outside, particularly if you have any type of combustion heating eg gas, coal, wood burners etc
That's why on older properties you have trickle window vents, combined with bathroom and kitchen extraction and on newer properties you have mechanical ventilation with heat recovery.
I wonder how much energy is used mechanically circulating the air, versus the amount saved by recovery? In a commercial setting where the system is designed specifically for this, I would imagine it could be cost effective, ut for the average residential box, I wonder.
I think it is important for widespread adoption to find a way to manage the trade-off between the cost of works (e.g. improving airtightness) against reduced heating, reduced cooling and increased controlled ventilation costs. I would like to prepare something like a cash-flow forecast for heating, ventilation and cooling that gives a Return On Investment. I don't think it is particularly easy to produce such a model or plan for one's house. E.g. where might I find a good source for a (working) energy cost forecast over 5, 10 and 15 years? Does this sort of thing already exist?
Robert hit the nail on the head when he said if you spread that out across the whole country the savings would be big. It's quite a simple thing to plug some gaps in one house. If the whole country did it the efficiency savings would be enormous.
Don't quite understand the links, they seem to be business and training links not for consumers. Anyway I can do this easily in my house without the aid of a fan. There's a howling gale comes through all the holes in it so I know what needs blocking up, it's just the doing of it that's the problem! Great programme, makes you realise it's important to get around to these things. 👍
All British houses have letter boxes in the front that leak. Seal it and get a lockable letter box on the front of the house. All new houses should have heat exchanges for fresh air.
Well I know what I’m up to over christmas time off. Dig fan out the loft. Get thick bin liners. DIY shop- loads of duct tape Raid the my shed and dads junk cupboard for spare foam, off cuts of plasterboard and silicone. Go round the house with a tissue on a stick. TBF, we had EWI done 2yrs ago and know where the big issues are now. Front door- knackered Old coal fire breather in our bay window. Single glazed wood framed tiny window in our pantry.
It would be interesting to know if a house heated with infrared panels is better at keeping warm than radiators. If you are losing 'hot air' then you will have to replace it by heating the incoming cold air, but if the fabric of the house is warm, and the air is heated from that, is the loss of air going to have a lesser effect on how much energy you use?
There are a lot of factors to consider including; the wall build up, heating positions, insulation and thermal bridging, the use of the building, in particular when is it occupied during the average week, how much external surface area the building has (terraced houses are actually a good thing), the thermal mass of the building, how the air circulates within the building, the layout, and the thermal comfort. Higher speed air makes you feel cooler for example. I took part in a thermal comfort study a while ago, then the woman running the study left the UK due to uncertainty about if her qualifications would even be recognised after Brexit. No idea what came of that, but Salford University build Energy House 2, so there is still people left working on these studies.
For the attic hatch there are special made insulation blankets. They mount in the attic around the opening and zip closed. Like a big reusable grocery bag material. Super easy to install.
Eee bah gum lad, that wa an epic show. We’d just put on an extra woolly over our string vests and eat a bit more int winter. Funnily enough I went through this exercise myself and sealed up two wooden doors with keyholes. I designed a 3D printed TPU keyhole plug as a right draft was coming through the doors. It’s up on thingyverse, so help yourselves. Look for Key hole plug.
Good info IMHO every new build property should have MVHR fitted as standard plus an airtightness certificate it's not rocket science, shame the UK Government choose to ignore the facts.
Everyone watching this please contact someone that knows what they are doing before sealing up your house. Please remember ventilation is completely separate and should not be sealed. Seal Tight, Insulate and Ventilate Right ! If you mess up any one of those steps you can have problems. If you are in the Southwest UK give BAT Ltd a buzz
totally agree! general public don't realise that background ventilation is required as part of the building regs for people health, whether that be mechanical or not!! I've been going around drawings adding extra ventilation as the window manufacturers can't get the required ventilation through their window trickles just this week!. Yes MVHR is a great alternative, but as with everything it's down to cost.
It's quite difficult to seal the average UK house up enough to give yourself a problem, although it is obviously do-able, especially if you are a 'dry clothes indoors', 'cook with no lids on' sort of family, or have a lot of people in a small house. Some sorts of ventilation are just bad though (like trickle vents) and really should be sealed up and replaced with something more efficient/effective like DCV or MVHR.
@@ashleyjohnson1908 Much much cheaper to do it during the build stage though Retrofitting an MVHR is in the pipeline for my house but it's also £10K I've currently got 8 solar panels, and plan to get 8 more before I do that
Interesting, but I know that I have horrible leaks through external air bricks and the suspended floor at the front of my house. I am unsure how to deal with this, and until I do, it doesn't seem worth having air tightness testing done.
Definitely, this is one of the main motivations for this video. Please share and ask you MP. The testing system for EPCs needs changing as the government doesn’t take into account the air permeability score on existing housing stock when calculating EPCs so no landlords, councils or housing associations can justify doing this as they can’t show an improvement because the EPC system doesn’t let them! It neeeds to change urgently!
Yeah, a strip of bog-roll on a windy day will also let you find leaks. but it is a lot easier with a fan making a consistent pressure-difference. It's not hard to bodge up your own for hole-finding.
Worth noting for people with older houses - especially those built with fireplaces - having it airtight is not a good thing. If there are no draughts in solid walled old houses, you will get condensation issues. Also, if you have wood burners, open fires or Agas the room that is in should not be airtight - the fire needs an air source to keep going!
This video omits to mention that you need ventilation in your home to remove moisture and help prevent mould. Earlier comments by @JonnyDickson are spot on - Seal Tight, Insulate and Ventilate Right.
Thanks Dean, really interesting, especially about the dot 'n' dab plasterboard. I've sealed all around waste pipes, cables, windows, insulated the loft hatches & installed insulation covers for ceiling lights. amongst other things. Made such a difference; all that's left is to get my son and daughter to stop opening the windows; "We're too hot!" "That's because you're cuddling a hot-water bottle, wearing pyjamas inside a onesy under a duvet!"
@@deanfielding4411 I came across this post, which offers an option for the under skirting draughts including those that might come from the dot and dab gaps.... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V6lZXjRR-1k.html Where people have laminate or wooden floors & the skirting is already on, do you have any other suggestions as to how they might block gaps in a way that doesn't detract from the visual aspect of the room?
@@forestblackberry7046 Charlie DIYTE very good, covers condensation and mould problems too. But the expanding tape he uses is pricey (compared to silicone) and comes in black only. Other methods are oakum (string with waxy coating) wood slivers which can be bought (apparently), or acrylic type sealant rather than silicone. If old property use old tech fixes rather than plastic-based. Just using foam packer tube may be enough for under the skirtings.
In the UK, FENSA who accredit all new window and door installations will refuse a certificate to any new window that does not have a trickle vent fitted. Appreciate that this is in the category of controlled ventilation but when these vents fail and disintegrate which they do after 15 years or so it rapidly becomes uncontrolled - would be good to have an episode looking at trickle vent repairs and which windows can safely have trickle vents sealed up. In my experience bathrooms and bedrooms need them but no other room does. Interested in your thoughts.
I fitted my windows myself on all our back windows. I only got trickle vents in the utility and bathroom. All the other rooms have fireplaces which are blocked with an air vent in to allow ventilation.
Been wanting to have this done since I saw and read it in It’s Not Easy Being Green - I always thought the cost of doing it would be prohibitive - house built in 2002 but not a single gap filled between floors and walls - slowly filling gaps when I find them through cold draughts 😬 Typical builders 🙄
I had this done before the video. My own results are 7.66 which is acceptable by the standards of government, for a 1975 house But it isn't acceptable for me. I will now seal up all areas where I can. I intend on getting an MVHR too
😲20% saving on average... this should be provided FOC to elderly and vulnerable immediately. It would pay for itself pretty quick by not forking out for energy help payments and increased pension/benefits to compensate for the increase in energy costs.
ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AITS-rh9S0Y.html In this extended version I explain why its important we try to get the test to chance as existing house EPCs don't cover this yet.
Mandatory in Germany for new houses. And as we love to invent pseudo-English words (like Handy for mobile phone, Public Viewing for watching soccer on large screens on marketplaces, or Home Office for remote work) we call it a "Blower-door Test"! :-)
I was quite surprised how bad the figures for UK housing stock are. We recently built our own Passivhaus and had to get below 0.6. However, as we’d never done anything like that before we were a bit over cautious and actually achieved 0.06! Whilst testing we accidentally left a 2” waste pipe uncapped which had a howling gale blowing through it - you could hear it from the next room - but even with that open we were only around 0.2. A score of 5 must be the equivalent of having a window open, 10 a door open and 15 a whole section of wall missing! 😳
Maybe it's me but I couldn't find a list of assessors on either the ATMA or Elmhurst websites - the first just seems to be a trade association and the latter a training organisation.
I’d love to have this done , although if it’s just you’re front door that’s leaky lol one issue dot and dab plaster board is a nightmare for draughts is it’s definitely the issue on my house , it bypasses all the insulation and you live in a plasterboard tent lol
Indeed it works well 😊 if you look closely the cold bits in the windows were where the rubber seals had shrunken and air was actually leaking around the glass.
When we built our house every room had to have a vent through the well insulated wall to the outside to satisfy building regs. It's proven to be very wasteful. I think if we were building now we would go for a passive house with controlled ventilation.
Unfortunately, the damp and air quality issues from this lack of airflow meant a very expensive ventilation install, but now it's done we don't regret it. It's like a different house.
I see the front door is used to install the fan, what if the front door is leaky? Is the equipment moved to the back door as part of the procedure to check the front door ?
Robert, how are you this sunny morning in Goonellabah on North Coast NSW? 1. 250 prefabricated SIPform passive house-certified homes. On the roofs of buildings, the Tractile, the excess electricity will be stored in the 28.8MW Tesla Batteries Farm. 2. The PV in total 934,370m2 - Tractile tiles 45,000m2 and Arctech Solar Tracking - Tesla PV panel 887,400m2 The Team and I have a minimum of 250 passive houses that would Air Tightness Test. Each house will have Brink Renovent 300 HRV unit - Ducting is Air Excellent anti-static and antibacterial 75mm or similar sized to suit each individual home.
I’ve done every recommendation on my EPC and still only got a B rating. Solid wall semi 94sq m. Triple Glazzed, external wall insulation, composite door, loft insulation, new heating system (gas) PV and storage. I’ve seen EPC scores on Band A with far less energy improvements! Would this test improve my EPC????? My plan was for ASHP but the EPC guy said that would deduct points 🥴🤷🏼♂️
it would save you energy but possibly not change your EPC, as they wont know you've done the work.. The EPC is a very blunt instrument and not really all that useful for planning works, (and sometimes makes odd decisions like the ASHP example) the number you should be worried about is the one at the bottom of your gas bill, that's the real measure of efficiency.
@@mralistair737 gas bill with heating on 24hr is £1.40 a day there abouts 18c for 12hr 21 for 12hr I actually consumer more electricity than gas! But I’ve got all the radiators to work on a future heat pump requirement of 50c flow temp. For me the EPC are hit and miss and often incorrect as my neighbours states it has cavity wall insulation when in fact it has solid wall
@@mralistair737 It's going to matter for landlords, who will have to get to C soon. Expect reduced number of rentals available. EPC really not fit for purpose.
I'd be really interested in having this done, but I've checked out the links for contractors who do this and they all seem to be geared towards commercial operations for 'type-testing' of new buildings. There's also no indication anywhere of a ballpark price for existing domestic properties for the homeowner.
just paused the video and checked on both ATTMA & Elmhurst websites for a tester near me in Cumbria, no ATTMA testers @ all, and Elmhurst when putting my postcode gives a load of Edinburgh testers (by the company names) and a long list of tester all with phone numbers but with no location of testers ??? have a word will you Bobby especially Elmhurst
we have a wood burning stove with a chimney, this might be an issue :D But fantastic timing for this video given energy costs at the moment. I have done a few of these steps this last summer and I can already tell the difference.
They will normally seal big holes like chimneys up for the test in order to find the holes you _didn't_ know about. Also one can get a room-sealed woodburner so that the house becomes a toroid and the woodburner takes its air from outside. This is the only way to keep a woodburner is a really well-sealed house.
I'm not sure about this idea yet. Air-tightness is probably great when combined with a good ventilation system. But if you make a house airtight, it seems to me that it quickly fills with stale, damp air. Then you have to keep windows slightly open. Which defeats the purpose of making it airtight.
You are supposed to have climate control and have active intake and removal of air. Not stale, but exactly how you like it. Our machine follows moisture level and co2 in air and will boost the rpm if either exceeds user input values.
How is this any better than turning the heating up high on a cold day and walking round inside and out with an infrared camera, and after you have finished you have a nice new infrared camera probably for less money. And a detailed view of both leaks and where your insulation is failing instead of just leaks.
It's different. You can find leaks with a thermal camera. It works well around windows/frames and for big leaks like a pipe-entry, but there are a lot of air holes it's easier to find the wind blowing through, like mains sockets/light switches, cracks in plaster, gaps around skirtings/boards/joists/lights. You can do this with a car radiator fan fro the scrappy for £10 and an OSB offcut so you don't have to spend £300 unless you want a calibrated airtightness figure.
That will pick up warm areas, but it wouldn't pick up things like the loft hatch. where the warm air goes into the attic, an then bleeds out through all the slates. or if it did you wouldn't know if it was your loft hatch or the ceiling lights.
The big black ones don't 'come in' from anywhere. They are house spiders that you live with. It always makes me chuckle when people say they don't like to kill them so they catch them and take them outside, TO THEIR DEATH!
Every new house should have a heat exchanger, contrary to what Dean said about it taking a huge amount of energy to heat all the air in your house, which actually is untrue as air is one of the most efficient things to heat(this is not to say i don't think what he is doing is great and should be applied to all houses as part of an EPC), it's the thermal mass that takes the most energy to heat, hence why its so important to have a heat exchanger as you can relatively cheaply bring fresh air into your property whilst heating it with minimal energy outlay.
The DIY way to do this is just to turn on all your extractor fans at once, and use a damp hand to feel for draughts. It doesn't have to be scientific unless you're calculating an Energy Performance Certificate.
a second comment Bobby to achieve Passiv Haus in the UK you have to be below 1.0 air changes per hour ,a build was featured on grand designs about 5 years ago in the Outer Hebrides, first house that builder built to them standards 0.6 as my memory serves me
Without a heat exchanger ventilation system, I rely on a certain level of leakiness for healthy ventilation. At least my heating is 100% renewably powered so its still really cheap.
Might be wrong but I think most people in the uk rent, so they dont get to make these decisions. Perhaps landlords should be made to keep up with a minimum standard if they are going to own a property regardless if they are renting it out or living in it themselves. I'm pissed because the house is always cold and I'm still paying a bunch for it. Single glazed windows doors that dont seal and heating systems too inefficient to the point that none of the pipes have been insulated inside the home so the hot water is luke warm and the cold water is luke warm (at least in winter). Like yay, great we can save energy but it's not up to the majority.
My big issues I think are my extractor fan in the bathroom and the kitchen hood which the neighbour replaced our cowl for a chimney which just draws air out. These tests sound like they'd skip that. I've tried flappy paddles in the bathroom with little success. Anyone have any advice on extractor hoods being sealed until needed?
Not if they are venting the space under your house. but you should make sure the floors / skirtings are sealed so air isn't leaking out that way. (and if you can insulate the floor) for air bricks into your rooms, if they aren't serving an open gas appliance, block them off and use closable trickle vents instead.
@@mralistair737 Thanks, every room in my house has a vent near the ceiling, and only one room has a gas fire (which is only ever turned on for servicing)
I noticed what looked like a smartphone acting as an infra red camera in the video. Is that a thing like "there's an app for that" or was it a specialized dedicated device that costs X ??
Surely this isn’t great for things like condensation, aren’t we always told there should be airflow through a house to help keep it dry and remove stale air .. ?
If its not done properly with controlled ventilation. I can almost feel the mould after seeing that loft hatch becoming a major problem. Its not just about sealing all the holes like this video seems to be saying more than anything else
