Airtightness in Buildings

Contents
The Reason for Airtightness ............................................................................................................ 2
Air Infiltration and Airtightness ...................................................................................................... 2
Why Airtightness is so Important .................................................................................................... 3
The Test Procedure ......................................................................................................................... 4
Visualising an Airtight Building ...................................................................................................... 6
Actions for the Design Team ........................................................................................................... 7
The Reason for Airtightness
We have seen that heating can be responsible for the majority of energy use in a building. We have also shown
that heat losses through the building fabric can include both thermal losses (through the conduction of heat
through the building fabric) and losses through ex-filtration (i.e. warm air leaving the building through
ventilation and cracks in the façade). This section will focus on how we can minimise losses through ex-
filtration by ensuring that the building façade is “airtight”.
We have already discussed that air can leave the building through a variety of paths. These paths can include
porous building materials (e.g. blockwork and pointing), unsealed surface penetrations and ventilation ducts.
We must therefore make the distinction between controlled air paths (i.e. ventilation paths) and uncontrolled
air paths (e.g. air escaping through unsealed surface penetrations).
Specifications of ventilation systems usually allow ex-filtration heat losses through controlled ventilation
paths to be estimated with reasonable accuracy. We can also make assumptions about how airtight the building
fabric is and then estimate heat losses through these uncontrolled ventilation paths too. But what implication
does this have for designing and building low-energy buildings?
Low energy buildings require a façade with low U-values and often incorporate heat recovery within the
building's ventilation system. If a building has an efficient ventilation system and a façade with low U-values
it will certainly use heat more effectively, but if airtightness is not taken into account, significant energy losses
will be unaccounted for. Mechanical ventilation heat recovery (MVHR) for example, would be illogical if the
building is not sufficiently airtight.

Air Infiltration and Airtightness

It is important at this stage to consider in more detail the difference between air infiltration and airtightness.
These differences are best highlighted by looking at the factors on which figures airtightness and air
infiltration are dependent.
Measures of air tightness are based on measurements of the building structure. If no changes are made to the
structure and measurements are carried out correctly, the air tightness test results should produce the same
result every time. Air infiltration on the other hand, is not constant because it depends on a variety of factors
including:
• Wind direction
• Building orientation
• Ventilation strategy (e.g. mechanical or passive)
• Internal to external temperatures
• Occupant behaviour
Many of the factors that affect air infiltration are constantly changing, so air infiltration can (at best) only be
estimated (figure 1).
 Figure 1: Predicted air change rate during the heating season for a house with a Q50 of 3 m3/h/m2.
Adapted from figure 15.1 from “A Handbook of Sustainable Building Design and Engineering”1
To summarise:
Airtightness is a static,
air infiltration constantly changes

Why Airtightness is so Important

When designing a low energy building, careful consideration of the building's airtightness is essential. The
proportion of energy lost through uncontrolled infiltration increases as we reduce the target energy use, and
losses through the building fabric can make up a significant proportion of this.
The lower the target energy use, the more important airtightness becomes. PassivHaus buildings must achieve
an airtightness of 0.6 Air Changes per Hour (ACH) and it has been calculated that this results in an average air
infiltration of 0.042 ACH. This will lead to infiltration heat losses of approximately 3 kWh/m2 per annum
which is some 20 % of the maximum energy use of a PassivHaus.
NHBC have looked at the airtightness of 1293 new dwellings that were built to conform to Approved
Document L1A (2006) and found that their mean airtightness was 6 m3/h/m2@50 Pa (Q50). This is the first
time that more than 95 % of buildings tested have exceeded 10 m3/h/m2@50 Pa2. However, in a house with an
airtightness of 6 m3/h/m2@50 Pa (equivalent to approximately 4.2 ACH3), heat energy lost through infiltration
will greatly exceed the total energy use of a PassivHaus (15 kWh/m2). Therefore, if we are to deliver true low
energy building we need to be able to consistently deliver levels of airtightness that are far in excess of what

1 A Handbook of Sustainable Building Design and Engineering – An Integrated Approach to Energy, Heath and
Operational Performance, D Mumovic and M Santamouris, Earthscan 2009.
2 Source: http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/teaching/vsite/low_carbon_housing/airtightness/housing/index.htm
3 Figure based on calculations using the dimensions of a nominal semi-detached home (with dimensions of 10 m x
10 m x 7 m {width x breadth x height})
has been achieved so far.

The Test Procedure

To achieve good levels of airtightness, it is helpful to understand the test procedure. Since the airtightness test
is designed to test the performance of some elements and not others, elements that are not to be tested should
be sealed and those that are tested should remain unsealed.
Three basic rules:
1. If a ventilation element can be closed it should be closed, but it should not be sealed.
2. If a ventilation element cannot be closed (e.g. an extractor for a cooker) it should be sealed.
3. Seals should never be used on doors, windows, plugs or switches; These are the building elements
that you need to test!
Because airtightness is so critical to energy use, it is imperative that airtightness tests are conducted correctly.
It an element is sealed when it shouldn't be, this will lead to an erroneous result which could be disastrous to
the energy efficiency of the building.
An accurate airtightness test is a crucial diagnostic tool
for achieving an energy efficient building

Once the building has been correctly sealed, the airtightness test can then be conducted.
The test procedure is conducted by introducing a “blower door” into one of the external door frames (figure 2)

.
Figure 2: A blower door which can be used to pressurise or depressurise a building
When all the required building elements are sealed, the test is then undertaken. The blower-door is used to
either pressurise (blow in air) or depressurise (suck out air) the building with the aim of measuring the fan
speed required to maintain a pressure difference (∆p) of 50 Pa between indoors and outdoors. This fan speed
required to maintain this pressure corresponds to an air flow rate measured in cubic meters per hour (m3/h),
which is termed Q.
Airtightness test results should be accurate and repeatable, after all, an accurate test result has important
implications on the energy efficiency of the building (not to mention building control officers!). A pressure
difference of 50 Pa is relatively small (this is the equivalent pressure required to displace 5 mm of water) and
can be vulnerable to changes in atmospheric conditions (e.g. wind speed, direction, and temperature) and test
equipment can also provide a source of inaccuracies in the results. All these variables have the potential to
affect the accuracy of the test, so how can we ensure that a fair result is achieved?
To achieve accuracy in the airtightness test results, a statistical approach is used. The fan flow rate (Q) is
related to the pressure difference (∆p) by the following equation.
ln (Q ) = ln (C )+ nln ( ∆p )
The constants C and n that are used in the equation above are constants that are specific to the building tested.
Along with the fan flow rate, Q,, the values for C and n can be derived from the test and can reveal more
information about the quality of the building.
This logarithmic relationship between the pressure difference and the fan flow rate is borne out in practice.
Figure 3 below shows the results of a real test showing a clear linear relationship between test values when
plotted on a logarithmic scale.

Figure 2:: Results of a real air permeability test

The red dots in the image above represent the measured pressure differences (x-axis)
(x axis) and their respective fan
flow rates (y-axis),
axis), and the line running through them is a line-of-best-fit.
line t. Each of the pressure points are an
average of a number of instantaneous measurements taken at that pressure and are averaged due to the
inherent instability of ∆pp and fan flow rate.
The value for Q is then taken from where the line-of-best-fit
line intersects with the 50 Pa pressure difference (see
figure 3) provided that the results are significantly correlated, i.e. r > 0.9984. Two key measurements are then
be derived from Q:
• Q50 (m3 of air passing through each m2 of the building fabric per hour)
• n50 (Air Changes per Hour)
Q50 and n50 are related to the building's surface are and volume respectively; n50 is the number of air changes
per hour and Q50 is a measurement of air permeability (m3/h/m2 @50 Pa):

Q Q = fan flow rate required to maintain a

n 50 = 3600
V “air change rate” pressure difference of 50 Pa (m3/s)
V = internal volume of the building

Q Q = fan flow rate required to maintain a

Q 50 = 3600
S “air permeability” pressure difference of 50 Pa (m3/s)
S = equivalent surface area of the
internal volume

4 There are other test conditions that need to be satisfied in order to derive Q, which are too numerous to be detailed
here. For full details on the airtightness test procedure see: The Air Tightness Testing and Measurement Association –
Technical Standard 1, “Measuring the Air Permeability of Building Envelopes”,
Envelopes”, Issue 2, July 2007.
Different standards use different parameters for airtightness. Q50, for example, is the figure used in the current
UK building regulation and n50 is used for PassivHaus. Both figures are of similar magnitude to each other
and are related by the ratio of the building's surface are and volume (equation 1).
V
Q50 = n50
S

1 Relation between Q50 and n50 (ACH)5

Equation 1:
There can also be differences in the test procedure, depending on the regulation or standard being used.
PassivHaus for example calculates n50 by taking the average of the pressurisation and depressurisation tests.
Approved Document L1A allows eitherer a pressurisation or a depressurisation test to be undertaken.
The surface area as defined by Approved Document L of the Building Regulations (ADL) is based on the
internal dimensions of walls, floors and ceilings which provide a air barrier (usually in the same plane as the
thermal barrier). Buildings can have either warm or cold roof constructions. Figure 4 shows examples of cold
and warm roof constructions and associated calculation procedures.

Figure 3:: Calculating the surface

s area for cold and warm roof
constructions

The ATTMA TS1 test procedure applies to all houses built under ADL. From ATTMA TS1:
“For an Air Permeability envelope area... …all walls (including basement walls), roof and the floor slab
of the lowest level are considered as part of the building envelope. ”

Visualising an Airtight Building

To achieve a building that is as airtight as possible, the leakage paths must be minimised. Low carbon
buildings much achieve levels of airtightness far beyond those that
that are being achieved in current building
programmes across the UK.
To illustrate how airtight a building needs to be, we will consider the effective leakage area ((ELA) of a typical
PassivHaus. The ELA is the estimated area of one hole that would let in the equivalent amount of air as the
fabric of the building, and can be estimated using the following equation:

 ρ 
0.5 Q = fan flow rate (m3/s)
ELA = Q   ρ = density of air
 2 ∆P  ∆p = pressure differential

5 The ratio of the surface area to the volume will depend on the size and shape of the building, but is typically in the
order of 1.3 to 1.5 (V/S)) for a typical domestic property. For a typical semi-detached
semi detached house with a floor area of around
100 m2 the ratio of the surface area to the volume would be approximately 1.45 (A nominal semi-
semi-detached house with
dimensions of 10 m x 10 m x 7 m (width x breadth x height)).
For a typical semi-detached house, meeting the 0.6 ACH requirement of a PassivHaus would require an
effective leakage area of less than 0.01 m2 @50 Pa (i.e. a 10 cm x 10 cm hole) which might seem like a large
and unlikely value. However, if we recast the hole as a crack formed around the perimeter of the building,
then the width of the crack would be 0.25 mm thick (for a house with a 10 m x 10 m floor area). Since cracks
can commonly occur around doors and windows, this illustrates the attention to detail that needs to be given to
achieve a sufficiently airtight building.
It is also possible to estimate the average air infiltration rate from the airtightness test data. Empirical
evidence has shown that it is possible to give an approximate annual air infiltration rate by dividing n50 by 20
(see 6). An accurate estimate of the air infiltration rate is not possible since it depends on a variety of factors
including weather and occupant behaviour. The “1/20 rule” does however provide a useful guide.

Actions for the Design Team

The importance of designing for airtightness has already been discussed in the module covering the design of
the building fabric. However, the responsibilities of the design team do not end with the formulation an
airtightness strategy; taking responsibility for the supervision of the airtightness test is essential to ensure that
a suitable airtight fabric is actually delivered. A representative from the design team should therefore be
present at each airtightness test.
It is key for the design team to be present at the airtightness test for two reasons:
1. To ensure that the test is conducted properly.
2. To be able to rectify problems if/when they arise.
If a reputable airtightness test operative has been selected, it would be reasonable to expect that the test will be
conducted correctly7. However, it is in the client's interest to be present on site to be present to rectify any
problems should they arise. It should also be pointed out that it is not in the client's interested for the results
for the result of the test to be improved artificially (i.e. by sealing building elements that should not be sealed).
Uncontrolled infiltration through the building fabric had a significant and detrimental effect on the energy
efficiency of a building. The design team therefore have the responsibility for all aspects of airtightness, from
design, building and subsequent testing of the building.

6 It should be noted that this relationship is only approximate and is only relevant for domestic buildings.
7 To satisfy building regulations, airtightness testers should be registered with BSRIA