A home needs a to “breathe,” to prevent moisture, condensation and contaminated indoor air, however this “breathing” should be controlled through proper ventilation, not leakage. Many homes allow far too much air leakage through doors, windows, attics, etc., which results in expensive indoor conditioned air escaping and unwanted outdoor heated or cooled air entering your home.
In both cases, the excessive airflow overworks your HVAC equipment (shortening its life and causing unnecessary repairs) and overextends your wallets and pocketbooks (as you continuously pay for more energy production than your home really needs).
Determining how airtight your home is requires high tech diagnostic equipment called a “blower door.” Your Magic Touch energy audit expert installs a temporary door covering onto an exterior door with an adjustable frame, which also includes air pressure gauges, a variable-speed fan, and an airflow manometer connected to a laptop computer, which utilizes calibrated software.
The blower door depressurizes the entire house to a standard testing measure called a Pascal and records readings. This is compared to a “baseline” of the outside air pressure and allows us to convert the leakage into square inches of total whole size.
With the blower door running, he can then, if necessary, pinpoint the air leaks with a hand-held smoke pencil, fog machine, and or pressure pans. These devices will show air currents that are entering or exiting the house.
By conducting this whole-house test, our expert will be able to tell you how much energy you are wasting due to door, window, and attic leaks, where the problem areas are, and what Magic Touch will charge to seal your home properly.
