Secrets to Airtight Homes: Blower Door Test with Fog in Action

[@vonelders]

I live in South Texas. My house was built so poorly, that if you did this, my neighbors would call the fire department, thinking my house is burning down.

[@chaseweeks2708]

When we build our place, I'll probably do something similar. I have a feeling that caulking those missed spots from the inside while the house is under pressure will actually push the caulking further into those openings and make for an even better seal than just caulking without the pressure.

[@ricoludovici2825]

Hey, Matt ... I couldn't get my old-timey engineer here in Las Vegas to even look at Zip panels and the only place I could get them was in Utah. 8-footers only. It's a conventionally framed 2BR home with full basement at 7500 feet outside LV. I turned all the framers loose with Zip tape and a Formica roller and we taped everything that butted together on the outside. And to the foundadtion. Then I flashed and batted all the rim joists all the way around. Great Stuff all the openings on the exterior walls, closed cell spray 6" in the unvented attic and double taped all the window and door flanges. Taped the sheeting to the studs, then the flanges to the sheeting. Used up a case of Liquid Flashing on all the hard joints where concrete meets wood. Upshot was I came in at 2.6 for the blower door test. 4.5 is code hereabouts. So I'm feeling good about it. Toasty warm and no drafts in a 40+ mph mountain wind event. I got all those ideas from you and did everything I could myself and with completely naive workmen, but who COULD follow instructions.

[@xokissmekatexo]

Where in Utah? I have seen only ONE home being built in St. George with zip and I am looking for an any builder to help with a tight envelope. Build quality is horrible here.

[@ricoludovici2825]

@@xokissmekatexo I believe it was in St. George. There is an insulation wholesaler there. I called from LA to SLC. Only found the one place west of the Rockies that even handled Zip. I got all the Zip tape and their liquid flashing on Amazon. Build quality is terrible most places anymore. I have been very lucky with my builder in LV. He was the contractor for the Property Brothers the first few seasons when they had projects in LV. Just so you know, 60% of a general contractor's job is phone work. I suggest you contact Zip head office and ask them where they sell their materials in your part of the west. Don't be surprised if they name the whole intermountain area, north and south.

[@shawn2104]

13:47 lol his audio cut out poor guy

[@Ariccio123]

Just gonna say about outlet air sealing: Caulking the inside with big stretch works really well too. If you install the receptacles themselves in the proper way (torque screwdrivers) they're guaranteed to remain under the service temperature of the caulk. Upgrade to hospital grade outlets for more overload temperature headroom. You can also get a type of box called "AirFoil" that has a dedicated way to caulk the wire penetrations. It's great.

[@BLKMGK4]

where do you source hospital grade outlets? What's different? First I've ever heard of that! Caulking the outlets and using the little foam gaskets has helped for me too.

[@ScottTrue]

Nice job Jesse!

[@mxcollin95]

Usually when you see fog in the house like this in CA it smells like weed. If the cops can’t smell weed on the outside, then you know you past the efficiency test!

[@Heather420]

That's all I could think of when they opened the door and fog poured out. Made me laugh

[@AHinde]

Nice! Is there a way to make a home airtight that is energy efficient but was not constructed to those standards?

[@MadLadsAnonymous]

Not sure if it applies, but a while back Matt covered a product called AeroSeal.

[@FreekHoekstra]

Aerobarrier i think it is, But basically you don’t need to go this far, but using something like zip system helps a lot by taping the joints and keeping penetrations to a minimum, + good doors and windows you can get 80% there.

[@weiss27md]

Air sealing attic floor, electrical outlet gaskets, check seals on doors and windows.

[@TheAngryTT]

Aerobarrier - my last quote in the pnw was $1.50 ish per sqft if the house starts under 5.0 ach.

[@MadLadsAnonymous]

@@TheAngryTT I don't know how they can assure you their product is working. That's a major concern I have.

[@gsxr600rafii]

Hopefully they use aerobarrier once drywall is installed

[@Behine.DeChilis]

What did Kalen say at 13:45?

[@Mikecianfrocco]

Nice!!!

[@douglasmontgomery6315]

Why only open-cell foam? I've been advised that one should use 1-2 inch of closed-cell and then spray 4-5 inches of open-cell over the closed cell

[@Austin-fc5gs]

Thats for airtightness which is already handled by the zip+tape

[@juliancate7089]

Matt, off topic, but have you ever heard of Trusscore? It's company that makes a alternative to dry wall which is made of recycled PVC. It looks like something you might want to check out.

[@D2O2]

He did a video a while back, used it in his shed.

[@juliancate7089]

@@D2O2 Great! Are you speaking about the shed he had built on the side of his new home?

[@D2O2]

​@@juliancate7089 yeah, that shed

[@D2O2]

@@juliancate7089 Quick search and Trusscore has his video on their channel..there are several others where Matt is covering the product.

[@CMCraftsman]

The Siga fentrim tape is awesome but those quick flash boots are a waste. Just use zip liquid flash and or stretch tape around your penetrations if you’re already using zip system. Chances are you already have those products on site.

[@deejayitalo]

Don't you have airtight electrical boxes in America? 6:55

[@dvader3263]

No.

[@chaseweeks2708]

They are not cheap. We 'Muricans are all about taking the cheap option and complaining about the lackluster results.

[@Senthiuz]

They exist. Easier and just as cost effective to have a box of putty on hand and use that for the handful of boxes that break the air barrier.

[@steven7650]

Better be closed cell foam in the roof deck. Open cell is vapor open and will rot the ridge super quick.

[@dtemp132]

Depends on the location. They'll only use open cell here in North Carolina. It is vapor-permeable and breathable and thus any moisture that exists under the sheathing won't build up and will evaporate away. If you use closed cell, you need to apply it on top of baffles so there can be an air gap that allows sheathing to breathe.

[@steven7650]

@@dtemp132 That is absolutely incorrect. Go look at joe lstiburek's videos on vented or unvented assemblies. It will not evaporate away near fast enough relative to the amount of moisture that rises in a home. Hence the ridge rot found in the 90's in most homes. If you use open cell then you have to vent the ridge. Closed cell goes right against the inside of the decking. Only in climate zone 6 and up do you have to vent so the albedo effect of the snow doesn't self insulate and cause ice dams. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpWboa1_qplofJo

[@ts9971]

I wonder why they didn't use zip on the roof. It doesn't seem worth it.

[@rolfewilliams4890]

No exterior insulation? No thermal break? This only uses 75% of the Risinger playbook.

[@raymondpeters9186]

Good job😅

[@D2O2]

The Fireplace? How's that going to properly draft? Exhaust fans? How are they going to work with such a tight house?

[@kschleic9053]

The fireplace should have an external air intake and a tightly sealed firebox. That is the only way for a fireplace to be a net positive for heating. The HVAC plan will include supplemental air intake for the exhaust fans, either by routing the exhaust out through a ERV, or providing a dedicated intake with a motorized baffle that opens with the exhaust fan.

[@chaseweeks2708]

Same way you deal with large range hoods in such a tight house, you run some calculations to figure out how much make-up air you need, then set up your intake(s) to handle that load. Essentially, when you fire up the fireplace or the stove you hit a switch that either boosts the intake-side of the ERV or turns on a specific filtered intake just for those times. It all costs more and more money, but it's not rocket surgery.

[@D2O2]

​@@chaseweeks2708 Please send a link to an ERV that can provide imbalanced flow at the necessary rate to keep up with a range hood

[@D2O2]

​​@@kschleic9053 They skipped over the fireplace details. The closing shots in the video seem to indicate a standard pre-fab wood burning / gas log fireplace that typically is not sealed. The external air intake on those is typically passive and does not provide enough make-up air for proper drafting.

[@kschleic9053]

@@D2O2 maybe you are correct and they cheaped out on the fireplace insert... It would surprise me though, with all the other thought going into the construction.

[@pog-be3gq]

ボキャブラリー少ないからお気に入り解除した😢

[@D2O2]

First 30 seconds much more entertaining if watched/listened at 50% playback speed. Cheech and Chong do blower door testing.....

[@HighWater-yo1nj]

Don't you mean... mist-takes?

[@AmandaComeauCreates]

Dude should be more concerned with Flue gases leaking into the house.....but whatever XD

[@ricoludovici2825]

I wonder. The fireplace has an outdoor air intake with glass doors and the house is pressure neutral and pressurized when the furnace kicks in. Plus he will have combination fire and CO2 alarms throughout.

[@Senthiuz]

The blower score was very low, so the leakage is minimal. Soot will probably clog any tiny leaks. Sounded like he was gonna seal it. Hot air rises.

[@pacifickaihomesllc3605]

Roofs are going to rot off these

[@CaptainMcFartin]

Wow, tell us more 🙄

[@MrBaconis]

Matt's unrentling name dropping of his sponsors is pretty transparent. Who's buying his cheesy used car salesman tactics?

[@TheAngryTT]

This kind of detailing only applies to high end builds. The average folk don’t want to pay for it.

[@chaseweeks2708]

Apparently, some percentage of 1.12M subscribers. Most don't care because it's just part of the method for how his company makes money making these videos.

[@TheTN215]

Doesn’t cost That Much

[@chaseweeks2708]

@@TheTN215 "that much" means something entirely different depending on which socioeconomic class is saying it.

[@user-ky4gg5rl8k]

I haven't heard your mom's name once. What are you talking about?

[@Samir2345]

3rd

[@jesseh2302]

First!