Airtightness Testing in Ranelagh
Blower-door testing that measures how much heat your home leaks through gaps, and shows exactly where. Covering Ranelagh village, Sandford Road, Beechwood and the surrounding area.
Airtightness Testing for Ranelagh homes
In Ranelagh's red-brick terraces the front elevation usually cannot change, so airtightness work is one of the best options available. A test typically shows high leakage through the suspended ground floor, the shutter boxes and sashes, unused chimneys and the junction where the rear return meets the main house. Smoke tracing makes the paths visible, and many fixes, such as sealing floor edges, fitting chimney balloons and draught-stripping sashes, are reversible and acceptable in a conservation area. Retesting afterwards shows the improvement in plain numbers.
How homes in Ranelagh lose heat
Solid 9-inch brick walls, suspended timber floors, open chimneys and large sash windows mean many Ranelagh homes rate E to G. Rear returns are often a mix of original brick and later block additions, so heat loss differs from front to back. Draughts are a large share of the loss.
Typical housing: Victorian and Edwardian red-brick terraces, typically three windows wide, with high-ceilinged period interiors and long rear gardens.
How airtightness testing works
An airtightness test pressurises or depressurises your home with a calibrated blower-door fan fitted into an external doorway. By measuring how much air the fan has to move to hold the pressure difference, we can put a number on how leaky the house is, expressed as air changes per hour or cubic metres per hour per square metre of envelope.
Airtightness Testing in Ranelagh: questions
Do you carry out airtightness testing in Ranelagh?
Yes. We cover Ranelagh and the surrounding Dublin area, including Ranelagh village, Sandford Road, Beechwood. Victorian and Edwardian red-brick terraces, typically three windows wide, with high-ceilinged period interiors and long rear gardens.
Is there a grant for airtightness testing in Ranelagh?
Airtightness work carries a €1,000 SEAI grant when it is part of a home upgrade through an SEAI One Stop Shop. We can advise whether that route suits your project. Grant amounts are set nationally by SEAI and change from time to time, so check seai.ie before applying. We confirm what your home is likely to qualify for during the survey.
What does an airtightness test involve?
A calibrated fan is fitted into an external door frame and used to pressurise or depressurise the house. The fan measures how much air is needed to hold the pressure, which gives the leakage rate. We then trace where the air is getting in with smoke and, where useful, a thermal camera.
Do I need to prepare my home?
Close external windows and doors, leave internal doors open, and make sure we can reach the attic hatch. Fires and stoves need to be out and cold. Allow two to three hours for a typical house.
Can a house be too airtight?
A house can be airtight without being stuffy, as long as ventilation is planned. Airtightness controls uncontrolled draughts; ventilation then supplies fresh air where and when it is needed. We advise on ventilation whenever a test shows the house is getting tighter.
Is an airtightness test needed for a heat pump?
Heat pumps work best in well-sealed, well-insulated homes, and many retrofit projects measure airtightness before and after the works. A test tells you whether draught-proofing is needed before a heat pump goes in.
Book a free survey in Ranelagh.
We cover Ranelagh and the surrounding area. Tell us about your home and we will arrange a visit, usually within a week.