Airtightness Testing in Rathfarnham
Blower-door testing that measures how much heat your home leaks through gaps, and shows exactly where. Covering Rathfarnham village, Nutgrove, Butterfield and the surrounding area.
Airtightness Testing for Rathfarnham homes
Rathfarnham's mid-century estate homes in Nutgrove and Butterfield usually leak at the same points: attic hatches, downlights, the gap behind the kitchen units on external walls, and suspended or poorly sealed ground floors. Larger detached homes toward Knocklyon add more complex leakage around extensions, conservatories and attic conversions. Village homes behave like other pre-war stock, with floors and windows dominating. A test before work starts puts those in order of importance.
How homes in Rathfarnham lose heat
The mid-century estates are the bulk of the work here: cavity walls often built empty, 1970s-era attic insulation and suspended or uninsulated solid floors, usually rating D. The larger detached homes have more external wall area per room, so wall insulation makes a proportionally bigger difference.
Typical housing: Village stock and pre-war semis near Rathfarnham village, mid-century estate housing through Nutgrove and Butterfield, and larger detached homes toward Knocklyon and Templeogue.
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 Rathfarnham: questions
Do you carry out airtightness testing in Rathfarnham?
Yes. We cover Rathfarnham and the surrounding Dublin area, including Rathfarnham village, Nutgrove, Butterfield. Village stock and pre-war semis near Rathfarnham village, mid-century estate housing through Nutgrove and Butterfield, and larger detached homes toward Knocklyon and Templeogue.
Is there a grant for airtightness testing in Rathfarnham?
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 Rathfarnham.
We cover Rathfarnham and the surrounding area. Tell us about your home and we will arrange a visit, usually within a week.