Airtightness Testing in Sandyford
Blower-door testing that measures how much heat your home leaks through gaps, and shows exactly where. Covering Sandyford Hall, Stepaside, Carrickmines and the surrounding area.
Airtightness Testing for Sandyford homes
Sandyford's 1970s and 1980s semis tend to test leaky for their age. The usual culprits on the blower door are the original attic hatches, gaps where the stairs meet the external wall, and dozens of downlights cut into upstairs ceilings during later renovations, each one a small chimney into the cold attic. Homes higher up toward Stepaside sit in a windier spot, so those gaps cost more here than they would in the city. On the newer Carrickmines stock the walls are usually tight but service penetrations behind kitchen units and around boiler flues let air through. A test before insulation work shows which of these to seal first.
How homes in Sandyford lose heat
The older estates were built with cavity walls that were often left empty or partly filled, thin attic insulation and early double glazing, which typically leaves them in the C to D BER range. The newer Stepaside and Carrickmines homes perform better but often have airtightness gaps around downlights and attic hatches. Being on the foothills of the Dublin Mountains, homes here also sit in a slightly colder, windier spot than the city.
Typical housing: 1970s and 1980s detached and semi-detached homes around Blackthorn and Sandyford Hall, with newer estates running up into Stepaside and Carrickmines.
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 Sandyford: questions
Do you carry out airtightness testing in Sandyford?
Yes. We cover Sandyford and the surrounding Dublin area, including Sandyford Hall, Stepaside, Carrickmines. 1970s and 1980s detached and semi-detached homes around Blackthorn and Sandyford Hall, with newer estates running up into Stepaside and Carrickmines.
Is there a grant for airtightness testing in Sandyford?
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 Sandyford.
We cover Sandyford and the surrounding area. Tell us about your home and we will arrange a visit, usually within a week.