Airtightness Testing in Wicklow town
Blower-door testing that measures how much heat your home leaks through gaps, and shows exactly where. Covering Wicklow harbour, Black Castle, Wicklow town centre and the surrounding area.
Airtightness Testing for Wicklow Town homes
Wicklow town's harbour terraces are some of the most exposed homes we test, with sea wind pushing air through windows, doors, floors and roof junctions. Mid-century homes lose air at hatches and floors, and newer estates mainly through service penetrations. Measuring airtightness before insulating is particularly useful here, because sealing an exposed house often makes a bigger difference than the same work inland.
How homes in Wicklow town lose heat
Harbour terraces are exposed to strong sea wind and driving rain, which matters for wall insulation choice: exposed cavity walls may not suit a fill, and external insulation often makes more sense. Mid-century homes typically rate D, newer estates C.
Typical housing: Town-centre period housing and Victorian terraces near the harbour, mid-century estates through the middle of the town, and 1990s and 2000s estates on the outskirts.
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 Wicklow town: questions
Do you carry out airtightness testing in Wicklow town?
Yes. We cover Wicklow Town and the surrounding Co. Wicklow area, including Wicklow harbour, Black Castle, Wicklow town centre. Town-centre period housing and Victorian terraces near the harbour, mid-century estates through the middle of the town, and 1990s and 2000s estates on the outskirts.
Is there a grant for airtightness testing in Wicklow town?
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 Wicklow town.
We cover Wicklow Town and the surrounding area. Tell us about your home and we will arrange a visit, usually within a week.