Post Completion Pressure Testing

[Triassic]

According to the Building Inspector, I need a post completion pressure test of the house.

I had assumed this was done by the timer frame company, but sadly no, they assumed I'd get it done.

 

I'm in Cumbria, can anyone recommend anyone to do the test and what sort of price am I looking at ?    Message me if privately if wish.

[JohnMo]

You need to for someone to do airtightness testing.  The are testing the house as a whole for air leaks.  Do a Google search in your area.

 

The is not completed until the house is finished.

[Nickfromwales]

4 hours ago, JohnMo said:

The is not completed until the house is finished.

The airtightness test? 
Always done quite early on so you can find / get to / rectify leaks. Only then do you board and skim in every new passive build I’ve been coordinating. 

[JohnMo]

 

9 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Always done quite early on so you can find / get to / rectify leaks

I did that, but also had to get a test when it was all boarded out, painted etc. for the completion.  

[LA3222]

Can't you juat edit the date or summat...ridiculous paying twice. I juat submitted the one I did early on...no questions asked.

[Nickfromwales]

15 hours ago, LA3222 said:

Can't you juat edit the date or summat...ridiculous paying twice. I juat submitted the one I did early on...no questions asked.

Weren’t you curious as to whether any improvements were made ( or the opposite ) since the primary test?

 

I’m rectifying every defect / not great bit of taping / improving the AT detailing on my current clients PH build and I’m going to look meagrely to getting the final “as built” test done tbh, eg to see how we’ve improved things. 0.59 ACH when provisionally tested, but since then I’ve gone to the enth to rectify / improve this. That’s included having 2 pairs of large french doors taken out and re-fitted by a much better window company ( Simon Chadwick of SMC, great guys if anyone needs a nationwide window supplier / fitter ) so, now I  can no longer see daylight through them!! Should be a good place to start, lol  

 

1st general builder, since discharged, had not helped things at all. I’ve hopefully found and rectified all the damage his crack team of AT membrane assassins caused 🤞( through ignorance as well as what they KNEW they’d damaged, but then immediately tried to cover over and hide vs repair, ffs ), so am hoping to get this project down to 0.3 or thereabouts when done. Sub 0.3 I think would not be impossible.

 

The challenge will be to retrospectively seal the house when the installed systems are in and the bathrooms and kitchens ( fouls and wastes etc ) and MVHR are fitted and functional. I expect I’ll use some drain ‘test balloons’ to seal the outgoing FW connections immediately after they leave the insulated raft foundation and appear at the first chambers, and just make some EPS bungs for the 200mm MVHR fresh / exhaust exit the exterior walls. Add to this; the whole frame has since been blown full of densely packed cellulose Warmcell, entire ground floor has been tiled and the adhesive now holds the wall to slab AT tapes firmly down ( there is a huge amount of linear meterage of that, and then add my 20+ penetrations for external lighting / sound / WAP / power etc, and curiosity is, as usual, eating me alive! Ergo, the second test is 100% happening……..even if it was NOT required    

 

My plan is to use the sticky clear membrane ( the one the AT crews use over the keyholes / duct ends etc ) to seal the windows / doors / keyholes etc ( from both the inside AND the outside so they cope with both the negative and positive blower cycles without coming detached ) for one specific ‘build fabric only’ test, and then quickly remove those for another ‘final / actual’ as built test. I’ll leave the wastes and MVHR plugged for that test as I really want to know I removed the obvious major issues from the poor initial window and door installations.  

Edited October 15, 2022 by Nickfromwales

[Kelvin]

16 hours ago, LA3222 said:

Can't you juat edit the date or summat...ridiculous paying twice. I juat submitted the one I did early on...no questions asked.

Whether it’s ridiculous or depends on your attitude towards air tightness. If you go to the trouble and expense of applying an air tight barrier with great care and attention to to detail then two tests is a tiny fraction of the overall cost. Moreover, if the first test shows up a number if areas to fix then it will pay for itself in the long run. It’s about £250 for a test. £500 well spent I reckon. 

[LA3222]

4 hours ago, Kelvin said:

Whether it’s ridiculous or depends on your attitude towards air tightness. If you go to the trouble and expense of applying an air tight barrier with great care and attention to to detail then two tests is a tiny fraction of the overall cost. Moreover, if the first test shows up a number if areas to fix then it will pay for itself in the long run. It’s about £250 for a test. £500 well spent I reckon. 

I still think it's ridiculous. At the end of the build everything is covered over so what are you going to do if it is still crap? Nothing. So what is the point of knowing its crap - will not change the price of fish one iota.

 

The time for an air test is before boarding and finishing as at least you can rectify then. If you have issues then you should be rectifying and then getting another air test before boarding over to ensure the remedial work carried out did the trick. Getting it done at the end is pointless.

 

As an aside, my air test came in at 0.24ACH - what is the point of pumping another couple hundred quid at another test at the end of the build. The only way I'd have had another test is if the first was crap. I'd have gone round fixing and then tested again before making things permanent by boarding over.

 

£250 is peanuts at the start of the build, see how you feel about £250 towards the end when you're skint - ask me how I know.

 

Work is grinding to a halt now and I'm conscious of every tenner I spend now. 

[JohnMo]

At the end of the day it's for sap report not you.  And a box tick.

 

Hense what the original post is asking.  I couldn't get a sap report until I produced a suitable air test cert, completed at the end of the build, my tester would not issue one until the build was completed.

[LA3222]

58 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

At the end of the day it's for sap report not you.  And a box tick.

 

Hense what the original post is asking.  I couldn't get a sap report until I produced a suitable air test cert, completed at the end of the build, my tester would not issue one until the build was completed.

Strange....I got my SAP done very early on as it allowed me to get the 0.5% discount with Ecology. Why is an Air Test early in the build once the structure is ready for boarding not acceptable? 

[JohnMo]

Well in Scotland the regs say the building should be complete.  Which is good enough reason for me.

 

How do you know, for example whoever boards out, doesn't fill the airtight layer with holes for example?

[Triassic]

Just an update, I had an air tightness test done at frame up and air tight stage. However I can't find the certificate, I do recall the guy printing it off on the day, but its miss placed or miss filed it !!

I've tried to contact the guy, but like a lot of one man bands, he disappeared due to Covid and his phone is discontinued and the email just go unanswered. So It looks like I'll be getting a new test done.

Now I just need to figure out where all the waste pipes and cable ducts are and how to seal them,  along with the MVHR ducts and anything else that needs sealing!

[Triassic]

Having done a search of local companies, I‘v got one who’s quoted £350 for the post completion test, she comes recommended by someone on here. Does the cost sound reasonable ?

Edited October 20, 2022 by Triassic