WE DID IT!

November 28, 2012

Building Science Corp sent their official approval today!

Well, team, we pulled it off! A lot of hard work, learning curves, late nights, and empty bottles of sealant. We are officially a Deep Energy Retrofit home! All of our piles and layers of insulation were approved, and our fancy new heating (and cooling!) equipment, and our all-new windows and doors.

Most stressful was our air sealing test. From over 7500 cfm50 at the start, we had to reach 732 cfm50. We borrowed and rented blower doors along the way to monitor our progress, which was dramatic, but still 50% over our goal at the last time we self-tested. The day of the test, every single one of us on site used a foam and/or caulk gun, right up until the last minute. And our final score arrived today... drumroll please...

476 cfm50!!

That's 35% better than our goal. For those of you looking for the ACH equivalent, it's about 0.65 ACH50. We're pretty psyched, and thankful to all of the many people (too many to name tonight) who did a lot of extra work to get it to that level. It was not a straightforward process, but one that we can confidently approach next time with some good lessons under our belts.

Renters move in on Saturday in the first floor. We'll keep you posted on the interior finishes!