What is air tightness?
The air tightness, or air permeability, of a building provides an indication of how 'leaky' the building envelope is. Here, air leakage relates to the uncontrolled flow of air through the gaps in the building envelope.

Why is this important?
The 'leakier' a building is, the more heat will be lost to the outside. Increased heat loss leads to higher heating costs, increased energy inputs and therefore increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

What are the Building Regulation Requirements for Air Tightness?
As part of the Government's general commitment to reduce carbon emissions, the Building Regulations Approved Document L1A (ADL1A) "Conservation of fuel and power in new buildings", places limits on the air permeability of new dwellings; the lower the value of air permeability, the less 'leaky' is the building. The design air permeability for a new dwelling is formulated during the design phase, however, according to the Building Regulations, the design air permeability must not exceed 10m3 / (m2.hr)@50Pa.

Why test?
Quite simply, in order to demonstrate that the specified air permeability has been complied with, the Approved Document requires sample testing of each dwelling type on a development. The dwellings to be tested will be specified by the Building Control Officer, although the absolute sample size will depend on whether Approved Construction Details have been employed or not.

Why choose Druk?
We offer a professional, competitive service tailored to meeting our customers' needs combined with the fact that we have many years experience in providing technical services to the construction industry. We are approved by the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BINDT) for the purposes of air tightness testing in new domestic dwellings. As we are BINDT approved, Building Control bodies are authorised to accept our test certificates as evidence that the procedures specified in the Approved Document have been complied with, without the need for them to be present during the test.

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