The heating of our homes and the cooling of our offices usually accounts for a very significant proportion of the buildings energy consumption. The main causes of energy inefficiency and waste are generally related to inadequate insulation and excessive air leakage. With such vast amounts of energy used within the community to ensure that our office buildings and homes have pleasant and comfortable conditions, it makes sense that we should conserve as much of it as possible. Heat or coolth, being blown away by poorly insulated and draughty buildings is an ecological disaster and grossly inefficient, let alone expensive.

Energy conserved through the use of good quality insulation, especially recycled insulation materials such as Warmcell, that far outweigh the energy used to manufacture it, provide for much more comfortable conditions, and save money year on year. Further information on insulation materials is available under the Low Energy Homes section of our web site.

However, did you know, you can have the very highest levels of insulation, and the worst heat losses?. 

For insulation to be effective, draughts and the ingress of uncontrolled air though poor construction need to be addressed. Poor air tightness significantly effects the performance of insulation materials. Poor quality workmanship, lack of attention to detail and incorrect draught proofing details have a massive effect upon the buildings final efficiency, and once constructed, are hard to locate, without the correct equipment (see our Thermograpy Section on this web site) and extremely difficult to rectify.

The answer is quite simple, construction air testing, we are able to offer a services where we pressure test the building, most importantly, during the construction process to evaluate the air tightness of the structure. Any defects can be located with the aid of the thermal imaging camera and defects repaired before its to late in the build process. Such testing is now mandatory in many European countries.

To maintain the energy efficiency predicted at the design stage of a new building, requires stringent quality checks and supervision by the clients design team, penetration of the buildings insulated shell should be kept to an absolute minimum, every hole is a potential weakness to the airtight envelope. Where it is essential for services to pass through the external envelope special rubber grommets are used to stretch and seal against the walls of pipes and cables thus maintaining the airtight barrier.

All exterior openings for doors and windows require a draft proofed seal bonded to the external airtight membrane, this is easily undertaken and special high quality adhesive tapes are used to ensure a quality airtight finish.

For more details about airtightness and low energy homes in general, please consult the Low Energy Homes section of this web site.

If you have a problem with a building and require assistance please contact us.