INSULATION PHASE II and BLOWER DOOR TEST

With earthen plaster and the first step of the lime plaster process complete, it was time to get the last of the insulation installed and complete an initial blower door test.  As we have come to see during this build process it is feast or famine regarding the schedule, and this was no different as both these things fell on the same day!

The insulation team arrived first and got right to work.  They brought the same truck with the blower in the back and a bunch of bales of insulation.  Their mission was to insulate the interior walls (which we were doing more as a noise barrier rather than for insulation), the raked walls above the box beams which are on top of the bales, the exterior soffits on the house and casita, and finally the garage walls and ceiling.  

The interior walls of the house needed to have batting hung before the insulation could be blown in.  Even with just the batting installed it started to change the vibe of the project ... it began to feel even more like a house!

Installing the batting in the hallway

Batting on the wall between the main bedroom and bathroom

Next came the fun part ... blowing in the insulation!  The process starts with the big blower motor in the back of the truck.  Big bags of the insulation are dumped in the hopper and then blown through the hose to the spray nozzle.

Feeding the hopper

You would think there would only be a few areas where we needed insulation in the exterior walls but there were plenty of nooks and crannies that needed filling.

Spraying insulation in the southern wall above the bench

Above the windows in the craft room

Above the "wall of windows" 

A pause in the action above the "wall of windows"

Once the insulation had some time to set, they came by with a giant shaver machine that took off the extra insulation and made it even with the studs.  It took a steady hand in confined spaces of the house and casita but they made quick work of it in the garage.

The shaving machine in action

The north wall of the garage after shaving

And of course we always strive for maximum sustainability so vacuuming up the extra insulation went without saying!

Vacuuming above the bench

Vacuuming up the excess

A display of good teamwork and efficiency in the casita

The finished product in the garage

Just in case you think we are only focused on the build, here is a picture of a native Hedgehog cactus letting us know spring is coming!

Hedgehog cactus in bloom

After the insulation was installed we moved right into the blower door testing of the house.  We decided to only do the house as that will be our primary residence and thus we wanted to focus our efforts (time and money) there.  Plus we will use what we learn from the house and apply it to the casita.

The blower door test accomplishes a bunch of things as we strive to meet the Passive House standard:

• - Identifies excess air leakage thus reducing energy consumption and drafts caused by cold or warm air leaking in from outside
• - Controlling outdoor contaminants, pests, and odors from entering your home.
• - Helps in determining proper sizing and airflow requirements of heating and cooling equipment.
• 
  
• The first thing the team did was seal up all the holes in the house, which included the tubes for our air flow transfer units, the door to the utility closet, and any other vents to the outside (stove, bathroom fans, etc.) and then they installed the blower in the front door.

Blower door with the fan installed in the front door

The blower door has a powerful fan that pulls air out of the house lowering the air pressure inside.  The higher outside air pressure then flows in through any unsealed gaps or cracks.  We have worked hard throughout the build process (as discussed on previous posts) to tape and seal as many of the gaps as we could but we wanted to give it one more test before we started applying the lime plaster.

Once the blower was turned on we waited a few minutes for the fan to do it's job and then the fun began.

The fan doing it's job

We used smoke pencils to find the air leaks.  The expected areas to find leaks are anywhere two surfaces join, like around the windows, doors and where the walls meet the floors and ceilings.  As you move the pencils around these areas the smoke will start to waft if there is a leak.  The people moving the pencils mark the location with a small piece of tape and then the "sealers" come behind and seal up the leak with a piece of our special tape.

Smoke pencil

Using the smoke pencil to find leaks

More leak hunting

Looking for leaks

Just because the built-in bench was roughed in doesn't mean the sealing was complete underneath/behind it.  Ray our architect and Passive House advisor took the hunt for leaks very seriously.

Ray getting down and dirty 

A happy sealer!

After the leak sealing was complete, Lucas (the Passive House expert) got out his infrared camera and looked for any under insulated areas that might need a little more attention.  

Camera attached to his phone

You can see the heat signature is different between the earthen plaster (purple - cooler) and wood blocking (orange - warmer).

Team Lucas (foreman and Passive House expert) geeking out on the infrared camera shots

As we were cleaning up we had a small visitor that politely made us aware of its presence.  After taking some pictures we left it alone so it could go back about its business of keeping the mouse population in check.