Air testing Equipment - Building Regulations

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Air Leakage testing is a process of checking the air tightness of a building which is also known as air permeability. Air leakage is the uncontrolled flow of air that occurs through the gaps, cracks and holes in the fabric of building envelope. Usually such cracks are not always visible to the naked eye which causes damage to the building in the long run and affects the health of the residents. In order to safeguard the health of residents and long lasting usage of buildings, certain standards are formulated to standardize the building structures (both commercial and residential). According to the Part L2 of the Building Regulations and conservation of fuel and power, newly constructed building should adhere to the standards and undergo the process of air testing for the better and benefit of the residents.

The air testing process helps to make a building more air tight that ultimately reduces the fuel needed to heat it. In the process, it reduces CO2 and the carbon footprint. If the building is either dwelling or non-dwelling, it is required to pass the Air Leakage testing and get the pass certificate. Before starting the air leakage testing process, some of the requirements:

• Calculate the values of the total building that includes floor area, roof area and external wall area.
• Get the set of floor plans and elevations to mark the areas where the air leakage id observed.
• The estimated Air leakage rate for the building is required, generally a commercial building needs 10 m3/hour/m2 or lower and residential houses it can be lower than 10 m3/hour/m2.
• The building envelopes and the installation of doors, cladding and windows should be completed. In case of any items are missing, they must be covered and sealed properly for preventing air leakage.
• TWO 240v Electric sockets are required for the connecting the testing equipments within 25 metres of reach.
• Check and seal any channel with pipes or mechanical vents to outside, air conditioning system and also points of penetrations to main services into the building.
• Seal flues and switch off pilot lights.
• Seal unused pipe penetrations that pass through external walls and ceilings to prevent air leakage.
• All toilets and u bends in sinks should have water.
• Smoke ventilators should be closed, no need to seal them.
• External doors and windows should be closed and internal doors should be fixed open.
• Select the personnel door for testing purposes. There should not be any obstructions within 3 meters of the inside and outside of the door selected for the test. In some cases, few doors may be required to be removed temporarily to test.
• Lift doors should be closed with lift shaft vents open.
• 1% of ceiling or floor tiles needs to be removed that are adjacent to external envelop.
• Seal the entire penetrations of top floor ceilings.

Making all precautionary requirements, Air testing service providers finally fixes a day for the air leakage testing. Southern Assessors is one of the leading Air Testing service providers in UK providing world class services in the area of air permeability testing.