Large Building Airtightness Testing

CoEfficient Building Science stands at the forefront of energy efficiency consulting and airtightness testing as a mission-driven organization focused on accelerating the transition to zero carbon communities. Since our founding in 2010, we’ve distinguished ourselves by delivering exceptional results across projects ranging from custom single-detached homes to 150-unit townhome developments, to 400-unit residential high-rises across Canada.

With thousands of airtightness tests completed and one of Canada’s most experienced airtightness testing teams, CoEfficient Building Science has earned recognition as one of Canada’s top large building airtightness testing companies. CoEfficient has completed 1,665,000 square feet (floor area) of testing on large buildings.

Our Past Work

CoEfficient Building Science Ltd. was retained by Stantec to complete airtightness testing on Building B of the Telus Living project at 235 Wallace Street, Nanaimo, BC. The whole building testing was performed with the test zone boundary containing all conditioned areas of the building. The resulting normalized air leakage rate averaged between the depressurization and pressurization tests is 0.539 L/s*m² @ 75 Pa. This is compliant by being below the modeled normalized infiltration rate of 1.153 L/s*m² @ 75 Pa.
CoEfficient was engaged to perform airtightness testing at the Northeast Scarborough Community Centre as part of a building envelope commissioning scope. A whole building air leakage test was successfully performed to quantify the performance of the envelope. The project team exceeded the requirements with an air infiltration rate 43% lower than the specified target.
CoEfficient was engaged to perform airtightness testing at the Nordic Condos buildings A & B to meet the Toronto Green Standard v3 airtightness testing requirements. Due to the timing of the construction and occupancy, the whole buildings could not be testing at one time. Several guarded airtightness tests were required to show compliance with the testing target. The presence of hoist suites and incomplete construction increased the complexity and coordination required to satisfy the testing requirements.
CoEfficient was engaged to perform whole building and guarded airtightness testing on the University of Toronto Daniels Building. The whole building test was performed as a single-zone evaluation. With an addition attached to the rear of the historic building in recent years, the project team wanted to determine out of the total air leakage rate how much is attributed to the historic building and envelope and how much is attribute to the new building envelope. The two buildings were temporarily separated by sealing the partition wall between the buildings and a large, guarded airtightness evaluation was performed to quantify air leakage through the types of enclosures separately.
CoEfficient was engaged to perform guarded testing on sample size of envelope surface area. Guarded testing was performed on the top level of the building to capture both wall and roof surface area in the guarded test zone. The total floor area that was required to be guarded for a successful test was approximately 6,040 m², the entire 11th floor.
CoEfficient was engaged to perform a whole building air leakage evaluation during the construction phase of the OAA Net Zero Carbon retrofit as well as post construction to verify the results. The post-construction results revealed that previously identified deficiencies were not addressed, so further remediation work was performed.
CoEfficient was engaged to perform whole building air leakage testing at Homer Watson in compliance with Energy Star for Multi-Family Highrise certification. This development consists of a 12 and 8-storey building with a total of 44,980 m² of floor area between the two buildings.
CoEfficient was engaged to perform airtightness testing at the Owen Sound Courthouse as part of a building condition assessment process. A whole building air leakage test was performed to quantify the performance of the envelope followed by thermal scanning to identify air leakage locations. The results of this assessment were used to inform the retrofit design and process.
CoEfficient was engaged to provide the entire energy consulting and testing scope for Phase 1, 2 and 3 of the South Latoria Townhouse development in Langford, BC, which consists of 135 homes. Our scope of work included pre-construction energy modelling and consultation, mid-construction blower door airtightness testing and as-built site data collection, energy modelling and blower door testing. Our 3-6 fan multi-fan guarded blower door testing and leak tracing analysis helped the project team reduce the amount of air leakage in the initial buildings by over 270% and led to a change in design to eliminate the leaks at the garage party walls.

Precision and Efficiency

Our track record with large building airtightness testing projects demonstrates our expertise in this specialized area. Over the past five years, we’ve successfully provided dozens of multi-fan airtightness tests. Notably, we’ve successfully completed 100% of these tests on time and on test day, which has saved our project teams and clients valuable time and resources. Our strategic recommendations have directly contributed to over $2.6 million in savings for multi-unit projects, while our building envelope optimization strategies have resulted in airtightness improvements of up to 250% from mid to post construction.

For large building airtightness testing, we’ve developed specific protocols and proprietary methods that address the unique challenges of multi-fan testing. These protocols enable testing of large buildings in various contexts, including occupied or unfinished buildings. Our team’s depth of experience enables us to anticipate potential issues before they arise, ensuring accurate and reliable testing results while ensuring smooth delivery for our project partners and clients.

 

Does your building need testing? Call us today so that we can help.

Don’t compromise on accuracy and service.

Ready to learn more about what we can do for you? Contact us today for a friendly chat. We love to chat about complex buildings, and how our expertise in airtightness testing can help you meet your goals.

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