Benefits of AeroBarrier | CoVA Green Homes

Measurable Results

Aerobarrier integrates with industry leading testing equipment, allowing you to track results in real time and
confidently leave the job site.

AeroBarrier changes the game, providing real-time, guaranteed results that only require a single crew.
Historically, air sealing has been a guessing game with many hands involved. A lot of trust is then placed in multiple subcontractors to do their part, so you aren’t blindsided with a failed inspection. Unfortunately, failing an initial blower door inspection is more common than not. Failing requires extra labor, hold times, testing fees, schedule conflicts and more – which is money out of your pocket. AeroBarrier’s measurable results remove the guesswork and headache of uncertainty when it comes to meeting any air sealing requirement.

CONTROL AIR SEALING AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Trusted software to guide you through any project

AeroBarrier uses verified software that accounts for the build's many variables, such as square footage, number of windows, doors and bathrooms. The software combines with an industry standard blower door, which meets ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) standards, to deliver measurable results you can track in real time.

The AeroBarrier software was built with you in mind. It intuitively guides you through inputting all the necessary build details to create the highest level of accuracy in your air sealing report, so there is no question of whether you pass inspection. For your convenience, the system updates every 90 seconds and tracks in both ACH50 and CFM to accommodate the different air requirements, removing your need for any further calculations

BLENDING INNOVATION WITH INDUSTRY STANDARD

AeroBarrier combines intuitive software with an industry leading, Minneapolis blower door

This blower door meets ASHRAE 62.2 standards and doubles down as both the air leakage measuring tool and the method of pressurizing the space required for the air sealing to occur. Our system will put the home under positive pressure, and as the structure becomes more airtight, the back pressure will be relayed to the software to provide real-time results.

There are only two reputable blower doors in the industry, Minneapolis and Retrotec, meaning your energy rater will more than likely be testing your build(s) with the same brand blower door. This provides additional confidence in knowing that the real-time, measured results from the AeroBarrier system will align with the results found by a certified blower door professional Thus,no more guesswork, no more headache and no more additional costs that come from failing an initial blower door test.

RESULTS YOU CAN SEE

Confidently leave the job site when finished

Upon completion, the system automatically provides you with an air sealing certificate. This certificate includes the following data:

The amount of air leakage upon arrival
A graph illustrating the reduction in air leakage over time
The total amount of time for the air sealing process
The final amount of air leakage after the sealing is complete and a percentage change comparing before and after.

Our certificate provides you with both satisfaction and confidence knowing that you met your requirement. No other air sealing method out there will provide this guarantee.

The above seal certificate is an example taken from one of our partners. It identifies before and after air leakage, a percentage reduction in air leakage, and an illustration of how the air leakage changed over the course of time. This Seal report becomes even more personal with the inclusion of your branding, details about the location and technician.

Air tightness testing using a Blower Door is a powerful tool for assisting in making new & old buildings more energy efficient.
Here are some common metrics used to report air tightness test results.

Air Tightness Metric	Description
CFM@50Pa - cubic feet per minute required to create a 50 Pascal pressure difference across the building envelope.	The use of CFM at 50 Pa is an easy way to track air sealing efforts in any individual building. It is the most common metric used in residential U.S. weatherization programs because it is a simple, definable number for a specific home or building that doesn’t require calculation of volumes or surface areas. Often weatherization programs will simply set a simple reduction target of 20 to 30% in the CFM50 number.
ACH@50Pa - air changes per hour at a pressure difference of 50 Pa.	Factoring in the volume of a building allows comparisons of the air tightness between buildings of different sizes. This is the metric is commonly used in new housing programs such as the ENERGY STAR Qualified Homes program, Passive House or in Canada the R2000 Home program. Very tight buildings would have an ACH50 of under 1 and very loose buildings would be over 7 ACH50. A good goal for most buildings / builders would be 3 ACH50.
ELA@10Pa - equivalent leakage area is defined as the size hole that would leak the same amount of air that the building is at a pressure of 10 Pa. That is, all the holes in the building are acting like a round hole of this size.	This number is extrapolated from the leakage characteristics of a building air tightness test. It is used in many algorithms for calculating the daily infiltration rates of buildings to determine energy losses due to air leakage. Contractors can relate to this metric as indication of the size of holes in square inches that they should be looking to seal up.
NLR@50Pa - normalized flow rate at 50 Pascal pressure. Expressed as CFM/sq.ft. surface area of the entire building - floor, walls, ceiling	This number is a straightforward forward calculation of the surface area of the building being tested divided into the blower door air flow rate in CFM that was required to create a 50 Pascal pressure difference across the building. This is a metric that is used to compare buildings of different sizes and geometries. It is a common metric in the ENERGY STAR for New Homes program in Canada.
NLR@75Pa - normalized flow rate at 75 Pascal pressure. Expressed as CFM/sq.ft. of surface area of the entire building - floor, walls, ceiling	This number is a straightforward forward calculation of the surface of the building being tested divided into the blower door air flow rate in CFM that was required to create a 75 Pascal pressure difference across the building. This metric more closely matches the air permeance measurements for building materials. This is the most common metric used in commercial building air tightness testing.

There are specific test protocols or standards for testing air tightness of buildings, the most common being the ANSI/ASTM-779-99, Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate by Fan Pressurization and the CAN/CGSB 149.1 “Determination of the Airtightness of Building Envelopes by the Fan Depressurization Method”. Work is being currently by the Air Barrier Association of America to create a new updated test protocol for testing buildings. In all cases a large fan is used to create a significant pressure across the building enclosure (50 Pascal in most residential applications, 75 Pa in commercial testing, the equivalent of a 25-35 MPH wind on all sides of the building at one time). These exaggerated pressures enable simple detection of leaks and help negate wind effects that could skew results during testing. The fan is calibrated, and results are reported in a variety of ways to meet the needs of various programs.