Air leakage testing refers to the uncontrolled leakage of air from inside the building to outside and the infiltration of air coming from outside to inside. This is caused by the state or quality of the material or membrane allowing ‘leakages’ from liquids or gasses. The rating is then checked against the maximum allowed result, as defined in the Approved Documents (Part L1A for residential and Part L2A for commercial properties).
Due to the fact that this test takes place near the end of your build it is vital that you employ an engineer to assist at the design stage. The assessors are equipped with the correct knowledge as to how best to achieve a pass. Your dwelling needs to be as air-tight as possible and a lot of this will be designed into the build. Should you not have the relevant advice from an early stage you may find that you incur some expensive corrections. If you receive a fail notice you will be given advice as to why this happened and what possible changes you can make to ensure a pass. It is important that you avoid such occurrences in order to complete your build and to ensure that there are no drastic financial implications. All assessors need to hold the correct accreditation to undertake Air Leakage tests.
ATSPACE provides air tightness tests for all builds and we believe that if you were to employ an assessor at an early design stage your build would run smoothly and without any air leakage complications. Should you require any advice regarding air leakage testing or any other building compliance then please get in contact with a member of our friendly team who will be happy to assist you with any enquiries that you may have.