Panama City Beach, Bay County
Blower Door Testing in Panama City Beach, Florida
Air leakage testing for new custom houses and owner-built homes in Panama City Beach.
Blower door tests for custom and owner-built houses in Panama City Beach
If you are building your own house in Panama City Beach, or having a custom house built, the Florida energy code requires an air leakage test on the new house. Big Bend Services, Inc. runs that blower door test in ZIP codes 32407, 32408 and 32413.
Book by calling (850) 819-6031 between 7:00 AM and 4:00 PM on weekdays, or by sending the form.
Owner-builders
When you are the one booking the test
On a house you are building yourself, the booking and the timing fall to you rather than to a general contractor. Tests are booked through our office at 511 S Highway 71 in Wewahitchka.
Line up your trades
Your plumber, electrician and air conditioning installer each cut openings through the walls and ceiling. The code allows the test once the last of those openings has been made, so ask each trade when their last one will be.
What to send
The address, the permit number, the date the house will be ready and the name and number of someone who can open it.
Leave room
Set the date with time to spare before you need the result, in case the first reading comes back high.
If your schedule moves
If the shell will not be closed on the date you gave, call and a new test date is set.
Test day
How the house is set up for the test
A custom house can have more dampers and doors to set than a plain plan, so walk through it the day before.
Windows and exterior doors
Closed and latched, but not taped or sealed, so the test measures the house as it was built.
Fireplace and stove doors
Shut, including glass doors on a fireplace.
Dampers
Exhaust, intake and flue dampers closed: the range hood, the bath fans, the dryer vent, any fresh-air intake and the fireplace flue.
Interior doors
Open wherever doors are hung, so every room sits at the same pressure.
Heating and cooling
Turned off, so the equipment is not moving air during the test. On a house with two systems, both are off.
Registers
Supply and return registers fully open where installed, with any tape or construction covers taken off.
Custom plans
Attics, garages and extra rooms on a custom house
A custom plan can put parts of the house on either side of the measured boundary, and how each part is built decides whether the test counts it. Mention these when you book.
Attic sealed at the roof deck
Opened to the house on test day and measured with it. A vented attic is left out of the test, and the ceiling below it is the boundary.
Attached garage
Outside the test when it is not heated or cooled. The wall and door it shares with the living area are part of the boundary.
Workshop or storage room off the garage
A room that is not heated or cooled stays outside the test, and the wall between it and the house counts.
Room over the garage
When it is heated and cooled, it is inside the shell, and the floor between it and the garage is part of the boundary.
Rental property in Panama City Beach
Panama City Beach has a mix of resort and rental property, and a house built for rental use is held to the same test as one built to live in. If the owner will not be on site, the site contact on the booking should be someone who can let us in on the day and who knows when the shell will be closed, such as the builder or a property manager. The owner can still be the one who books.
Before test day
Openings an owner-builder can look over
Air moves through a new house wherever the shell has been cut or pieced together, and gaps are easier to reach before tile and trim cover them.
Behind the tub and shower
Where a tub sits against an outside wall, or its drain drops through the floor, the openings behind it are hard to reach once the tile is up.
Around windows and doors
The gap between each frame and its rough opening should be filled before the trim covers it.
Air conditioning lines
The refrigerant lines and the condensate drain pass through an outside wall on their way to the outdoor unit.
Fireplace chase
The framed chase around a flue can open from the living space into the attic or the wall.
Outdoor lights and outlets
Each box set in an outside wall is an opening until it is sealed and the fixture is on.
Plumbing vents
Each vent pipe rising through the ceiling to the roof needs the gap around it closed.
Air handler closet
A closet built around the air handler, with a framed return, can open into the attic or the wall cavities around it.
Soffits over the cabinets
A framed soffit above the kitchen cabinets, or a chase for ducts, can open straight into the attic.
Adding on to a house you already own
Owners who are adding a room rather than building a whole house may not need the test at all. The code makes an exception for additions and alterations that make up less than 85 percent of the building shell. A project at or above that share is tested the same way as a new custom house, with the same setup on the day.
The limit and the retest
Section R402.4.1.2 of the Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation, 8th Edition (2023), sets the limit for new houses at 7 air changes per hour at 50 pascals, and Panama City Beach is in Climate Zone 2 with the rest of Bay County. A house that reads over the limit has its leaks corrected and is tested again under the same setup, once every correction is finished.
Test day and the finish work
A fan is fitted in an exterior doorway and holds the house at the test pressure while the leakage is measured, and the house ends with one reading. Custom finishes do not need to be done first. Paint, flooring, trim, cabinets and countertops do not change that reading, so the finish work can carry on after the test.
Same county
Blower door testing elsewhere in Bay County
What to expect
Booking a test in Panama City Beach
- 1
Send the build details
Address, permit number and when the house will be ready.
- 2
Test booked
We give you a date for the test.
- 3
Test run
The house is tested once it is ready.
- 4
After a failed test
Corrections are made and the house is tested again.
Does a pool or outdoor kitchen affect the test?
Does the fireplace need to be finished for the test?
Is a screened porch part of the test?
Does a vaulted ceiling change anything?
Is a sunroom part of the test?
What about a whole-house fan?
Get a quote
Request a Blower Door Test in Panama City Beach
Send the Panama City Beach address and tell us whether you are the owner-builder or the builder.
