Bonifay, Holmes County
Blower Door Testing in Bonifay, Florida
Air leakage tests for new houses in Bonifay, and what the code says about additions and remodels.
Blower door tests for new houses and additions in Bonifay
Big Bend Services, Inc. runs the Florida energy code air leakage test on newly built houses in Bonifay, the Holmes County seat, in ZIP code 32425. For an addition to an existing house, the code settles whether the test applies with a single percentage.
Call (850) 819-6031, Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM, or send the form, and tell us if the job is an addition rather than a new house.
Additions
Additions, remodels and the 85 percent rule
Section R402.4.1.2 of the Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation, 8th Edition (2023), requires the test on new houses and carries an exception for additions and alterations that make up less than 85 percent of the building thermal envelope. The envelope is the shell of walls, ceiling and floor around the heated and cooled space.
A room added on
An added bedroom, bath or den is compared with the envelope of the whole building.
A rebuild of the shell
A project whose new work reaches 85 percent or more of the envelope is past the exception, and the test applies as it does to a new house.
The building official makes the call
Your building official decides whether the exception fits your project.
If the test applies
Where an addition meets the old house
When an addition or rebuild does need the test, the joins between old and new work are part of the shell being measured.
Where the roofs tie in
The framing where a new roof meets the old one can leave gaps from the rooms into the attic.
The new floor edge
Where the floor of the addition meets the old foundation or floor framing, the joint can open to the outside.
New services
New plumbing, vents and wiring in an addition
A new bath
Supply and drain lines through the floor or an outside wall, and a fan duct out through the roof or wall.
A new kitchen or laundry
Sink lines, a dryer vent and a range hood duct, each through the new shell.
New outdoor outlets and lights
Each box in the new outside walls.
Heating and cooling for the new rooms
Refrigerant lines and a condensate drain if the addition has its own unit.
Booking an addition
What to tell us about an addition or remodel
Whether the house is lived in
If people are living in the old part, name a site contact who can give access to those rooms too.
The usual four details
Address, permit number, ready date and site contact, the same as for any new house.
How the house is left on test day
The code sets the conditions: exterior windows and doors closed but not sealed, fireplace and stove doors closed, exhaust, intake and flue dampers shut, interior doors open, heating and cooling off, and supply and return registers open.
For an addition that needs the test, that covers the old rooms too. With the interior doors open, the fan reaches them as well as the new ones, so the original fireplace, bath fans and registers are set the same way, and any separate unit serving the addition is switched off with the main one.
When a newly built house is ready to test
For a newly built house, the code allows the test any time after every opening through the shell has been made: the last plumbing vent, wire, duct and exhaust pipe. Paint, flooring, trim, cabinets and countertops do not affect the reading and can come later.
Book ahead of that date. A test set early in the finish stage leaves time to correct leaks and test again before the house is done, and if the ready date slips, a call to the office sets a new one.
The test
How the fan measures the house
Fitted in the doorway
The fan sits in a panel that fills an outside door frame, so all the air it moves has to pass through it.
Held at the test pressure
The fan runs until the inside of the house is held 50 pascals away from the outside.
Airflow read
The air the fan moves to hold that pressure equals the air slipping through the gaps in the shell.
Turned into a figure
That airflow over an hour, divided by the volume of the house, is the reading in air changes per hour. Holmes County is in Climate Zone 2, where the limit is 7.
A reading above 7
If the house reads over the limit, the leaks are corrected and it is tested again, set up exactly as it was the first time so the two readings line up.
Book the retest once every correction on the house is finished. A retest run while work is still going on measures a shell that is about to change again.
Booking
Booking from Bonifay
Bonifay tests are booked through our office at 511 S Highway 71 in Wewahitchka, by phone or through the form on this page.
Same county
Blower door testing in other towns in this county
What to expect
How a Bonifay test is booked
- 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 sunroom count toward the 85 percent?
Is the test different inside the Bonifay city limits?
Does the test show where the leaks are?
What is 50 pascals in other units?
Does a new garage built onto the house count toward the 85 percent?
Is the attic over an addition part of the test?
Get a quote
Request a Blower Door Test in Bonifay
Use the form for a new Bonifay house or an addition that needs the test, and the office will follow up about the date.
