Sneads, Jackson County
Blower Door Testing in Sneads, Florida
For builders and owners getting a new Sneads house ready for its air leakage test under the Florida energy code.
A blower door test for your Sneads house
Big Bend Services, Inc. runs air leakage tests on new houses in Sneads, ZIP code 32460. The Florida energy code limit for Climate Zone 2 is 7 air changes per hour at 50 pascals, and the code also sets how the house must be left while it is measured.
Builders, superintendents and owners of a newly built house can book it. Call (850) 819-6031 on a weekday between 7:00 AM and 4:00 PM, or use the form.
Test day
Setting up a Sneads house for the test, room by room
Kitchen
Range hood damper closed.
Laundry
Dryer vent flap closed at the wall, whether or not the dryer is in yet.
Bathrooms
Exhaust fan dampers closed. Windows shut and latched.
Living areas
Fireplace or stove doors shut and the flue damper closed. Outside doors shut and latched, with no tape or plastic over them.
Bedrooms and closets
Doors propped open so every room shares the same pressure. Supply registers fully open.
Hall and attic access
Hatch or pull-down stair seated in its frame, unless the attic is sealed at the roof deck.
Equipment closet
Heating and cooling off at the thermostat. Return grille open.
Outside
Any fresh air intake damper closed, and hose bibs, the dryer vent hood and the line set entry in place with no gap left open around them.
Small things that change the number
A drain with no water in its trap is an open pipe to the vent stack and the roof. Run water into any sink, tub, shower or floor drain that has not been used yet, so each trap is full.
An opening cut for a line that has not been run yet, or an empty ceiling box with a gap around it, is open to the attic or a wall cavity while the fan runs.
Before test day
Places worth a look in the days before
Top plates
Openings for wires and pipes through the tops of the walls, seen from the attic.
Boots and boxes
The seam where each duct boot and ceiling box meets the drywall.
The hatch
A stop for it to rest on and weatherstripping around it.
The door from the garage
Weatherstripping and a threshold, since it is part of the boundary with an unconditioned garage.
Several houses
Builders testing more than one house in Sneads
A builder with several houses going up can book them together. Each house is still tested on its own, with its own set-up, its own fan run and its own result.
The room-by-room check above is worth handing to whoever sets up each house, so every house on the list is left the same way.
Details for each house
The address, permit number, ready date and the person to call on site, for every house on the list.
A date that slips
Call, and that house alone gets a new test date.
When the house is ready to book
The code allows the test at any point after every opening through the thermal envelope has been made.
Low-voltage runs count the same as a pipe or duct, so cable, doorbell and alarm lines through an outside wall should be in too. The drywall on the outside walls and on the ceiling below a vented attic is part of what holds the air in, so it has to be up as well.
Over the limit
If a house reads over 7
The result is one number for the whole house. Over 7, the leaks are corrected and the house is tested again, set up the same way as the first time. Before calling for the retest, run through the room-by-room check again, because anything left out of place would count against the second reading just as it would the first.
The size of the miss
A reading just over 7 points to a smaller amount of sealing than one well above it.
The retest booking
Send the date the corrections will be done.
Other services
The rest of the work on a new house
Gutters, a garage door and wire shelving for closets and the pantry are handled by the same company.
Booked together
Mention the other work when you book the test, and it can be quoted for the same address.
Same county
This test in other towns nearby
What to expect
Booking the test, start to finish
- 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.
What about a pet door?
What changes with an attic sealed at the roof deck?
Can the test go ahead before the cabinets are in?
Does a house with no fireplace skip that step?
Why does the air handler have to stay off?
Does the big garage door need to be shut?
Get a quote
Request a Blower Door Test in Sneads
Send each Sneads address with its permit number, ready date and site contact.
