Wausau, Washington County
Blower Door Testing in Wausau, Florida
The air leakage test for people building their own house, or having a custom house built, in Wausau.
Blower door tests for owner-builders in Wausau
If you are acting as your own builder in Wausau, or a builder is putting up a custom house for you, the Florida energy code test for air leakage is part of finishing the house. Big Bend Services, Inc. runs that test on new houses in ZIP code 32463, and builders, contractors and owners of a newly built house can all book it with us.
Tests are booked through our office at 511 S Highway 71 in Wewahitchka. Call (850) 819-6031, Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM, or use the form below.
Owner-builders
What an owner-builder handles for the test
The ready date
You know which trade finishes last, so the date the house is ready comes from you.
The booking
Call or send the form with the address, the permit number, the ready date and who we should call on site.
Keeping the date current
If a trade runs late, call the office and a new test date is set.
Your trades
Which trades cut openings through the shell
Ask each trade when their last opening through the outer walls, the ceiling or the floor will be made, and set the ready date from the latest answer.
Plumber
Roof vents, supply lines through walls, drains through the slab or floor, and the line to each outdoor spigot.
Electrician
The service entrance, outdoor outlets and lights, and every wire that runs up into the attic.
Air conditioning installer
The refrigerant lines and condensate drain to the outdoor unit, and the duct boots cut into the ceiling.
Gas line installer
Where the house has gas, the line through the wall to a range, a water heater or a fireplace.
Cable and low-voltage
Cable, internet and alarm wires each pass through an outside wall somewhere.
Roofer
The flashing and boots around every pipe and vent that comes through the roof.
Framer
Any chase or shaft left open to the attic for a flue or ducts to run through later.
Insulation crew
On a plan sealed at the roof deck, this crew finishes the seal that the attic is measured behind, so their date counts too.
Whoever sets the vents
Bath fans, the dryer vent and a range hood duct each make an opening through the shell, and on a custom house they may be put in by different people.
When to book
How to tell the Wausau shell is complete
The code allows the test any time after every penetration of the shell has been made.
Windows and exterior doors hung
Every window and outside door is in place, so the rough openings in the walls are filled.
Ceiling closed
Drywall is up on the ceilings under the attic, with the attic hatch or stair installed.
Finishes optional
Paint, flooring, trim, cabinets and countertops can wait. They do not change the reading.
Custom features to mention when you book
A custom house can have openings a stock plan does not: a fireplace with its flue, a second laundry with its own dryer vent, a range hood over an island with a duct up through the roof, or an outdoor kitchen wired and plumbed through an outside wall.
A sealed attic, insulated at the roof deck, is worth mentioning too. On test day that attic is opened to the house and measured with it.
Design choices
Plan decisions that move the boundary
Attached garage
An unheated, uncooled garage stays outside the test, with its shared wall and door part of the boundary. Heat or cool it and it joins the house.
A room over the garage
Its floor becomes part of the boundary, since the garage below is outside.
Vaulted ceilings
With no attic above, the ceiling itself is the boundary, and every light or fan cut into it counts.
Knee walls
An upstairs room with attic space behind short walls puts those walls, and the attic floor behind them, in the boundary.
Porches
An open or screened porch stays outside. A porch closed in and heated or cooled becomes part of the house.
Test day
Leaving the house for the test
Outside
Every window and exterior door shut and latched. Nothing is taped or sealed over.
Fireplace or stove
Its doors closed and its flue damper shut.
Fans and vents
Dampers closed on the bath fans, range hood, dryer vent and any outside air intake.
Inside doors
Open, wherever doors have been hung.
Thermostat
Heating and cooling switched off for the test.
Registers
Every supply and return register open all the way, with any dust covers from construction removed.
The limit and a retest
Section R402.4.1.2 of the Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation, 8th Edition (2023), sets a limit of 7 air changes per hour at 50 pascals in Climate Zone 2, which takes in Wausau and the rest of Washington County. If your house reads over, its leaks are corrected and it is tested again.
Setting the test date at the start of the finish stage, not the end, leaves room for that second test before you need the house finished.
Other work
Other services for the same house
Gutters, garage doors and wire shelving are separate services, listed on the Wausau page.
Same county
More towns in this county for blower door tests
What to expect
Booking a test as an owner-builder
- 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 if a trade adds an opening after the test?
Is a detached workshop on the lot tested too?
Does a fireplace need to be finished for the test?
Is a house on piers or a raised floor tested the same way?
Can a guest cottage on the same lot be booked too?
How is that reading worked out?
Get a quote
Request a Blower Door Test in Wausau
Owner-builders and builders can both use the form for a Wausau house, and the office will follow up about the date.
