​In August of 2020, ThermalWise conducted a whole building air leakage test on the Stratford Emergency Services Facility (ESF) in Stratford, PEI. The purpose of the test was to verify the rate of whole building air leakage as a comparison to the project specified air leakage rate. 

​Air leakage is the unintended movement or flow of air through a building envelope. It is driven by either positive (infiltration) and negative (exfiltration) pressure differences across the envelope (ASTM E779). This unintended flow of air contributes to the building’s heat and cooling loads and can affect occupant comfort, indoor environmental quality, and material/product durability. 

​Building air leakage is generally specified and reported as an air leakage rate. An air leakage rate is defined as “…the volume of air movement/unit time across the building envelope including airflow through joints, cracks, and porous surfaces, or a combination thereof driven by mechanical pressurization and de-pressurization, natural wind pressures, or air temperature differentials between the building interior and the outdoors, or a combination thereof.” (ASTM E779).   

​A building’s air leakage rate can be measured through air leakage testing. Air leakage testing is the process of inducing and measuring pressure differentials across the building envelope using a mechanical system or fans and measuring the air flow required to reach and maintain the pressure differences. Using this data, a mathematical relationship is established between the pressure differential and air flow across the building envelope (i.e. air leakage). 

​For the Stratford ESF project, ThermalWise conducted air leakage testing for the Administrative Area in general accordance with the ASTM E779 Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate by Fan Pressurization. This testing standard is widely used to test new construction and major retrofit building projects for air leakage.

ThermalWise completed whole building air leakage testing at the RCMP Building in Rocky Harbour, NL, in general accordance with ASTM E779.  

In November 2019, ThermalWise conducted a thermal imaging scan of the building to identify potential energy efficiency related building envelope issues.  

ThermalWise completed air leakage site detection at the Idea Building and Design Building in Halifax, NS.  The purpose was to identify sites of significant air leakage across the building enclosure utilizing thermographic imaging in conjunction with building pressurization. The existing building mechanical system was used to create the interior to exterior pressurization differential required. 

ThermalWise completed wall air leakage testing at the Dominion Building in Charlottetown, PEI. The purpose was to quantify the air leakage rate across the sections of the exterior wall of the first floor of the building. The air leakage rate was taken into consideration when designing the air supply for a proposed dynamic buffer zone system. 

ThermalWise completed thermographic scans at the Newfoundland Mental Health and Addictions Facility in St. John’s, NL. The purpose was to identify thermal anomalies in the building enclosure utilizing thermographic imaging in conjunction with building pressurization. The existing building mechanical system was used to create the interior to exterior pressurization differential required. 

ThermalWise conducted field quality assurance water penetration of installed curtain wall and window-wall specimens at the Halifax YMCA, in Halifax, NS. The water tightness performance specifications are 575 Pa for curtain wall test specimen and 500 Pa for the window-wall test specimen, in accordance with the project specifications. The purpose of the testing was to verify test specimens’ installed field performance against project performance expectations.

ThermalWise conducted two whole building air leakage tests (WBALTs) at the Wing Telecommunications Upgrade and Information Services Upgrade Personnel and Shops Facility (PSF) at CFB Shearwater, Nova Scotia. The purpose of the testing was to verify the whole building air tightness functional performance against project specifications at two stages of construction – completion of the air barrier system; and at or near construction completion.

ThermalWise completed a thermographic evaluation and blower door testing of the Alexander Graham Bell Museum in Baddeck, NS.  

ThermalWise conducted quantitative air leakage testing in general accordance with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Air Barrier Association of America (ABAA) Air Leakage Test Protocol for Building Envelopes. This protocol is widely referenced as the standard for whole building air leakage testing of large building envelopes. It is underpinned by ASTM E779. The protocol includes testing under positive and negative pressure and reporting the building envelope’s air leakage as a normalized reading at 75 Pa (CFM@75Pa/ft2), which is typical for larger buildings. This protocol includes supplying the air leakage curve equation, which allows for calculating the leakage of the building at any pressure difference. ThermalWise provided ACH@50Pa as well as m3/hr@50Pa results.

The protocol also references determining pathways of air leakage using ASTM E1186. ThermalWise completed this using thermal imaging of the building under positive and negative pressurization. ThermalWise also used thermal imaging to identify thermal bridges and other defects in the building envelope. 

ThermalWise completed one whole building air leakage test on the Service Canada Centre in Marystown, NL, in general accordance with ASTM E779.

ThermalWise was contracted by MacLeod Group to conduct water penetration testing at the long-term care facility building located in Mahone Bay, NS. 

Testing, conducted in general accordance with ASTM E-1105, was performed on December 16, 2022, on three PVC frame punched windows. 

MacLean Construction contracted ThermalWise to conduct whole building air tightness testing of the new addition to the West Royalty School located in Charlottetown, PEI.

ThermalWise conducted whole building air tightness testing at the Highland Village Redevelopment Project in Iona, Nova Scotia.  The purpose of the testing was to determine the whole building air tightness at the post-drywall stage of construction.

Testing, conducted in general accordance with ASTM E-1105, was performed on one Anotec 3400 aluminum frame curtain wall test specimen, and one Antamex aluminum frame curtain wall test specimen. 

ThermalWise completed air tightness testing and air leakage site detection using thermographic imaging at two stages of construction. The first stage was conducted once all building envelope components were installed. The second stage was performed after all building components were in place and construction completed.

 General Air Tightness Testing Procedure (based on subsection 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 of section 07 27 00): the mean value of the air leakage flow through the exterior envelope for a negative and positive pressurization air leakage test must not exceed 0.25 CFM/ft2 @75Pa. Air leakage testing is required to be performed in general accordance with ASTM E779 with additional requirements included in the construction specification. 

 Building Air Leakage Site Detection: thermography-based air leakage site detection took place in conjunction with the air leakage testing for both Stage 1 and Stage 2 testing. This testing was performed in general accordance with ASTM 1186.