Five Fundamentals of Achieving Airtightness

Airtightness is a fundamental component of an effective ventilation strategy. It plays a crucial role in maintaining energy efficiency, comfort, and long-term building performance. By preventing draughts, reducing cold spots, and improving overall thermal performance, airtightness, not only enhances your comfort but also helps manage fuel bills and ensures a healthier indoor environment. Achieving high levels of airtightness requires careful planning, the right materials, and a collaborative approach throughout the construction process. Below, we outline the five key steps to ensuring airtightness in your building project.

  1. Establish a Whole-House Strategy

A successful airtightness strategy starts with a clear and well-defined plan. Understanding your overall goal from the outset ensures that every stage of the project aligns with the desired airtightness levels. A whole-house approach means considering airtightness in conjunction with ventilation, insulation, and moisture management. This prevents last-minute compromises that could undermine performance. By setting a clear target and adhering to best practices, you can achieve a comfortable, energy-efficient building.

  1. Select the Right Materials

Choosing the correct airtightness materials is critical to success. Vapour control layers, membranes, tapes, and sealants should be robust, durable, and suitable for your specific project requirements. Substituting materials on-site can lead to performance issues. This is because not all products perform the same under different conditions. Seeking expert advice ensures you use tested, high-quality solutions that will deliver long-term benefits, preventing costly remedial work in the future.

  1. Ensure Clear Communication

Airtightness is a team effort, requiring buy-in from architects, contractors, and tradespeople. Clear communication is essential to ensure that everyone involved understands the importance of airtightness and follows the correct procedures. Regular site meetings, detailed specifications, and training sessions help reinforce best practices, ensuring that workmanship supports rather than compromises airtightness goals. Without proper coordination, even the best materials and designs can fail to perform as intended.

  1. Be an Airtightness Champion

To achieve the best results, airtightness must be integrated into every stage of the construction process. As an airtightness champion, you should advocate for careful planning, ensuring sufficient time is allocated for sealing gaps, taping joints, and addressing potential weak points before progressing to the next phase. Passion and attention to detail make a significant difference, ensuring that airtightness remains a priority rather than as an afterthought.

  1. Conduct Leak Testing at the Right Time

Leak testing is essential to verify the effectiveness of your airtightness measures. It should be carried out while barriers are still visible and accessible so that any necessary adjustments can be made before finishing work progresses. Arranging an air leakage test at the right stage ensures that any issues are identified and rectified early, preventing costly and time-consuming remedial work later in the build.

Join Our Tape Training Session

To support you in achieving optimal airtightness, we are hosting a tape training session at our offices on 12th February 2025. This hands-on session will cover best practices for applying airtightness tapes effectively, ensuring you have the skills to achieve high-performance results on-site. Get in touch for more details and to reserve your place on 01908 886854

Why not check out Howe Park Passivhaus, which achieve an excellent airtightness though attention to detail or download the passivhaus trusts guide on demystifying airtightness.

Tape Training part of the Five Fundamentals of Achieving Airtightness to achieve comfort