Refuge Homes understands the importance of energy efficacy of a home, and provides a minimum of an 8 star dwelling. In addition to these design criteria the pressure testing of homes is a true indicator of a house’s performance, eliminating potential workmanship issues. The pressure testing in Refuge Homes houses result in below 1 air change per hour [ACH] at 50 pascals.
The pressure testing of Australian homes will certainly be a requirement in the future, and is a current building regulation in Europe and the UK. There is a foreseen risk in workmanship and the accuracy of the energy star rating of a house, but the pressure testing of a dwelling gives a true indication of a house’s performance.
As an indication of pressure testing on Australian homes, a study undertaken in 2013 on 20 standard homes in Melbourne built between 1999 and 2010 recorded an average of 19.94 [ACH]. Compare that figure with Refuge Homes at less than 1 [ACH], Europe requirement at 10 [ACH] and a PassivHaus which has a requirement of 0.6 air changes per hour.