Finishing Trades - Tackling Air Leakage & Ventilation for new builds including Renovations/Retrofits

Episode 3 - This video should be watched for information about the Finishing Stage or retrofitting a new home to be more efficient.
This is the 3rd of 3 videos in this series that provides training for trades and supervisors on how to apply insulation and plaster and airtight practices that complements the air barrier in residential buildings.
It is important to install insulation and wrap correctly around building services. This ensures the building insulation and wrap perform as they were designed to. Some key areas that are covered in this video are:
How do you maintain air-tightness and insulation integrity around services that penetrate plaster? (covers caulking for split systems and other plumbing, recessed lighting - IC4 rated, joinery for services, gaps at the bottom of doors, gaskets, architraves around windows and doors, sliding door frames , skirting boards to the floor, carpet installation, manholes, weather stripping , door and window, weather seals, door draft stoppers at the bottom of doors).
How do you insulate around attic hatches? (rigid foam board and high quality Air barrier tape)
How do you ensure adequate ventilation and air-quality in an air-tight home? (exhaust systems exhausted directly to the outside, draught stoppers, CO Sensors where gas is used, automatic humidity sensors)
Energy efficient homes can provide homeowners with:
 better quality homes that are naturally more comfortable in winter and summer.
 significantly lower energy bills; and,
 significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Homes can be tested to ensure it is built to meet the designed energy efficiency standard by using:
 blower door tests; this test uses fans to simulate wind blowing against the building’s exterior to identify air leakages in the building’s envelope.
 Thermal imaging; this is used in conjunction with the blower door testing to locate missing or poorly installed insulation that may result in the movement of warm or cool air in and out of the building.
Independently testing and inspecting each home confirms compliance to the designed quality of energy efficiency inclusions.
Producer: John Konstantakopoulos
Presenters: Joseph Cheung and Mark Pohlner
00:00 Introduction
00:50 Plasterboard as the air tightness layer
02:51 Recessed Lighting
03:20 IC-4 Rated Downlights
04:36 Joinery and air barriers
05:43 Door seals and drop seals
06:42 Ventilation - Exhausting straight to the outside
07:12 Humidity Sensor for ventilation
07:58 Draught stoppers
08:16 Gas Cooktops
08:36 Attic Hatch Insulation
09:31 Summary
Useful links
Playlist of the whole series - • Sustainability Victori...

[@KJSvitko]

Blower door testing and air sealing are under appreciated.

[@arvidjohansson3120]

It is interesting to see how you do it down under. In Sweden, we generally have a vapor barrier and 45mm stud cavity for plumbing and electrics to not make penetrations in the airtight vapor barrier. But we live in a harsher climate.

[@alberttsai3659]

It's a shame that there aren't a lot more views for these videos.. Way too many houses are still being poorly built in Australia.

[@HungryMindsLearning]

Great series - all people building should watch - the link to SV takes you to an error page

[@ecoevo]

This will be fixed next week. Sorry about that. ;)

[@HungryMindsLearning]

@@ecoevo all good 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@davidissko9796]

It's easy to eliminate the air (and sound) leakage through wall switches and GPOs by applying putty pads around the boxes and penetrations. It's quick and easy to do. Vital if you're trying to reduce sound leakage from a home cinema room.

[@jeremyspencer1505]

What’s a putty pad? Where do you get them?

[@michaelcook9414]

I'm definitely going to refer all current and future clients and friends to this video series. (They'll probably annoy some builders and trades, but its their home.)
My only query is there any way to cost effectively recover the energy lost from bathroom and cooking ventilation? (Because directly exhausting conditioned air from the bathroom for up to half an hour is a lot, especially if it is going to suck in some makeup external air somewhere else in the house).
ie. Would a reversible ceramic core ventilator work considering the humidity?

[@ecoevo]

Here is a link to make these videos easier to share.
ua-cam.com/play/PLh7JO_MR5_CJN9eH2BosGYUjQ1cuC7pVT.html
Retrofitting a HRV in existing builds can be quite tricky. Per haps its something we could think about for future content. ;) Thanks for the comment.

[@johnwhite2576]

R6 on those three layered attic hatch? Looks more like it will yield r18 - are r values in oz different than USA??

[@danial09danger33]

Where do brick ties come in penetrating the external membrane

[@wordle492]

saw y'all on Grand Designs!

[@ecoevo]

ua-cam.com/play/PLh7JO_MR5_CJPW-H9vJbK_ebPm4y5DZ71.html

[@wordle492]

@@ecoevo nice! for the Coburg CLT passive house episode, do you know what kind of exterior insulation they were using?

[@ecoevo]

@@wordle492 Andy, thanks for your contacts. I suggest you get in contact with the architect of the project. hutt.com.au. They will let you know.