Commercial Air Tightness Checklist

Effective preparation leads to a much higher pass rate on commercial air tests – this ten-point checklist covers what to have in place before we arrive, whether you’re testing an office, warehouse, or industrial space.

Power Supply

Before we arrive on site, please ensure you’ve sent us the specific design air permeability figure and confirmed there’s a 240v power supply available. We cannot undertake testing without a power supply, and don’t carry backup supplies in our vans unless informed well ahead of time.

Commercial Air Tightness Checklist

1. Internal doors to riser cupboards may be closed but should not be artificially sealed.
2. Lift doors should be closed but not artificially sealed. Any external lift shaft vents should remain open.
3. All drainage traps should be filled with water.
4. All incoming service penetrations (e.g. power, telecoms) should be permanently sealed.
5. All external doors and windows should be closed but not artificially sealed. This includes door thresholds. The exception to this will be apertures to which test equipment is connected.
6. Smoke vents should be closed but not artificially sealed.
7. Background trickle ventilators, passive ventilation systems and permanently open uncontrolled natural ventilation openings should be permanently open. Uncontrolled natural ventilation openings should also be temporarily sealed.
8. Mechanical ventilation and air conditioning systems should certainly be turned off. These systems should be temporarily sealed to prevent air leakage through the systems during the test.
9. External doors, windows & manual vents need to remain closed for the test. All internal doors need to be propped open.
10. We do require a door frame of standard size to fit our square adjustable frame. You may need to modify the opening to suit our template. Minimum size opening: 700mm x 1300mm/ Maximum 1100 x 2400mm.

Related: Passing a Commercial Air Test

Working through this checklist covers the on-the-day preparation. For the fuller strategy – design, build and ventilation decisions that get a commercial building through first time – see our companion guide:

Air Tightness Testing

How to Pass an Air Tightness Test

Read Article

Good preparation shows in the results. When Colsec’s came to us for Part L2 compliance testing, thorough preparation across a nearly 3,000 m² building envelope helped deliver a result nearly three times better than the design target.

Building Testing Air Tightness Testing

Colsec, Sainsbury’s Cold Store: Nearly Tripling the Air Tightness Regulation Target

View Case Study

What’s next?

Working through this checklist before we arrive is the single biggest factor in passing first time – it’s often easier to tick through a printed version on-site, so here’s one we prepared earlier:

Commercial Air Tightness Checklist Printout

Service

Air Tightness Testing

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If you’d like our team to talk through preparation for your specific building before the test, we’re happy to help.