Blower Door Testing in Palm Bay: An Owner-Builder Comes In at 2.55 ACH50

Stellar Building Performance recently completed blower door testing in Palm Bay at a new owner-built home in the Wichita Acres area, between the Emerson Drive and Babcock Street corridors near Bill Madden Park. This project came to us directly from the owner, who built the home with his wife as their retirement residence and did most of the work himself.

The call came in on a Friday morning. He needed envelope leakage testing to close out the build and move toward final inspection, and the timing was tight. We were able to coordinate with him and get onsite Saturday morning to complete the test.

Building in Palm Bay or elsewhere in Brevard County? Stellar Building Performance provides blower door testing and energy-code compliance support for builders, contractors, and owner-builders.

A 2.55 ACH50 Result in Palm Bay

During testing, the home measured 740 CFM50 at the required 50-Pascal pressure difference. With a conditioned building volume of 17,410 cubic feet, that produced a final air leakage result of 2.55 ACH50.

ACH50 expresses the measured air leakage relative to the volume of the home, allowing the blower door result to account for differences in building size. It provides a standardized measurement of how much air moves through the building envelope under controlled test conditions.

This project was documented through the performance compliance path, and the energy calculation for this home specified a target of 3.0 ACH50. At 2.55, the envelope came in under that number with room to spare. Air leakage targets are project specific and depend on how the energy compliance was documented, so two homes on the same street can carry different numbers.

Need a blower door test for an upcoming inspection or project closeout? Contact Stellar Building Performance to coordinate testing around your construction schedule.

Saturday Testing When the Schedule Mattered

This is the part of the project I keep coming back to. The owner reached out Friday morning, and by Saturday morning I was onsite in Wichita Acres getting his testing taken care of.

We don’t advertise or guarantee weekend or same-day availability, because every week’s schedule is different. But when we have the ability to accommodate an urgent project, we’re going to do what we reasonably can to help somebody keep moving. A homeowner working to close out a build he had poured a year into was worth the trip.

Construction schedules have enough moving pieces already. When testing becomes one of those last-minute pieces, communication and responsiveness make the difference. You can see the same approach on a recent blower door test in Rockledge.

Builders and contractors with recurring projects can request a proposal for ongoing energy-code testing and building-performance support throughout Brevard County.

Mechanical Ventilation on a Tight Envelope

There is a second consequence to a result like 2.55, and it is one more Florida builders are going to run into.

Under the 2023 Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation, Eighth Edition, a dwelling testing below three air changes per hour requires whole house mechanical ventilation, and that installation has to be verified by the building department. A house that tight is no longer exchanging enough air on its own, so the fresh air has to be brought in deliberately.

This owner had already handled it. The home was set up with a supply ventilation system pulling outside air through a dedicated insulated duct tied into the air handler, with a motorized damper controlling when fresh air is introduced and how much comes in. It was installed cleanly and ready to be verified, which is exactly how you want to find it on test day.

We covered where this is heading in our breakdown of the 2026 Florida Building Code energy conservation changes. As homes continue to get tighter, envelope and ventilation are going to be two halves of the same conversation.

An Owner-Built Home in Wichita Acres

This project stood out because of who built it.

An owner-builder working on his own home has every reason to cut a corner where nobody is looking, and this one did not. The envelope was spray foamed, the detailing was consistent, the penetrations were addressed, and the result reflected it. Spray foam is one route to a number like this, though not the only one. We have tested homes with blown insulation and a vented attic that landed in strong territory because somebody took the ceiling plane air barrier seriously.

Wichita Acres sits in southeast Palm Bay, an established area where individual lots continue to fill in. It’s another good example of the variety we see in the field. Energy-code testing isn’t limited to large new subdivisions. We work on everything from owner-built and custom residences to production housing, multifamily developments, and larger recurring builder projects.

Explore our other Project Updates to see more of the building-performance and energy-code testing Stellar is completing throughout Brevard County and the Treasure Coast.

More Than a Test Result

A big part of doing this work well is making the process easy for the person managing the project, whether that’s a superintendent running six homes or an owner finishing the one he lives in.

For this Palm Bay home, that meant answering the phone Friday, making the schedule work Saturday, and getting him the documentation his closeout needed. That’s the standard we’re working toward on every project.

Stellar Building Performance provides blower door testing, duct leakage testing, HERS ratings, energy-code services, and third-party quality assurance throughout Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, and Okeechobee counties.

Have a project coming up in Palm Bay, Melbourne, or elsewhere in Brevard County? Request blower door testing from Stellar Building Performance.