RESNET Certified Inspector | Checklist Verification Before Drywall | Immediate Electronic Reports
What Is a Pre-Drywall Inspection?
A pre-drywall inspection is a walk of the house at the one moment when the entire thermal envelope is still visible. Insulation, air sealing, framing and the mechanical rough-in are all open to view, and every defect found is still a twenty minute fix. Under ENERGY STAR this is not optional. The Rater Field Checklist carries items that must be verified before they are covered, which is why the program requires the visit rather than recommending it. Builders outside the program run the same inspection for the same reason, because it is the cheapest quality control available on a house.
Request a Pre-Drywall Inspection
we respond quickly. no waiting days for scheduling and reports.
Why Builders Still Call It a Thermal Bypass Inspection
The name traces back to ENERGY STAR’s original Thermal Bypass Checklist, which set out the places where air bypasses insulation and carries heat straight through an assembly that looks finished on paper. That document has since been folded into the Rater Field Checklist, and those items now live across the insulation, air barrier, thermal bridging and air sealing sections. The old name stuck because it describes the actual failure. Insulation only works if air is not moving around it.
What Gets Inspected
Everything drywall is about to hide, concentrated in the four areas the checklist is built around.
The scope:
HVAC rough-in is inspected alongside the envelope, because it is the trade most likely to breach the air barrier after everyone else has finished. Duct routing, register boots, mechanical penetrations and equipment location all get looked at while they are still reachable.
How We Keep Our Services Simple and Easy
We want the inspection to land between insulation and drywall without holding up your schedule.
1.
Tell us about the project
Send the plan and the stage the house is at. If the project is in a program, send the checklist you are being held to.
2.
onsite inspection
We walk the whole envelope, attic to slab, photographing each item against its checklist line.
3.
Findings Sorted by Trade
Every deficiency is written against the trade that owns it, so what goes out reads as assignments rather than as a document somebody has to interpret first.
4.
Report delivered by email
Photographed findings, checklist status and a punch list, in your hands the same way every other report we issue arrives.
5.
Re-inspection when the corrections are substantial
If the list is long enough to warrant it we come back and verify the work before drywall goes up, so nothing gets covered on the assumption that it was fixed.
Catch It While It Is Still a Twenty Minute Fix
Why Builders Choose Stellar Building Performance
Stellar Building Performance
No missed appointments or reschedules
We’re on the same team
Other Inspectors
You’re just another sale
Recent Projects in Your Area
Pre-drywall work is usually one visit inside a longer relationship with a builder, so it turns up within our project updates rather than as a category of its own.
Frequently asked questions about pre-drywall inspections
After insulation and after mechanical rough-in, and before any drywall is hung. That window is narrower than it sounds, because insulation and drywall are often scheduled back to back. Tell us the insulation date when you book and we will get in ahead of the board.
The ENERGY STAR Rater Field Checklist is organized into ten sections. The first four cover the thermal envelope, and those are the ones that have to be verified before drywall, because drywall makes them unverifiable.
The four envelope sections:
Then the mechanical sections:
No. Plenty of builders run the inspection outside any program, because it is the cheapest quality control on the job and it is the only chance anyone gets to look at the envelope as a whole. If you are not chasing certification we can inspect to the checklist anyway, or to a scope you define.
Framing is a thermal bridge. Wood conducts heat far better than the insulation around it, so every stud, corner, header and T-wall intersection is a small hole in the performance of the wall. Advanced framing reduces the amount of lumber in the assembly and makes sure the cavities that remain can actually be insulated. On the checklist this is the reduced thermal bridging section.
Nothing fails. What you get is a list of corrections with photographs, delivered before anything is covered. That is the entire reason for doing this at rough-in rather than at final, when the same findings turn into demolition.
Yes, and on program projects that is the usual arrangement. One party handling pre-drywall, blower door and duct leakage means one relationship, one set of reports, and no gaps between scopes where something quietly becomes nobody’s job.
Pre-Drywall Inspection Reference
How Rough-In Quality Shows Up in Your Final Numbers
A pre-drywall inspection is not itself a code test and produces no number for submittal. What it does is decide, months in advance, what the code tests are going to say. These are the lines it is quietly working on.
questions? give us a call, this is our specialty!
BIG CHANGES COMING IN 2026 FLORIDA BUILDING CODE UPDATES
Duct Leakage testing to be required on all homes with few exceptions, more stringent compliance targets, mechanical ventilation testing & more. Read our updates bulletin below.
2026 Florida Building Code Energy Conservation: What Builders Need to Know
The pre-drywall inspection is what makes the blower door result predictable. Every item verified before drywall is an item that will not surface at final, when the envelope test is run and the number either clears the threshold or does not. Air sealing corrections are cheap at rough-in and expensive after paint.
R402.4.1.2 Testing.
The building or dwelling unit shall be tested and verified as having an air leakage rate not exceeding seven air changes per hour in Climate Zones 1 and 2, and three air changes per hour in Climate Zones 3 through 8. Dwelling units with an air leakage rate less than three air changes per hour shall be provided with whole-house mechanical ventilation in accordance with Section R403.6.1 of this code and Section M1507.3 of the Florida Building Code, Residential. Testing shall be conducted in accordance with ANSI/RESNET/ICC 380 and reported at a pressure of 0.2 inch w.g. (50 pascals). Testing shall be conducted by either individuals as defined in Section 553.993(5) or (7), Florida Statutes, or individuals licensed as set forth in Section 489.105(3)(f), (g) or (i) or an approved third party. A written report of the results of the test shall be signed by the party conducting the test and provided to the code official. Testing shall be performed at any time after creation of all penetrations of the building thermal envelope.
Exception: Testing is not required for additions, alterations, renovations or repairs of the building thermal envelope of existing buildings in which the new construction is less than 85 percent of the building thermal envelope.
During testing:
1.Exterior windows and doors, fireplace and stove doors shall be closed, but not sealed, beyond the intended weatherstripping or other infiltration control measures.
2.Dampers including exhaust, intake, makeup air, backdraft and flue dampers shall be closed, but not sealed beyond intended infiltration control measures.
3.Interior doors, if installed at the time of the test, shall be open.
4.Exterior doors for continuous ventilation systems and heat recovery ventilators shall be closed and sealed.
5.Heating and cooling systems, if installed at the time of the test, shall be turned off.
6.Supply and return registers, if installed at the time of the test, shall be fully open.
7.If an attic is both air sealed and insulated at the roof deck, interior access doors and hatches between the conditioned space volume and the attic shall be opened during the test and the volume of the attic shall be added to the conditioned space volume for purposes of reporting an infiltration volume and calculating the air leakage of the home.
On the performance path the air leakage target comes from the energy calculation rather than the code minimum, and it is frequently tighter than 7 ACH50. A pre-drywall inspection is how a house gets built to that number deliberately, rather than the crew finding out at final that the model expected better than the house delivered.
R405.2.2 Building air leakage testing.
Building or dwelling air leakage testing shall be in accordance with Sections R402.4 through R402.4.1.2. If an air leakage rate below seven air changes per hour at a pressure of 0.2 inch w.g. (50 pascals) is specified for the proposed design, testing shall verify the air leakage rate does not exceed the air leakage rate of the proposed design instead of seven air changes per hour.
Duct defects found before drywall are reachable. The same defects found at final are behind finished ceilings. Register boot sealing in particular moves both the duct leakage result and the envelope result, which is why it gets specific attention at rough-in.
R403.3.3 Duct testing (Mandatory).
Ducts shall be pressure tested to determine air leakage by one of the following methods:
1.Rough-in test: Total leakage shall be measured with a pressure differential of 0.1 inch w.g. (25 Pa) across the system, including the manufacturer’s air handler enclosure if installed at the time of the test. All registers shall be taped or otherwise sealed during the test.
2.Postconstruction test: Total leakage shall be measured with a pressure differential of 0.1 inch w.g. (25 Pa) across the entire system, including the manufacturer’s air handler enclosure. Registers shall be taped or otherwise sealed during the test.
Exceptions:
1.A duct air leakage test shall not be required where the ducts and air handlers are located entirely within the building thermal envelope.
2.Duct testing is not mandatory for buildings complying by Section R405 of this code. Duct leakage testing is required for Section R405 compliance where credit is taken for leakage, and a duct air leakage Qn to the outside of less than 0.080 (where Qn = duct leakage to the outside in cfm per 100 square feet of conditioned floor area tested at 25 Pascals) is indicated in the compliance report for the proposed design.
A written report of the results of the test shall be signed by the party conducting the test and provided to the code official.
R405.2.3 Duct air leakage testing.
In cases where duct air leakage lower than the default Qn to outside of 0.080 (where Qn = duct leakage to the outside in cfm per 100 square feet of conditioned floor area tested at 25 Pascals) is specified for the proposed design, testing in accordance with Section R403.3.2 shall verify a duct air leakage rate not exceeding the leakage rate of the proposed design. Otherwise, in accordance with Section R403.3.3, duct testing is not mandatory for buildings complying by Section R405.
Houses built to a good pre-drywall standard tend to test tight, and in Florida any result below 3.00 ACH50 requires whole house mechanical ventilation. That is much better planned at rough-in than discovered at final.
R403.6.1 Whole-house mechanical ventilation system fan efficacy.
When installed to function as a whole-house mechanical ventilation system, fans shall meet the efficacy requirements of Table R403.6.1.
Exception: Where an air handler that is integral to tested and listed HVAC equipment is used to provide whole-house mechanical ventilation, the air handler shall be powered by an electronically commutated motor.
Review TABLE R403.6.1 WHOLE-HOUSE MECHANICAL VENTILATION SYSTEM FAN EFFICACY
R403.6.2 Ventilation air.
Residential buildings designed to be operated at a positive indoor pressure or for mechanical ventilation shall meet the following criteria:
1.The design air change per hour minimums for residential buildings in ASHRAE 62.2, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality, shall be the maximum rates allowed for residential applications.
2.No ventilation or air-conditioning system make-up air shall be provided to conditioned space from attics, crawlspaces, attached enclosed garages or outdoor spaces adjacent to swimming pools or spas.
3.If ventilation air is drawn from enclosed space(s), then the walls of the space(s) from which air is drawn shall be insulated to a minimum of R-11 and the ceiling shall be insulated to a minimum of R-19, space permitting, or R-10 otherwise.
Book the Inspection Before the Board Arrives
Helping Builders Stay on Schedule and Pass Inspections
Fast Scheduling
Builders get testing scheduled quickly to avoid delays.
accurate results
Professional equipment ensures reliable measurements.
immediate reports
Documentation provided immediately by email for inspection approvals.
Other Areas We Serve
Pre-drywall inspections, blower door testing and duct leakage testing throughout Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and Okeechobee Counties.