Should I get a blower-door test before my Ottawa reno starts?

Yes, getting a blower-door test before your renovation is a smart move — especially in Ottawa's climate. It gives you a clear baseline of your home's air leakage so you can make targeted improvements during the reno rather than guessing afterward.

A blower-door test works by depressurizing your home with a calibrated fan mounted in a doorframe, then measuring how much air leaks in from outside. The result is expressed as ACH (Air Changes per Hour) or ACH50 (at 50 pascals of pressure). For context, older Ottawa homes often test at 8–15 ACH50, while a well-sealed modern home should be closer to 1.5–3 ACH50. The test typically costs $300–$600 from a certified energy auditor in Ottawa, and it takes about 2–3 hours including the report.

The real value comes from doing it before the reno. Once walls are open, your contractor can see exactly where air is escaping — around electrical boxes, plumbing penetrations, rim joists, attic hatches — and seal those areas properly before closing everything back up. Doing it after the fact means cutting into finished work to fix problems that could have been addressed for almost nothing during construction. In Ottawa, where heating costs are significant and winters are brutal, even modest air sealing improvements can meaningfully reduce your energy bills.

Ottawa-specific context worth knowing: If you're applying for the Canada Greener Homes Grant or any NRCan incentive programs, a pre- and post-renovation EnerGuide evaluation (which includes a blower-door test) is mandatory to qualify. The grant can cover up to $5,600 in eligible upgrades, so the $300–$600 test cost pays for itself many times over. You'll need a registered energy advisor — Natural Resources Canada maintains a directory at nrcan.gc.ca.

From a professional standpoint, a blower-door test is something we strongly encourage clients to consider before any significant renovation, particularly basement finishing, attic work, or whole-home projects. It removes the guesswork and gives both the homeowner and the contractor a clear target to hit. It's not something JRC performs directly — you'd hire a certified energy auditor separately — but we're very comfortable working alongside the results and incorporating air sealing into the scope of work.

Your next step would be to contact an NRCan-registered energy advisor to schedule a pre-reno audit. Once you have that report in hand, we can review it together and build the air sealing work into your renovation plan. If you'd like to discuss how this fits into your upcoming project, feel free to reach out to Justyn Rook Contracting for a free consultation.