As custom green homebuilders in Oregon, quality, high performance components are critical to what we do. Early discussions with our most recent customers made two things very apparent: they wanted a new home built with extreme energy efficiency in mind—an incredibly low energy home built to the Passive House Standard (www.passivehouse.us), but one that also held a place for their dog Pippen and had his needs in mind as well. Our initial research turned up a few options, but only one that had actually been tested for air tightness—the Freedom Pet Pass pet door.

We decided to give it a shot, knowing that to meet the strict Passive House certification requirements we would have to reach extremely low levels of air infiltration on our blower door test. Initially we planned to do our own testing on just the pet door before committing ourselves and cutting a hole in the door to the backyard.

However, upon opening up the freshly shipped package, it became quite apparent that the quality of construction and tenacity of the air seal were both very, very high. We installed the pet door without hesitation, and suffice it to say, the pet door did not disappoint--we exceeded the Passive House air tightness requirements by a factor of three!

Now, while the homeowners appreciate the incredible comfort and efficiency of their new home, Pippen is happily enjoying his access to backyard freedom."

Blake J. Bilyeu | SHP| CPHC |
Bilyeu Homes, Inc.
custom home design and construction"