Energy Audit: Part Three

During the energy audit, as he inspected and imaged the house, Andy had several suggestions for improvement.

Tier One Suggestions:

1. Using a silicone caulk, seal up any and all places where cold air might enter the house.

2. Insulate the electrical and cable outlets located along the exterior wall (apparently there is something you can buy for this--we'll be making a trip to the hardware store soon enough).

3. Insulate the canned lighting.

4. Seal up the air vents. Meaning, the small cracks around the vent where the metal sleeve meets the drywall. This will ensure that only warm air is coming in, and cold air found between the walls doesn't enter the room.

5. Seal and insulate the attic door. We need to add a type of weatherstripping to the access door, and put foam insulation sheets on top (attic side). Currently, the attic access panel is completely bare.

6. Get a ceiling fan for the family room. It is a large room, and the fan will help circulate the warm air that is currently wafting around the ceiling.

7. Get curtains. I think Andy was flabbergasted that other than a few shades for privacy, we have no window coverings in the house.

Tier Two Suggestions:

1. Get a two-part foam insulation and insulate the base of the house (the area between the foundation and first floor).

2. Continue with the two-part foam in the attic to insulate the top of all the exterior walls (the perimeter floor of the attic).

Tier Three Suggestions:

1. Add more cellulose insulation to get the attic up to a R-50 or R-60.

2. Insulate the garage walls. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem, but we have two bedrooms located above the garage and I don't think the insulation between the garage ceiling and bedroom floors is adequate for long-term comfort.

Based on his ballpark estimates, Andy thinks we'd save 60-75% of the cost for all this if we do the work ourselves. Which we will. As it is the Martha thing to do.

Energy Audit: Part Two

After a physical inspection of the house to determine where air was coming in, Andy went around with a thermal imaging camera to find the hot and cold spots in the walls. The blue spots indicated bad sealing and/or inadequate insulation.

Andy also imaged the vents and canned lighting. Bright blue...yikes!

After the thermal imaging, Andy checked the attic for adequate insulation. No surprise, we need a bit more there. However, the important work at this point is to properly seal the house. It makes no sense to add more insulation to the mix if the home cannot hold heat in and cold out.

Thank goodness we have plenty of storage room in the rest of the house, or I'd be really bummed that there was no room for stuff in the attic!

Tomorrow, I'll share Andy's recommended solutions to seal the house and add extra insulation. Stay tuned!

Energy Audit: Part One

Our new house is large. And in the past few weeks, it has been very cold. To save money on energy bills and improve our comfort, I called in the experts for an energy audit. Andy and Manuel from Village West came out to our house to do a blower door test to find air leaks and thermal imaging to determine exactly where the cold air was coming in.

The blower door creates a negative pressure in the house. It sucks all the air out the front, so it's easy to run your hand along doors, windows, light fixtures, vents and electrical outlets to determine where the air is coming in. And as we in the Midwest know, outside air coming IN to your home in the winter is a bad thing.

All in all, the air sealing quality is what they'd expected. Not too bad, but it could be better.

And unlike I thought, the massive windows in the family room weren't the problems. Things like electrical outlets and canned lighting fixtures were letting in a tremendous amount of cold air.

Barley took a liking to Manuel.