home energy audit resources needed

[shadowpilot]

Has anyone had an energy audit done on their home? I need to find someone to look at the insulation in these old walls and attic space. I would like to see where all the heat is going.

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[credmond]

If you’re the inquisitive and/or comparative type, you could do this yourself. The insulation is pretty easy, if it’s old yellow stuff or newspaper or even straw, it’s not doing you much good. There’s ways to inject the equivalent of foam insulation but it required a hole several places in between all the joists. Attic insulation might be your best bet. Get something R-19 or better and just lay it across the joists.

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Also your windows probably leak air around the frame. These can be caulked from the inside as well as outside (outside would also provide some moisture protection). If you don’t have double-pane windows, consider getting them for the largest of your windows and double-layer curtains for the other windows. Window down-drafts are a major source of winter cold – it’s not so much the heat is leaking out, the cold is flowing in, off the window and down as a draft.

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If it’s a house older than the ’50’s, and you have baseboards, they probably leak air badly, too. Removing the quarter-round and caulking and replacing the quarter-round is very effective in this area.

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All these are easy to identify (have a candle and place it close to where you think there is a draft and watch the flame – worse for you but more effective a cigar and follow the smoke). If you were to do this for an entire house and provide the labor, it could conceivably be well under a $thou (mostly insulation and caulk) depending on how much insulation you could do yourself.

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I’ve done this with a couple old homes elsewhere and in places around my house here (we upgraded most of the house with new construction so a lot of it is totally efficient now, making the older parts stand out that much more).

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