Where are the best places to insulate a home to get the most energy savings and best comfort gains?  That question is asked in every energy audit we perform.  While this answer can vary depending on the age and the type of home, there are general solutions that apply across the board.

Improvements in the insulation and air sealing of a home are always the first things you want to do when looking into home energy savings.  Before you even consider the efficiency of the heating and cooling systems, your insulation should be evaluated and addressed accordingly.

Let’s take a look at the best places to insulate a home.

Attic-Ceiling

By far, without any doubt, insulating the attic or ceiling of the home is the number one priority.  The largest amount of heat is gained and lost through the lid of a house.

During the winter, as heat is generated, there is a large difference in interior vs exterior temperature that needs to be maintained.

In cold climates, you may have days that are in the 20s or 30s outside.  If you are trying to maintain a comfortable temperature of 70 degrees inside, that is a 40-50 temperature differential.  And if you remember any science from high school, you know heat tries to move to cold.

Also, that hot air rises.  As the heat produced rises, heat is lost through conduction along the ceiling surfaces. The drywall or ceiling material heats up and conducts that heat through the surface and out of your home.

If the insulation layer at the ceiling is inadequate, there is no resistance to that heat loss, and there goes your cozy house.  The opposite is true in summertime conditions.  As the sun beats down on the home, the roof material heats up, and the attic gets hotter. If the insulation layer is inadequate, the heat can conduct right through the ceiling into the home.

That’s why ceiling insulation is the top priority when upgrading your home’s energy efficiency.  If there is attic space above the ceiling, then you have an opportunity to evaluate the insulation layer and determine if more insulation is needed.

Insulation is rated by its resistance value or R-Value. Along the Front Range of Colorado, it is recommended that homes have at least R-54 insulation value. This recommended level of R-54 is an upgrade from past recommendations, so very few homes in our region currently have this much insulation present.

If you are evaluating your own attic, the most common insulation types used in attics is either fiberglass (blown or batt type) or blown-in cellulose.  Both of these insulation types are similar in their ratings at approximately an average of R3.5/inch.  So to reach a value of R-54 you would need roughly 14-15 inches of insulation present.

When you have an attic space present, adding more insulation isn’t difficult.  An insulating contractor or even a handy home-owner can carefully add more insulation. This is typically done by using a large blower tool that pushes raw insulation material through a tube which is slowly applied throughout the attic. These tools are owned by professionals, but smaller versions can be rented at hardware stores.

There are some important rules to follow while insulating. Maintaining good ventilation in an attic and not blocking off any soffit venting should be considered.  Also, you have to be careful to not fully cover can-lights and other fixtures should not be covered.

There are also considerations with air sealing that should be evaluated prior to insulating that we won’t cover in this article, but we have some great information in this air-sealing post.  We recommend you have a blower door test done as part of an Energy Audit and seal air leaks in the ceiling prior to adding insulation.

Vaulted ceilings represent a bigger challenge. Depending on the size of the wood framing used in the vaulted area, there may be limited space available. Adding insulation may not be possible in these areas if the height is limited and the cavities are already full of insulation.

In that case, air sealing any leaks where heat can escape is the only solution.  Unless you are performing a remodel and removing the drywall or ceiling material in these vaulted areas.  If that happens you have an opportunity to re-insulate and potentially consider higher density insulation that has a greater R-Value per inch, such as spray foam material.

Bottom line, insulating the ceiling and attic areas is by far the number one best way to improve the comfort of your home.  The greatest comfort benefits and energy savings will be seen by adding insulation to the ceiling areas.

Basement-Crawlspace-Slab

Dropping to the bottom of a home, the next best place to insulate is the lowest level of your home.  Once again, if we look at wintertime conditions, the lowest level of the home has a large part to play in reducing heat transfer.

This works in tandem with attic insulation. As heat rises in a home and is lost through the ceiling, the home then pulls in cold air or conducts colder temperatures at the lowest level.  This is what is commonly referred to as the chimney-effect or stack-effect.

As heat rises, if you have poorly insulated areas at the base of the home, cold temperatures will conduct or air leaks will allow cold air into the home.  This effect causes your heating system to run more and comfort imbalances occur in the home.

If the home is over a basement or a crawlspace, the number one place to review the insulation is in an area called the rim-joist.  This is the area where the framing of the home extends below the main floor and connects to the top of the foundation.  That “rim” of the home is where the coldest conduction and air leaks can occur.

Just as in the ceiling, ensure you have air leaks evaluated using a blower door test and potentially infra-red scanning, to find and seal all the air leaks first.  This should be followed up by insulating this area as best as possible.

Today’s building standards along the Front Range call for R-19 minimum along the rim joist area.  Many older homes have no insulation present in the rim-joist areas and we often see lots of air leakage.

In addition to the rim-joist, it is advisable to insulate the concrete foundation walls as well.  As most of us intuitively know, basements can be cold and damp.  Much of this colder feeling in a basement comes from conduction through the concrete, even where much of the wall is below grade.

A steady earthen temperature causes a basement wall to sit much colder than internal temperatures. This cold conduction of the walls moves into the home and further pushes the heat upwards and out of the home.  So insulating the basement walls with an R-19 insulating layer helps tremendously.

We recommend that you treat a crawlspace as a mini-basement.  Insulate the rim-joist and concrete walls to the same recommended levels as the basement. Often plumbing pipes and heat ducting are present within the crawlspace and if you insulate the under-floor only, you now have isolated those items outside the thermal boundary.

By treating the crawlspace as a mini-basement, you encapsulate those items within the boundary and prevent freeze issues.  You also need to be attentive to the floor of the crawlspace. If it is dirt, this needs to be covered with a plastic sheet vapor barrier and sealed to keep moisture levels out of the crawlspace.  Another consideration covered in a separate article is to seal ducting to prevent losses in a basement or crawlspace. These techniques are known as “conditioning” your crawlspace. This makes the area part of the heated envelope of the home and makes for a much more comfortable living environment.

If your home is built over a concrete slab, this gets more challenging to insulation. The best solution that can be considered is to insulate the exterior edge of the slab with foam board insulation.

This can be difficult if the edge is buried and would involve excavating around the slab edge.  But a decent amount of cold conduction occurs on concrete slabs and much of it comes along the exposed edge at the soil.  A 2-inch layer of foam board that is roughly R-10 insulating value can go a long way toward reducing cold conduction along concrete slab edges.

Walls

The third area of consideration is the level of wall insulation in the home.  This is also the most challenging area to insulate on an existing home, but because of the stack effect, and the loss or gain of heat and cold at the ceiling and floors, the walls really are the third priority.

In Colorado, the current recommended insulation level in walls is R-20 insulation value.  On new construction, this is achieved by the use of 2×6 wood framing.  Many older homes only had 2×4 framing which typically had R-11 or R-13 insulation present.  Unfortunately, if the home was built in the 1940s or 1950s, it may have R-0 in the walls, as in NO insulation.  What were we thinking?!

The first step is to find out what you have in your walls. An energy auditor can view into wall cavities by removing electrical outlets or switch covers and carefully trying to see what insulation level and type is present.  The use of infra-red scanning can also give a basic idea of what may be present.  Naturally, if any level of remodeling is done that involves removing the inside wall material, you can get a look at what is present as well.

Adding insulation into walls is limited to a couple of options.  If you are considering a remodel, and you know there is limited insulation in the walls, consider removing the interior drywall or surface material and adding insulation.  The added cost to re-do drywall is small compared to the gains in comfort and energy savings with properly insulated walls.

Another option is to have insulation blown into the walls.  An insulating contractor can inject insulation into wall cavities by drilling holes either on the interior or exterior and blowing insulation into each cavity.  This does involve drilling a lot of holes, one for each 16″ spaced wall cavity.  But the benefit is that the process is much less invasive than removing all interior wall surfaces.  This can be done whether some amount of insulation is present or none.

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Those 3 primary areas represent the best places to insulate a home.  Certainly, there are discussions that need to be had about the quality and performance of the windows, and as we discussed, the air-sealing opportunities.  But insulating in these 3 areas along with proper air sealing can have a dramatic impact on the comfort and energy savings in a home.

A complete energy audit will review insulation levels in all these areas and make recommendations for where upgrades are needed.  Other aspects of an energy audit will address the window performance, heating and cooling system performance, water heating system, and other areas of potential energy savings.

We definitely recommend you take a big picture approach to energy savings and work out a priority list of actions that come from an energy audit.  However, adding insulation where needed is likely going to represent the most cost-effective means of gaining added comfort and improving energy efficiency in a home.

If you have bought or sold a home with a real estate agent, you likely interacted with the MLS. MLS stands for Multiple Listings Service and is a compilation of all the homes for sale at any particular time. The listings can be accessed through certified brokers, and there are many companies that offer MLS access tools across the country.

The listings within the MLS have a wealth of information about a property that has been carefully filled out by a listing agent and homeowner. There are hundreds of fields to be compiled including property information, broker information, neighborhood and HOA data, financial statistics and much more.

For a very long time, one category was missing…

Energy efficiency.

A home’s energy efficiency has become an increasing topic of interest to home buyers. An energy efficient home can save you a lot of money on energy bills, and can significantly increase the home’s comfort level. It also reduces the cost of home ownership, especially in larger homes.

However, all these savings should be factored into the listing price of the home. A home with a large number of energy efficiency items in place will typically have a higher value than the exact same home without the energy efficiency features.

Until recently, there was no place within the MLS to list energy-saving equipment, energy ratings, or ENERGY STAR certifications.

To address this concern the National Association of Realtors formed a group entitled, The Green REsource Council. This group has helped to “green” the MLS and define the energy efficiency fields and information that should be added to listing service software across the country.  As these additional fields are implemented, buyers will look to these areas to be further informed about the home before purchasing.

What type of info was added to the Green MLS?

So what types of things are actually included in the Green MLS? It can be broken into 3 categories.

1. Updates to existing categories to point out energy-efficient items.
2. New categories specific for energy efficiency
3. Green Verification Programs and any scores or certifications the house has received.

These 3 updates consist of all the changes made. We will break down each of them below. These changes in categories were pulled from the Council of Multiple Listing Services – Quick Start Guide MLS Green Fields.

Updates to existing MLS categories

The Green MLS updated 9 of the existing categories to give the option of highlighting energy efficiency. Further definitions can entice buyers and list features that can help efficiency and determine the selling price. The 9 categories are as follows:

1. Appliances – Options were added in this area to account for Energy Star-rated appliances and high-end equipment such as tankless water heaters and solar hot water systems.
2. Construction Materials – Options are added in this section to highlight insulation and air sealant materials around the home.
3. Cooling – ENERGY STAR equipment and alternative cooling sources are available here.
4. Current Financing – Along with other items currently financed in the home, you can now add leased renewables like solar PV.
5. Door Features – Addition of ENERGY STAR-rated doors and storm doors.
6. Electric – This category can now highlight solar power and wind power, and who they are owned by. Also, you can disclose if the house is pre-wired for renewable energy options.
7. Heating – Similar to cooling, you can point out ENERGY STAR heating systems, geothermal systems, and ductless heat systems.
8. Window Features – Options are added here to feature ENERGY STAR-rated windows, triple pane windows, and shutters.

New Categories Added to the “Green MLS”

The following fields have been added to highlight items which may have an environmental or efficiency impact on the home.

1. Architecture Style – Indicate a home was built with a passive solar design.
2. Interior Features – Smart home devices, solar tubes, and more.
3. Parking Features – Electric Vehicle charging stations present.
4. Pool Features – If a pool is present, is there a solar cover or an ENERGY STAR-rated heating device?
5. Roof – Highlighting any ENERGY STAR-rated roofs which can reduce heat transfer.

These additional categories fill in some of the gaps that the other sections miss. You can see how adding these items can be beneficial for someone with an electric vehicle. Also, if the home is full of smart home devices, these devices should be priced in as well. Now buyers have a lot more information on the home’s energy devices.

Green Building Verification Programs

Arguably the most important addition to the Green MLS is the ability to include the results from a third party energy efficiency verification programs.

Builders are held to extremely high standards when it comes to building a green home. Because of this, many 3rd party programs were created to enforce energy standards during the building process.

Unfortunately, these programs and the scores that the homes achieved are not usually communicated to the buyer of the home, especially if you are not the first owner.

To address this issue, the MLS updates contain sections to input energy scores from the following reports, as well as links to the original documents and further information.

An example of some of the Green Building Verification Types:

1. HERS Rating
2. Home Energy Score
3. ENERGY STAR-Certified Home
4. LEED for Homes

There are many more of these programs that are included in the Green MLS, but the 4 above are some of the most used and recognized.

Breaking down some of the widely used green building verification types.

HERS Ratings:

A HERS rating is one of the most widely used energy compliance methods use by builders. A HERS Rating is generated by having a certified HERS rater input information about the home including insulation levels, the efficiency of appliances and HVAC devices, solar equipment, air leakage tests, and much more.

These components are calculated against the house size and climate zone to generate an energy score index. A HERS score of 0 (zero) means that the house is essentially net zero or energy neutral. As the number increases, the projected energy usage in the home increases as well.

Sound simple? Once the report is finished, it is fairly easy to understand which makes it a great information tool for builders and potential homeowners.

Building a house that is HERS-Zero or close to it can be very difficult. High-quality insulation, building materials, windows, and typically solar power energy will need to be installed to reach this score. Because of this, it makes sense that a home with a low HERS score should be priced higher than one with a higher score.

This is a great addition to the MLS and will help buyers understand these efficiency metrics before they buy.

As Certified HERS Raters, many inspectors on our team have a deep understanding of home efficiency. If you are buying a home or listing a home, consider adding an Energy-Check to your inspection to help determine where a home stands and where energy improvements can be made.

ENERGY STAR-Certified Home

ENERGY STAR is one of the most recognizable energy efficiency names in the nation. You will find the tag on many major appliance brands. However, not a lot of people know that ENERGY STAR also has a home building certification process.

This program is very strict and has many rules around how you can build a home. It is many times more difficult to achieve than the standard energy efficiency codes, but the results are great.

The ENERGY STAR program requires the use of a HERS Rating as part of the certification process. An outline of the requirements can be found here.

However, because the brand is so recognizable, as a broker or agent this is a great piece of information to have on your listing. People generally want to buy energy-efficient homes, and having the ENERGY STAR seal of approval may give you an extra edge when listing.

The Green MLS Is A Great Upgrade

To wrap up, the benefits of having this energy information when listing a home is very high. It is also in the best interest of both the seller and the buyer in many cases.

Home buyers will increasingly demand to see the home performance indicators on listings and as due diligence documents when available.

Scott Home Inspection works in the energy service field and in the real estate market, and it is encouraging to see the cross-over taking place. It is great to see the MLS policymakers update these systems as technologies emerge and market demands change.

Because there are many different providers of the MLS system, (some local and others nationwide) these changes may not have taken place on your MLS system. As a broker, inquire with your current provider to understand if the Green MLS field and data changes have been updated on their systems.

If you have further questions or are interested in our energy services, contact us today.

Every climate type poses its own set of challenges to overcome.  In a cold weather climate, where snow and ice are common, it is not unusual to see icicles hanging from the eaves of a home.  If you are interested in the well being of your house, it is worth your time to understand how ice dams form and how their presence can impact your house.

What is an ice dam?

Icicles are formed at the bottom of a roof when water suddenly gets cold enough to freeze.  The water running down your roof from snow melt or a rainstorm can sometimes reach the bottom of the roof and freeze where it is most exposed.

These large frozen masses can put weight on a gutter system that was not designed to hold that kind of weight or, even worse, lead to ice dams, where the frozen mass can get underneath the roof covering and potentially damage the covering or even the roof structure.

Icicles and ice dams are a symptom of a larger problem with the house where the roof covering is warmer than the eaves, even in below-freezing temperatures.

What causes Ice Dams?

Ice dams are caused by poor insulation and lack of proper ventilation in an attic space.  If your attic insulation is poor, the heat from your house will rise to the attic space and warm the roof deck and roofing material.  This will cause falling snow that lands on your roof to melt quicker.

The snow melt will then run down the roof to the eave, which is more exposed and not close enough to the warmth of the attic space, which then causes the snow melt to freeze again.  Similar conditions can arise in a house with adequate insulation, but very poor attic ventilation, as the attic space will retain heat and warm up the roof deck and roof material.

Additionally, a home with poor attic ventilation can result in condensation forming on the underside of the roof deck.  If you were concerned about water getting into your attic space, you probably think about the roof covering first and moisture coming from outside.  However, it is not uncommon to see moisture staining and damage inside an attic space from poor attic ventilation.

Preventing Ice Dams?

Without minimizing the potential damage that ice dams at the eaves and condensation on the underside of the roof deck can have, this is a simple problem with a simple solution.

Increasing the attic insulation and improving ventilation will keep the roof deck and roof covering at a consistent temperature, preventing falling snow from melting easily, causing ice dams at the roof eaves.  The ideal house will keep each part of its roof deck at a temperature near the outside air temperature so that there is no sudden melting and re-freezing occurring anywhere on the roof.

We will sometimes see “heat coils” installed on a roof to melt ice dams that build up over the winter.  This is an installation that treats the symptom, not the condition. Review insulation levels and ensure proper ventilation of your roofing system, to address the root-cause of ice dams on a home.

If you are interested in knowing more about the insulation and ventilation of your attic space and how these systems can affect your home, we recommend that you consider having an Energy Audit performed by the energy efficiency specialists at Scott Home Inspection.

Who among us has not felt a draft pass through their house on a windy day or been at a friend’s noticeably uncomfortable condo?  Why is one room in your house much warmer than another?  How do I make my home comfortable and keep reducing my energy bills?  How do you even define “comfort”?

It’s important to understand some building science when you are working toward improving your home’s energy efficiency which in turn will reduce your monthly energy bills.  Houses are very complicated and have many systems installed to defend its occupants from the elements, while also maintaining a relative comfort level.

If your house is uncomfortable and you are interested in correcting that, while also potentially reducing your energy bills, read on!

The Deep Dive On How To Reduce My Energy Bills

Allow me for a moment to really “nerd out”  I’m not going to tell you that in order to save energy in your house, all you need to do is install some new light bulbs.  To really get to the heart of the matter it’s important to understand the forces that your house is working against.

“Cold” is relative. What is cold to a person is only a small sliver of actual cosmic temperature differentials.  Humans are fickle and needy. We can really only tolerate temperatures in a very small window.

If anyone of us were to suddenly find ourselves standing on either the sun or the moon, you would know exactly what I mean!  “It’s cold today!”  A common exasperation, but in the most clinical terms, inaccurate.  However, it would be pretty weird to hear someone say “Boy, it sure is less warm today!” even if that is more accurate.

So how does this concept apply to your house and how does it help reduce your energy bills?  Let’s say that generally, a person wants to live in their house in the temperature range of 65 to 75 degrees and lives in a climate with a distinctly hot summer and cold winter.

The systems in your house will work to keep that comfortable and desirable temperature.  Your furnace will burn natural gas, and an air handler will cycle that warm or “conditioned” air through its duct system throughout the house.

Interested in having an energy audit performed on your Colorado home to reveal the best ways to reduce your energy bills and make your home more comfortable? Learn about our energy audit service here.

Similarly, in the summertime, your air conditioner will extract heat from your house and pump it outside.  Ah, you say! But doesn’t an air conditioner create cooler air and push that through the ducts?  That is true, but only as a by-product of the system’s purpose, which is to remove heat.

In order to wrap your mind around energy efficiency, you must understand that energy always moves from high pressure (warm) to low pressure (less warm).  Your house is waging a war against the sun.  That’s a tough fight and one that can easily be won by the sun.

In the summer, the sun heats up your house and everything around it.  Your poor little air conditioner runs its heart out to pull that heat out of your house, while the heat is unrelenting in its pressure on your house.

In the winter, your furnace runs to fill your house with warm air, which will inevitably bleed through even the best walls to return to an area of lower (less warm) pressure.

So what can we do to reduce the consumption of fuel in this endless fight with the sun?

Houses have features that limit the amount of undesirable energy transfer.

A perfectly energy efficient house has never been built and will never be built.  Energy will transfer through the house and be lost. Super high-efficiency houses can only “offset” the energy loss, usually done through the installation of photovoltaic solar systems.

So, the very best energy efficient houses have systems to limit undesirable energy transfer.  Houses use fuel to produce heat energy or remove heat energy.  A more traditional house will use natural gas to fuel its furnace and its water heater.

How effectively that furnace or water heater is able to turn that fuel into energy is outlined in the units “AFUE” Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency.

Your grandparents’ old jalopy of a furnace from the ’50s likely has an AFUE of 50% to 65% which is not great.  Imagine that nearly half of the heat energy produced in your furnace simply was exhausted through the flue!

The more typical furnace of the ’80s and ’90s could achieve an AFUE of 80%.  Better, but still room for improvement.

The highest efficiency furnaces of today can achieve 96% AFUE or better, which is tremendous if you are interested solely in the energy efficiency of the unit. Interestingly, you may notice that the 100% AFUE furnace does not and cannot exist.

Similarly, your air conditioners will consume electricity to cycle their refrigerants to collect heat from the house and exhaust it outside.

So if you are interested in improving the energy efficiency of your house, that process can begin with upgrades to the heating and cooling systems in the house – an expensive proposition, but one that can pay long-term dividends.

Higher efficiency furnaces tend to pay for themselves over time by reducing the gas energy bills. The tradeoff is that you may need to live in the house for a long period of time before you see the full refund.

However, when a furnace or water heater is older and in need of replacement anyway, this can be a perfect time to opt for the high-efficiency units. The energy bill savings can quickly pay for the small difference in the premium price.

The walls and windows and how it relates to your energy bills

Wall Insulation:

The much more practical application of building science to your house begins with Energy Retention.  We are already consuming fuel to produce heat energy or remove heat energy, so why wouldn’t we seek out ways to reduce this overall energy transfer and keep the heat where we want it?

This is where the conversations about R values and insulation kick in.  Your house is encased in a thermal boundary, a building envelope, or for people who aren’t big nerds, it is basically the walls and ceilings that provide this boundary.

For some reason, no one wants to live in a dome with no doors or windows, even if that is the most energy-efficient design.  There is a very good reason that an Inuit igloo is shaped like a dome and it is not just for simplicity of construction.

Energy can and will pass through your walls and windows.  So the fight for energy retention becomes one of limiting the transfer of energy through the thermal boundary.  So, it’s not a crazy idea to consider ensuring that your walls are well insulated.

Even a modest 2×4 wall can achieve R-13 insulation levels when properly installed.  But gravity, much like the solar energy from the sun, is a harsh mistress and will slowly weigh down insulation in the walls and create uninstalled gaps along the tops of the walls.

In older homes, insulating your walls with blow in and drill in insulation techniques can greatly reduce the transfer of heat to the exterior making your house much more comfortable. This can be done without removed drywall, but comes with a price tag. A modest 1500 sqft home will likely cost between $2000-$5000 to insulate the exterior walls with a drill and fill method.

Newer Windows:

It’s worth noting that windows are an inherent vulnerability.  Even the best triple pane low E gas super windows cannot achieve the insulating value of a very typical wall assembly. But again, no one really wants to go that far and get rid of their windows.

There is a point of diminishing returns on windows, where you will spend a huge amount of money for very little gains in energy efficiency.  Generally speaking, if your house has a double pane vinyl window, you’re okay.

However, if your house has older single pain, metal or wood framed windows that do not create a tight seal, then you are likely wasting energy from drafts and thermal transfer.

In this case, replacing the windows should be first on the list. Although windows will never be perfect, this is one of the best ways to increase the comfort levels of your home.

Heat rises, so push it back down.

Insulating an attic space can be a very cost-effective way to limit energy transfer.  If you don’t have a lot of attic insulation having a company blow in more can be one of the cheapest insulation upgrades.

If you are on an even tighter budget, you can watch some YouTube videos about how to install insulation and do it yourself, so long as you know how to safely get around in an attic space.

There are a few products in wide use today, each with their pros and cons like anything else. But an attic space insulated to R-49 (15 inches) can really make a difference in your energy bills!

One thing to watch out for and which very often gets overlooked is the ventilation of the attic space.  Your attic space needs to breathe.  Homes can be equipped with vents at the eaves to allow air into the attic and vents at the top to exhaust heat.  Air exchange in an attic space can play a large part in the overall energy efficiency of your house.

If your attic cannot vent out heat and exchange air then it will hold on to that heat, and moisture concerns could occur.  Imagine that you are asking your air conditioner to remove heat from the house but you have a huge hot blanket over all of the rooms.

It will only make your air conditioner work that much harder!

Your house may have some particular problems to overcome that make ventilation difficult, but there are products for that, too, such as a solar-powered thermostatic attic fan. These units can be installed to turn the sun into an ally and mechanically vent an overheating attic space.

Venting and insulating your attic property can amount to a huge energy bill reduction in the winter and summer!

But what about the draft!

So why is your house drafty?  Why is your friend’s condo uncomfortable?  I would ask you to think about these issues in the context of the building science principles behind these issues.

Maybe there’s a window that’s stuck open a little and you felt a draft.  That’s a simple problem with a simple solution.

Maybe your friend’s condo is hot near the rear and cold near the exterior walls. That could be a bit more complicated problem that requires some effort to correct.

The best way to find air leaks in a home is by performing a blower door test and using a thermal camera to find air leaks.

This will give you a clear picture of what needs to be sealed and can even show hidden air leaks that would not be visible with the naked eye.

But what is the best place to start on your home to reduce your energy bills?

If you are interested in learning more about your house and its energy efficiency, I recommend that you get a full Energy Assessment by a qualified professional.

We offer a comprehensive energy audit that includes a blower door test for those in the Colorado Front Range area. 

There is a lot of information out there about light bulbs, water fixtures, and photovoltaic solar systems, but I would encourage you to get a full assessment of all of your home’s systems and how these systems interact with each other.

Identifying the largest vulnerabilities in your house that can often be out of sight and out of mind can really make a positive impact on your energy bills and in your overall comfort in your house.