Weatherizing not what it used to be
Every November I wonder: Why would anyone in his right mind build a home in this climate with exterior walls made of two puny rows of bricks?
Where, I ask, is the insulation?
It’s cold in Denver seven months out of 12. Even 90 years ago, when my house and many others like it were built, you’d think contractors might have stuffed a few moose hides in the cracks or figured out a better cold buffer than two measly rows of bricks.
I call Joe the Energy Guy.
His real name is Joe Hall, and he works for Sun Power Inc., which weatherizes homes for the Governor’s Office of Energy.
“Fuel was cheap back then,” Hall speculates. People lacked incentive to insulate.
This winter, you can expect to pay $899 to heat your house with natural gas .
But the real bone-chilling statistic is this one: The average home leaks 50 percent of its (heated) air every hour, according to the local Smart Energy Living Alliance.
Hall gave my house a quick once-over, and here’s what I learned:
* Forget your quaint notions about a little plastic sheeting over the windows. It may eliminate a draft, but in the scheme of things, plastic is a Band-Aid, as are caulking and weather-stripping. Today, the heavy lifters in weatherization are superior insulation, energy-efficient appliances and tough building codes.
* Heat rises, cold air sinks. So a home loses most of its heat through the roof.
The goal is to keep your heated air from escaping, or as Hall puts it: “We don’t want the (heated) air to be able to communicate with the attic. We want to create a thermal boundary between heated air and unheated air outside.”
* Heat also rises through interior walls, and if they aren’t sealed on top, they’ll conduct heat right up and out the attic.
* My recessed can lights are leaky and costing me loads.
* My old, forced-air furnace is only 65 percent to 70 percent efficient. A new one, at $3,000, would likely reduce my energy costs 12 percent to 30 percent and pay for itself in five years, says Hall.
* The batting insulation in my attic looks like it’s been hit by a tornado. Hall says that the batting needs to be snug between the joists and that my hatch has zero insulation.
* There is no silver bullet for my old brick walls. Hall tells me I could “fir in” new walls inside and insulate them, but I’d give up a lot of living space and the job would be expensive.
Hall also answered the following:
1. The three biggest sources of heat loss in the typical home in Denver: uninsulated walls; under or poorly insulated attics; leaky ducts in attics or crawl spaces.
2. Biggest mistake people make when they try to conserve on heating bills: Closing registers on forced-air systems (in unused bedrooms, for example). This causes the furnace to overheat and wear out faster.
3. If I buy new energy-efficient windows, how much will they reduce my heating bills? All I will say is that they will not pay for themselves in energy savings for many, many years. A better investment would be to upgrade the heating system or replace old appliances.
4. What are the best simple steps to lower energy bills?
* Turn down your thermostat.
* Change or clean the furnace filter once a month.
* Use compact fluorescent light bulbs.
* Close the damper on a fireplace when not in use; the stack effect will rob your home of expensive, conditioned air.
5. What is the biggest misconception about how to save on your heating bills?
Weather-stripping doors and caulking. Doors and windows are on the neutral pressure plane where very little heat loss takes place. Air seal at the top and bottom of the thermal boundary, the attic and the sub-space.
6. Biggest mistake people make when it comes to insulation: Not installing it properly. It needs to be level and continuous to be most effective. Attic hatches need to be insulated, too.
7. Cost of professional energy audit: $300 is a good average. Energy pros can guide your decisions and help maximize your savings-to-investment ratio.
8. In order of impact, things a person can do to improve the heat-retaining ability of a home. Cost is no object:
Insulate the walls, replace old heating systems, replace old appliances with ENERGY-STAR-rated ones, add insulation to attics and sub-spaces, seal and insulate the duct system, blower-door guided air sealing (a blower-door depressurizes a space to detect leaks). If you have the money, add some solar heating.
9. Where can I get good information about insulating my house? The Governor’s Energy Office: 303-866-2100, colorado .gov/energy.
Next week: Utility shutoffs are up in this weak economy. But several programs, including LEAP, the Low-income Energy Assistance Program, are helping.
