Energy Assessment

Home energy checkup

How much energy is your home using?

There are simple energy audits available online that you can do yourself. You can also hire a home energy auditor or home performance professional.

A home energy audit or energy assessment can help you identify how much energy your home consumes and evaluate ways to make it more energy efficient.

How does home energy audit work? A trained professional visits your house to conduct a room-by-room examination, inspecting insulation and ventilation while looking for air leaks, and checking heating, cooling and hot water equipment, lighting, thermostats, and appliances. The audit also includes a review of past utility bills and may include a blower door test and duct test

The assessment will reveal ways to make your home more comfortable and identify improvements that will save you the most money.

Leaky Windows?

Did you know that old windows can be repaired to seal as tightly as new ones?

Most of the heat lost through windows is through drafts or air leaks, not through the pane of glass itself. Be sure to repair cracked panes, cracks in the frame, and loose glazing. Add weather-stripping to seal air leaks and make your window super tight.

If your home has vinyl or aluminum windows, these can't be repaired or restored, because they are all one piece. You will need to replace them entirely if they're leaky - although you can try adding a storm window first. In fact, just adding a high-quality storm, without changing the existing window at all may be more cost effective than a full window replacement.

If your leaks seem minor, a storm window by itself may be all you need.

Blower Door

A blower door is a powerful diagnostic tool designed to measure the tightness of a building or home.

The door uses a calibrated fan that is temporarily sealed into an exterior doorway. It blows air into or out of the building to create a slight pressure difference between inside and outside. This exaggerates air leaks, making them easier to identify and measure.

If you're building a new home, a blower door test is recommended to identify leaks in the house while the home is under construction. Blower-door tests on new homes are typically conducted after the home is sheet rocked. If the test reveals problems, the leaks will be easier to fix at that point than later on.