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Improve Your Home's Energy Efficiency
Your home consists of two
primary systems that work together to provide comfort and
shelter. Your home's heating and cooling system maintains
comfortable indoor temperatures. Your home's envelope helps hold
in comfortable indoor temperatures and provides shelter from
exterior elements. The home envelope is the combination of
materials that surround the interior space you live in including
walls, floors, ceiling, roof, windows, and doors. The quality
and integrity of your home's envelope greatly affects the
comfort and cost to operate your home.
How can improving my
home's envelope save money and energy?
The average family spends $1,900 a year on energy bills, nearly
half of which goes to heating and cooling. These costs can be
reduced by up to 20% by combining the right amount and type of
insulation, using effective air sealing techniques, and
installing windows that are appropriate for your climate.
What are the benefits of an energy efficient envelope?
Reduced drafts and even room temperatures (no cold or hot
rooms). Reduced noise transmission into your home.
Savings on heating and cooling bills. Moisture control in your
home leading to longer life of your home's building materials
and reduced incidence of mold and mildew.
Why is insulation
important?
The proper type and level of insulation for your home provides a
continuous thermal barrier minimizing heat flow through the
walls, ceiling, and floor. The result is a more comfortable home
and reduced heating and cooling costs. Installing insulation
properly is as important as the type and level of insulation
because gaps, voids, compressions, and moisture reduce the
effectiveness of insulation and allow unconditioned air to enter
your home.
What are air and vapor barriers?
Air barriers are any material used to prevent the movement of
air through walls, ceilings, and floors. Vapor barriers keep
moisture, which is often contained in air, from passing through
and condensing in walls, floors, and ceilings. Air and vapor
barriers must be installed in a manner appropriate to your
climate region to work correctly. This is always toward the
warmer side of the wall or ceiling. Remember: Check your local
code to see what is appropriate for your climate region.
Why is air sealing important?
Ceiling, wall, and floor systems with insulation generally
provide barriers to outside air coming into the home. However,
small gaps, cracks, and spaces that are not closed around
penetrations will allow uncontrolled outside air from entering
temperature-controlled spaces. You will feel air infiltration
from larger gaps as drafts that make a room uncomfortable. To
detect smaller cracks that affect the energy efficiency of your
home, you may need to hire a professional contractor who uses a
blower door and other tools to determine the location of air
leakage.
Remember: It is always a
good idea to check your hot water heater, furnace, gas stove and
other combustion appliances as well as your carbon monoxide
detectors to make sure they are in working order.
What should I know about ventilation?
Although air sealing is intended to prevent outside air from
leaking into your house, a certain amount of controlled fresh
air is important to keep the indoor air quality healthy. Proper
ventilation provides fresh air and removes stuffy indoor air and
excess moisture. Once your home is properly air sealed you
should make sure that adequate ventilation is provided. To do
this, you may need to hire a professional to conduct a blower
door test. Ventilation to remove excess moisture and pollutants
can be as simple as exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathrooms.
More complex systems can cover the entire house and may include
heat recovery, moisture control, and air filtering.
Remember: Everyday
activities such as cooking and bathing create moisture that
needs to be expelled from the house to avoid mold and mildew.
This will also help to keep the insulation dry so that it
provides an effective thermal barrier from outside conditions.
Should I install the insulation myself or hire a contractor?
There are air sealing and insulation activities you can do
yourself. A careful homeowner can often insulate attic floors,
basements, new or open walls, and crawl space walls. Blown-in
and sprayed-in insulation as well as adding insulation to a
mobile home are best left to the professional installer. It's
important to remember, however, that insulation needs proper
air-sealing to work well. And without the necessary training and
equipment, you won't know what your air-leakage is, nor if you
have combustion safety problems.
If you do choose to tackle this effort yourself, the Energy Star
Home Sealing Guide offers specific recommendations on ways you
can tighten your home envelope. You can learn more on the Energy
Star Web site.
Why should I hire a professional?
Energy consultants use tools such as blower-doors to diagnose
your house and develop a plan for the most cost-effective
measures to take in your particular situation.
What should I know if I'm going to hire a contractor?
Shop around and get several written bids for the same work (same
R-value), and remember that good quality is as important as low
cost. Get a receipt. The contractor is required by the Federal
Trade Commission to provide you with a signed receipt that shows
the R-value. Consider having the installation checked by a
third-party, energy consultant or home inspector to make sure it
has been installed correctly.
Source: U.S. DOE/EPA Energy Star Program, and Weather.com/homeandgarden
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