Posts Tagged ‘insulation’

DIY: Home Energy Audit Your Crawl Space

Monday, August 15th, 2011

Part six of this do it yourself home energy audit series takes you through the audit of your crawl space.

To this point we’ve walked you through the basics of the tools, safety, systems, mechanics. We like to be pretty darn thorough, so in the spirit of going through your home from top to bottom, leaving you last time with how to go through your attic and insulation, now we will discuss how to do your own audit of your basement crawl space. Note that homes is closed crawl spaces (conditioned crawl), typically save more on energy when compared to homes with wall-vented crawl spaces.

Here are the things you should look for for per Crawlspaces.org in order to have good design of a crawl space:

Moisture management- roof run off directed away from the house, site grading directs surface water away from the house, etc. More will be touched on in the next series.

Pest control-termite inspection gap, batt insulation in the band joist.

Combustion safety-combustion appliances correctly installed and appropriately vented per manufacturers specifications.

Fire safety-air sealing of penetrations with non-porous materials, documentation of fire rating of exposed foam insulation, if applicable

Thermal insulation- insulation at the sub-floor or at perimeter wall to provide R-value required bu the local residential code. Insulation at the sub-floor installed without gaps or compression and in full contact with the sub-floor to achieve nominal R-value; insulation on crawl space access(es) of minimum of R-2.

Radon control- In areas where radon is a risk or where the local residential code requires control of radon or other soil gases, houses with closed crawl space foundations can be tested, monitored and if necessary, mitigated with the same techniques used for houses with a slab or basement foundation in the same region.

When you get your access into your crawl space, remember you will want to be wearing clothes that you don’t mind dirtying and possibly ripping, as you might have to do so- ahem… crawling. Take you flashlight and a measuring take or ruler so you can measure the insulation in your floor joists. A crawl space is much like an unheated basement. You will want to inspect your insulation levels and make sure it is installed correctly. While you’re in there, see if you can do the same game you did in the attic… find hole, fix hole; if you find a hole from the crawl space to the living area, seal it with a spray foam or caulk so that you aren’t pulling in damp air from your crawl space into you living area. Also, make note of any areas where there is sitting water, or where the ground is considerable more damp. Take a look for any leaking pipes while you’re down there! If you take away one thing from the inspection of your crawl space, you should have a fully sealed vapor retarder on the floor and perimeter walls to reduce evaporation of water into the crawl space. Crawlspace.org suggests a “6-mil un-reinforced polyethylene ground vapor retarder to avoid damage in areas that may require service equipment.”  Most crawl spaces in Northern Virginia will be where pipes are below the house. If the crawl space is an un-vented crawl space, you could be likely to collect bulk moisture in your crawl space, which could be a potential mold hazard. In this instance, using a mechanical drying system to reduce humidity would be a good option for you in your crawl space. It is easy to find water alarms to inform you of water build up in your crawl space; these “waterbugs” can save you thousands of dollars if you hear an alarm go off when they immediately sense bulk moisture in your crawl space.

You’ve gone through your house from top to bottom, attic to basement, HVAC to hot water heater. Now it is time to think about the exterior. Next time, we will chat about moisture management. We hope you’re having fun with your do it yourself home energy audit! Spread the word! Ask us questions!

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DIY: Home Energy Audit Your Attic

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

Get into your attic and discover how you can save yourself money and energy with a DIY energy audit.

We’ve covered the benefits that will come to you once you’ve completed your audit, what tools and safety requirements you need to follow and what it means to understand that your home functions as a system; you have even learned about the different mechanical systems in your home. Now it is time to get into the actual how to’s of checking out your attic space. What is your attic and why do you have it in your home. Go back to fifth grade science class. Remember when Mr. Pfaff told you that hot air rises and maybe even had you touch the air around the drafty window in the classroom. Where was that cooler air going? It was settling near the floor and that hot air was rising. Right? In the winter in Northern Virginia, when you have just paid to heat your entire house, do you want your hard earned dollars to float right out of the attic ceiling? I think the answer is a resounding “no.”

Do you want to living in a Swiss cheese house? Realize that when your home was built, more than likely the greatest of care wasn’t taken to prevent infiltration from your attic to your living space. Since hot air rises, you certainly don’t (when the cooler weather comes, and you’re spending money heating air) to pay to send your conditioned air right out the top of your house. How do you prevent this? Proper insulation and proper air sealing.

Here is a chart of the different insulation types which you may find useful:

Now that you have the basics about the insulation types and why you want proper venting, where are the details about getting up into you attic and fixing potential problems on your own. Going into your attic, is there an attic hatch that is insulated and weather stripped properly? You will want to insulate your attic hatch and weather strip it so that you aren’t letting your precious conditioned air into your attic to escape through the venting and possible holes. Look for daylight. Do you see any signs of light in the attic, make note of that, as those are areas that will require more insulation and possibly to be spray foamed. Those cans of Great Stuff that you can buy at big box stores are wonderful for jobs like this, although they can be messy. Make sure you buy the proper  product as well- there is a spray foam for small cracks, and windows and doors, and then there is one that is quite expansive. Do your homework before your just start  spraying it around. 

Now that you’re in your attic, take a look around: look at the insulation on the attic floor; do you see any darkened spots? This is where air has been traveling through from penetrations in the bottom plate from the floor below. You will need to seal that hole. We call this game find hole, fix hole. Fun, huh?! If you can get close to your chimney, if you have one, make sure that it is fully sealed all of the way around with a fire rated caulk, as this is a great place for air to leak out of the home.  In your attic, there may be an exposed attic knee wall, which is where there is no insulation applied to a space that is conditioned below. This area needs to be insulated properly with whichever type of insulation you have chosen.

Now that you have reviewed the attic and made proper adjustments to keep your conditioned air where it needs to be, next time, we will be addressing your basement or crawl space and how to inspect that space on your own. If you think that you need professional help doing any of these things, do not hesitate to ask! We are here to help. Of course, if there is anyone you know that you think would benefit from these DIY articles, certainly spread the word and share your experience.

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DIY: Home Energy Audit -The Building as a System

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

Your house works as a system. When one part isn’t working properly, the whole house doesn’t function correctly.

Remember when I said when mama isn’t happy, nobody is happy? This is pretty true for the house as a system, too. It is like when the air conditioner isn’t size properly, and it is pushing too much air out or when there is a gaping hole in the basement and air is escaping through it, and you don’t understand why it is always cold right above that spot in the dead of Winter… See- your house is a system, and it knows when something is awry. Conducting your systems check during your home energy audit will help address these issues! Here are some of the features you need to look at to ensure that your home functions as a healthy system when you do your own home energy audit.  You may have heard about people having Home Energy Raters(HERS) crawling around their houses with sophisticated tools and equipment blowing smoke here and there and everywhere, what is this stuff even doing anyway? Well, more than likely, these energy auditors are testing to see where there is air leakage from the home to outside of the home. We call this air leakage to the outside of the envelope. Let’s identify some of these things so you know what we’re talking about moving forward:

Thermal Envelope- The great people from the City of Seattle framed it quite nicely when they put together a really awesome DIY home energy audit package a few years back. We totally agree with them that “the first step in an energy audit is to understand where the boundary is between the heated and un-heated spaces in your home. This boundary is called the building enclosure, or shell. It includes the walls, ceilings and floors between the inside and the outside, as well as those between heated and un-heated spaces, such as a garage or basement. In a simply shaped home it may include just four walls, a ceiling and floor, but most homes are more complex. A heated floor becomes a porch floor, or a side attic connects to a wall. Bay windows have tops and bottoms, and skylight wells must be insulated, too. It may help to make a sketch similar to the one shown, identifying the specific configuration of your home.”

Air Leakage- This is super important to take a look at since air leakage accounts for much of our energy loss in our homes,- they say more than 1/3 of our energy loss if through air leakage!  “Since warm air rises, a heated home in winter acts like a big chimney. As the warm air rises and escapes through ceiling penetrations, cold air is pulled in from the basement, garage, or crawl space. The cold air can bring dust or pollutants with it as well as make our homes more dry, since moisture escapes with the warm air and the cold air coming in lowers the humidity in the space. Any penetration in the building shell will result in air leakage. Along with doors and windows, obvious places where cold outside air enters a home are penetrations for heating ducts, water pipes, sewer stacks, wiring, lighting fixtures, electrical switches and outlets, chimneys, ventilation fans, attic hatches, fireplaces and pet doors.”

Windows- Take a look around your window frames, make sure they are sealed with a nice continuous bead of caulk. Quite obviously, you will want your windows to be free of damage and cracks. Make note of any damage to your windows and feel for any drafts. If you need to weather strip the windows, now is the time to make note of this.

Doors Frames- Just like your windows, you want to feel around the frames for drafts. Check for any missing weatherstripping and make notes on what needs to be fixed or replaced. Make sure your doors don’t open to a room that is heated such as a garage or a room that can pull in toxic gases. This also goes for little doors for your pets.

Insulation- Talk about super-important for the thermal envelope! “Insulation slows the transfer of heat from the warm side to the cold side of a wall,ceiling or floor. Its purpose is to keep heat in during the winter and out during the summer. Placing insulation between living spaces and unheated areas produces a protective shell around your home. Insulation products are rated by their resistance to heat flow, called R-Value. The higher the number, the more effective the insulation and the lower your energy bills. Most homes in the United States built before the 1970’s are poorly insulated, if at all. Modern energy codes require minimum levels of insulation. To see if and how well your home is insulated you will be going to each area of your home’s envelope – walls, floors, ceilings – and looking at both the type of insulation installed and its thickness. Some areas may be easy to see, such as insulation in an
attic space. In other areas such as walls, you will need to probe behind the surface. If you are unable to determine the insulation type and/or depth, such as in a flat roof or cantilevered ceiling, professional insulation contractors and energy raters will be able to
investigate further with laser thermometers or an Infrared scanner. If your attic has no opening, you should make one yourself or have a contractor do it for you.”

Now that we’ve talked about what your preparations, your tools and now the house as a system, we’re going to look at the mechanical system of the house before we move on to how to inspect the spaces. We want you to be prepared to see what you’re going to see and know how it all operates together- as a happy little system! Stay tuned and let us know if you have any questions.

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DIY: Tools Needed for a Home Energy Audit

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

Getting Prepared is half the battle! Here is what you will need to get yourself ready to do your own home energy audit.

Now that you have decided that you are doing to do your own home energy audit you need to get it all planned out. Here are your next steps and tools for doing your own home energy audit!

Planning: You will need to set aside several hours to go through your whole home for this audit. Take the time for this – a weekend may be your best bet. Always remember-safety first! You will want to make sure that you are totally prepared and to go into your attic, basement or crawl space in the most safe way possible. Wear clothing that is comfortable and that you aren’t afraid to get dirty; you may possibly get some stains or tears (possibly cobwebs!) on your clothing on audit day. You will need to ensure that you are physically up to the task- you may have to climb a ladder or be in a very hot or cold space depending on the time of year your conduct your DIY home energy audit.

Tools for your home energy audit:

  • Safety gear: eye protection, dust mask, gloves
  • Pencil or pen for taking notes
  • Calculator for calculating square footage of attic and crawl space
  • Tape measure or ruler for insulation depth measurements
  • Screwdriver for removing switch plate and vent covers
  • Flash light
  • Ladder

Prepping for your audit you should make sure that you have turned off any electricity at the breaker when you are about to probe insulation near any wiring. If you see any bare wires, contact an electrician and absolutely do NOT touch any wiring. If you think you may have asbestos in your home, or you know that your insulation is fiberglass or are just unsure, wear your safety dust mask to protect your lungs from the fibers.

Next time we will discuss the building as a system… stay tuned!

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Moving Toward Net Zero – Part 2 of a Series

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

Adventures of a Home Energy Nerd continued with our Arlington based Contributor

The Energy Audit – Step One  in the Renovation Recipe

If you are reading this, you have probably already done things like switched out your incandescent bulbs with compact florescent, plugged your TV and its 500 peripheral toys into power strips, turned up or down your programmable thermostats, and made some other basic energy saving changes in your home. We will focus on some of those basic things in future articles, but for now we will take things to a different level.

Put simply, every homeowner should consider having an energy audit. This is especially important if you are considering an addition or renovation and might have access to the inside or outside of walls, ceilings, or ducts (including residing or reroofing projects) to be able to plug leaks or add more insulation.  An audit will give you the information you need to begin to turn your 1950’s Swiss cheese box into a highly efficient machine. The result should be a report that gives you specific information about where you are losing energy in your house and what actions you can take to reduce the loss.

I have to admit that energy audits were not on my radar when I began planning my addition 7 years ago. I did not have an audit performed for my house until after my renovation work was completed, when I realized it was too late to seal up some of the exterior walls of the existing part of my home. Lessons learned.

Even if you are not considering an addition or other major home improvement, an energy audit will still offer you a road-map guiding you along a series of useful energy saving improvements throughout your home.

Top 5 Things to Do or Consider Before You Start Home Renovations:

1.  Have a full Energy Audit Performed by a RESNET or BPI certified auditor who seems to know what they are doing – getting references is also a good idea.

2. Think about any walls or ceilings that you might be able to get into to make more airtight or add more insulation to during the renovation.

3.  Hire a good insulation company to make the insulation and air sealing improvements, unless you feel confident that your general contractor has experience doing this type of work (this is not too common).

4.  If replacing appliances or heating and cooling systems, choose only Energy Star rated equipment or those with equivalent energy usage.

5.  If you are married or live with a significant other, pre-order some relationship counseling for the stress that will inevitably be created in living through a renovation together.

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Nauck Community gets a Green Voice

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

Bonstra Haresign’s New Construction, The Macedonian Building on Shirlington Road, brings a deeper sense of Community and a new shade of green to Nauck in Arlington.

Situated in the thick of things, the new construction just in front of the Macedonia Baptist Church on Shirlington Road will bring a deeper sense of connectedness and community to the Village of Nauck. Architect Matthew Corell of Bonstra Haresign answered a strong call for a building that could enable low income families to live in homes that are “environmentally and community responsible”.

Part of Bonstra Haresign’s mantra is that they are “rooted in community values and collaboration [Bonstra Haresign is] a full service architecture firm committed to design excellence and client service.” They saw this community in need, and set out to achieve a building that is not only EarthCraft Certified, but also a community incubator program. Corell mentions that this 35 unit building of one and two bedroom homes isn’t just a pretty new face on the Nauck Village Center map, “The Macedonian and it’s big sister The Shelton (across the street) are the first two buildings to be developed according to the Nauck Village Action Plan and act as a gateway from the low-residential single family homes to the north and the soon-to-be density to the south and on down to the more developed Shirlington area.”  Corell and his team utilized the difficulties of the Nauck Village Action Plan (the planning and zoning for the community) to their advantage- creating a sleek, yet modest profile with some rather interesting, thoughtful touches. Note that this building is going through the rigorous EarthCraft Virginia testing to verify that the property is being built to health living standards.

From bottom to top, The Macedonian is something special for the Nauck Community. This 5 story building looks like a four story building from some angles, this is part of the zoning that provided Corell the opportunity to create something a little bit different with this building. In the first level of the building, you will find offices and “incubator” rooms for community members who are seeking to begin their own small businesses; this incubator area gives them a head start with office space to commence working on excelling. The one and two bedroom floorplans are available to families who meet specific income requirements to that they can live in a building which has been constructed to high energy efficiency and green building standards. The slight step in the building where it becomes a 4-5 story building, is an open air roof-top green space: an intricate system of sedum and other succulents called a living roof. Corell recalls this living roof would “add a center piece for the tenants and a private outdoor space that they could enjoy year round. The green roof, by LiveRoof, also has huge environmental impacts: diverting water from the local sewer system, reducing the heat gain of the building and providing an additional layer of insulation…  The upper roof is also energy efficient and is called a “cool roof” due to its high albedo rating.  It has minimal mechanical condensers and fans. ” The living roof is just one way that his team brought a beautiful and effective way to bring energy efficiency and performance to the project.

The standards that the Bozuto Construction company took in creating the Bonstra Haresign design has been that of advanced framing techniques, high performance energy efficient  insulation strategy and healthy indoor air systems through proper air sealing techniques and the utilization of a fresh air intake system for the whole property. The HVAC system is a topic that the whole design and construction team struggled with; Corell wanted a product that would allow for the fresh air intake system but would not be the typical “farm” of HVAC units on the rooftop. One of their engineers suggested the Mitsubishi unit, that they ultimately opted for after much discussion with the HVAC subcontractors who were not familiar with this type of ducted fresh air intake system. The Mitsubishi unit that they purchased is a product that is often utilized in commercial buildings, but is quite widely used in Japanese construction of all sorts. One of the many bonuses of this system is that it will “provided ducted fresh air to each unit.” On the energy efficiency front, this system “will send it’s cooling refrigerant to the condensers in the garage which will then convert this and send it to the west side. So instead of converting 100 degree air to 70, the Mitsubishi takes the 74 degree refrigerant and converts it to 70;” thereby reducing the conditioning needs since air will be constantly tempered. Something that, again, sets this building apart is the light colored roof designed to reflect light and keep the building cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, as Corell referenced before regarding the “high albedo”.

Not only is The Macedonian project an energy-efficient, low income, multi-family project in Arlington, but it is also a community development project. It’s prime location with close proximity to 395 access, a number of ART buses and even the main S. Glebe thoroughfare, The Macedonian is a great place to kick this historic community back into high gear for its inhabitants. The incorporation of a project such as this within walking distance to the historic Drew Model School, walking distance to the Nauck Town Center and even a gentle stroll to the Village of Shirlington shops, and restaurants-  is bringing new life and new opportunity to this section of the Nauck Community.

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