bumpytruck

Has anybody had this done to their home? This is were a company comes in and does a battery of test and tells you were you can save money on your energy costs. Can this service be done at no cost ? I did a search and found it to cost around $400 unless Im looking in the wrong place. I doubt that I will qualify for any freebies based on my income. And finally,is it a worth while endeavor or a waste of time and money? My house is 60 y/o and has been updated. And Im in Milwaukee Wisconsin

Totallyrad

Home depot sells a little gadget called a "Kill a Watt". You'll find it back in the lighting department, 428 plus tax. It will help you determine how much energy any plug in device in your home uses. You can enter the rate you pay for power and it will give you yearly cost. Nothing that draws more than 15 amps though. You can order it cheaper on line. Here's a Google search which includes a couple videos.

http://www.google.com/search?q=kill+...e7&rlz=1I7RNWK

wyododge

Personally I think it is a waste of your money. The will walk around with a little IR camera and show you were heat is being lost. If you have good insulation, good venting, a newer furnace and have replaced the windows you are on the right track. You can inspect your heating ducts (if forced air) for leaks at joints and repair as necessary. One place often overlooked for heat loss is where the register comes through the floor. I use aluminum tape to seal the duct to the floor. Generally they are just nailed.

Inspect all the openings of your house for air passages and fill as needed. If you feel any drafts, try to determine the origin and fix if possible. Spray foam can be a very useful tool in older homes when used properly.

The number one source for leaks (heat and cooling) is openings in your house (doors and windows). Carefully remove the trim and make sure the union between the frames of the window/door and the framing of the house is sealed well. If the 'gap is very large, use two small beads of spray foam, placing one on the house and one on the window so the two come together. Then at night, shine a flashlight from the outside to see if you can see light, and reapply where necessary.

HTH.

bumpytruck

Hey WYO thanks.The house has new windows 5y/o new doors 2' of attic insulation.The home is lannon stone. Im not sure whats inside the walls the house is 60 y/o. I have hydronic heat and the house is 2200 S.F. But when its very cold outside in December and January my heating cost is $550 a month. Im just tring to figure out if theres something Im missing. I have a 10 y/o boiler 110,000 btu.

Scotty

We had and may still have a government funded [provincial and federal] program for renovating homes to save energy.
We paid 349.00 for the assessment/evaluation before and after all that we did.
Our home was built in 1956 and had the same furnace, same windows, insulation etc from the day it was built. The only addition was R-40 batt insulation in the attic prior to the big changes. The rating of efficiency for this home prior to the big reno's was 54%. The results said that the windows and doors were 'sufficient' but would improve the savings if we did replace with better ones. The big leak was the concrete basement wall in the storage room/laundry room. It was one long wall across the back of the house.

I decided to tear off all the old siding and put 2 inch foam board insulation, house wrap and stucco on the outside. I replaced the old furnace with a high efficiency 94.6% furnace, put all new windows throughout the house, energy star argon gas etc etc. Next I did the doors and put new insulated storm doors on as well. In addition to all of this I filled every conceivable gap I could find on the outside and inside of the house...everywhere.
In the basement I did a double 2x4 insulated wall while I upgraded the electrical panel and put all of my utilities underground as opposed to the overhead lines coming in off the pole in the lane.

I reshingled the roof and put four roof vents at the top of each peak for the cottage style roof. When I did the soffits and eaves I put a 3" hole into the eave between each truss. The roof now has excellent air flow and this past summer we could really tell the difference in the house.

I also put ceiling fans throughout the house.

I know I am missing some of what I did to the house. When they came back to verify the work and assess the efficiency, we now have 84%! One more percentage point and I would have had to install an air exchange unit as I would have had the house sealed up too much.

All tolled we received a total of 11,850.00 back in gov rebates. I sourced almost all of my materials in the USA and saved 55-60% on my material costs.
I supported the USA economy.

My sister had an older boiler wrapped in asbestos. They replaced it and the new unit is about 1/4 the size of the older one. Their energy costs have been reduced by 50%.

Our gas company has called us three times asking why we are not using much gas. Our gas bill in the winter [actual usage] was 180 a month. Now we cannot break 40.00! Sask Energy had a rep come out twice to verify our readings.

I did change out our 23 yr old water heater but elected not to go with a power vented unit. The water heater is larger, much more efficient and runs on gas. I also put an R-11 insulation blanket on it.

I agree, sealing things up helps lots but if you have bare concrete in the basement, that will be where your biggest losses are. This surprised me. Thats why I went with 2x4 wall 3.5 inches in from the concrete wall. I ran vapor barrier on the concrete overlapping at the top and bottom, put the insulation in horizontally then vertically between the studs, then I put another layer of vapor barrier over top. I still have to sheet the walls.

Whew, I am typed out. Hope what I typed helps with your mission.

wyododge

you bet,

When dealing with Hydro, think heat sink. anywhere that heat is going to escape by means of material contact it will. Like Scotty WaRm LeggS said, the basement (or crawl Space) is an enormous heat sink so Do your best to isolate it.

Are the floors insulated as well?

Not sure if you have a family and kids, but not many people think about clothes dryers. all that heated interior air, blown right outside.

If the walls have not been insulated, you may consider going room by room and removing the drywall off the exterior walls and sealing and resealing them. They make very cool hard panel insulation that has an ir reflective barrier on 1 side. supposed to really help when you put it up against the exterior of the wall cavity then batt insulate interior. 'glue' it in with spray foam. This is kind of extreme, but it makes a huge difference. If you are really serious, after you take the drywall off, increase the wall thickness to 2x6 or 2x8. Then seal up and insulate.

FWIW, when I build or remodel, I put put clear plastic on the interior of all exterior walls. After I spray foam floor leaks and seal up holes for electrical and plumbing. makes a nice tight room. Makes all the outside noise go away also.

bumpytruck

HMM The basement? I did put insulation throughout the basement at the top of the walls by the wall bottom plate.But the basement is unfinished,that may be my problem! How do I check this? Like I said the house is 2200 S.F.and its a ranch so it has a 2200 S.F. full Basement as well.

Scotty

That could be a huge area of lost energy.
I would suggest that you glue/attach vapor barrier on all of the concrete walls and make sure you have a foot of the barrier overhanging at the top and bottom so that you can overlap that once the stud wall is in place. Build the wall away from the concrete 3.5", then place insulation horizontally behind the framing, then put insulation between the studs. Attach the extra vapor barrier with adhesive and staple and then put another layer of vapor barrier overtop on the inside wall and use a sealant the length of each stud and along the header and bottom to seal it off even more. Pay close attention to the space up on the floor joists too. I bet you will see a huge reduction in energy costs and a lot more comfort.

I have a very small area of about 4ft by 4 ft that is bare concrete that is very cold to the touch. This will get some 2" foam board glued to it on top of the vapor barrier as soon as I can make room in there to do it.

Our neighbor took this a step further and put a flooring that is insulated on the basement floor. I cannot remember that it was called. He also insulated the floor joists. Like Wyo said...it makes things much quieter and more comfortable for the LEGGS. You will now have doubled your usable living area and it will be very comfortable too.

bumpytruck

It will have to wait a few months till I have the funds to do it but Im hoping that this saves me some money. Thanks Guys!

Jeff in TD

Here, anyway, the local public utility company will do an energy audit at no charge.

I haven't had it done but am planning it. As I understand it they will also let you know what stuff qualifies for a rebate from them (water heater above a particular efficiency factor, for example) and what qualifies for our state's tax credit.

Mexstan

When I lived up in the frozen north I built my own house and made extensive use of aluminum foil. In the walls I placed the foil over all the insulation and then a 1" spacer between that and the wall panels. Same for the ceiling. Installed aluminum foil on top of the ceiling insulation for UV reflection.

Went against tradition and used electric heat. With all the insulation I did, my electric bills were not that excessive. In the coldest winter you could sit on the floor with your back against the wall and not feel cold. The house stayed cool in the summer too. Also defied tradition and made extensive use of very large windows, but they were all double pane. No triple pane available at that time.

The electric commission got wind of what I was doing while I was building the house and came out to see. (This was a small community where everybody knew everybody) They liked my ideas and asked permission to bring other builders around to see how to insulate a new house. Took that as a compliment.

wyododge

The exposed concrete walls are a HUGE heat sink. Unfortunately they are not insulated from the earth, so every bit of 'energy' that is above about 55 degrees is disappearing into the ground. You may raise the temp a few degrees but no more. Back n the day when we would install in-floor heat in a concrete slab, the concrete and heating loops were placed and poured on top of insulation, to create a barrier.

Not much you can do about your concrete except put down carpet. but your walls are another story.

You can check this simply by feeling the walls. They will be cool to the touch. There is blanket insulation that can be attached directly to concrete walls with powder activated fasteners. It is encapsulated in vapor barrier.

The key is isolation. If you are not 'living' in the basement, isolate it thermally from the rest of the house. Insulate the ceiling of the basement as best you can. you just need to stop heat migration from the living area to the basement. That should help a lot.

HMX-1

We haven't had it done, but we did switch out the incandescant bulbs to the much better high effiency versions. You can tell the cheap ones (Chinese made) over the better made versions because the cheap ones need to warm up to get the full amount of light from them.

We also got rid of the electric range and installed a gas version. My wife loves to cook, and we noticed a huge drop in the electric bill when we swapped it out. It raised the gas bill only a dollar or two, while dropping the electric bill by $30.

I don't think we've spent more than $60 on electricity per month since the switch.



Kris