Neighbors Helping Neighbors

What inspired you to sign-up?

We bought a house that seemed to get unusually cold in winter and hot in summer.  The electricity bills were quite high and heating/cooling bills were higher than I expected.  First I replaced all of the lightbulbs from incandescent to LED.  I installed a Nest thermostat to adjust heating and cooling when people were not home.  I installed new high quality fans to assist in heating and cooling.  But the bills were still high.  So, I bought a small Seek mobile infrared thermal camera that attaches to my phone and walked around the house at night in winter.  I saw a lot of heat leaks around the walls.  I also noticed that some of the window seals were blown due to moisture inside the double panes.  The house was a leaky mess.  

When did you conduct the audit?

We conducted the energy efficiency audit in July 2018, and performed the install of new energy efficiency measures in August 2018.  

What’s the most common question you get about a home efficiency audit from friends or family?

How much did it cost and what did you do for insulation.

How did you go about researching home efficiency audits, and selecting the company you used? And which did you select?
We met Jon Davey from Healthy Homes Contracting at Summerfest on Grand St in Croton.  

http://www.gethealthyhome.com

What did the audit cost, and what incentives were available?

I don’t recall whether the audit cost anything.  I think it was free.  I don’t recall the specific dollar value of incentives.  I believe there was both a New York State and Federal credit.

What did the audit reveal? What upgrades were recommended? And what would it cost / savings?

The audit revealed what I suspected, which is that the house was a giant sieve.  The total thermal upgrades were around $25,000.  Air was flowing in and out easily through cracks and around windows, doors, and a poorly insulated attic.  The attic floor was insulated but the ceiling was not.  The audit recommended spray foam in the attic, removing the insulation in the floor of the attic, sealing all cracks with silicone, punching holes in the exterior walls and filling the exterior walls with cellulose.  I think he also removed any old ineffective insulation in walls as part of the new cellulose insulation.

Did you go through with all of the recommended upgrades, or are you considering them in the future?  

Yes, we performed all the recommended upgrades, including a full attic installation of spray foam, full exterior wall cellulose insulation, complete edge silicone sealing, and basement spray foam insulation around edges of the house.  We also installed a Harman pellet stove in the main house, I insulated all the hot water pipes in the basement from the hot water heater, and I upgraded the windows with blown seals.  The Pellet stove and windows were probably $15,000.  We haven’t used the gas heat more than a couple times in 3 years.  I spend about $1,500 a year on pellets for heating.  I was a little worried that the new insulation would cause the walls to blow up, but there were no ill effects.  We had to move out for about a week while the work was done.  The house looked like it was hit by rockets during the installation with all the small holes drilled, but when it was done there was no indication that anything had taken place.  It was remarkable.  I was worried about toxic fumes, but when we came back there was really no odor and I had no allergic reaction.  Jon sent me all the MSDS information on the insulation to address my concerns about the safety of the insulation.

How have your energy bills changed after the upgrades?

The bills for heating and cooling are a lot lower.  We noticed an immediate reduction in cost.  Once the temperature is above 50 degrees outside, we seldom need the heat.  In summer our cooling costs are much lower.  The house has central air conditioning, which runs a lot less after the upgrade.  The gas bill has dropped to very little, as we now use the pellet stove to heat the entire house.  Because of the insulation a single pellet stove easily heats the entire house.

If I were compare the bills from 2018, after the upgrades it was probably around 40% to 50% of the pre-insulation costs.  Prior to insulation I recall having monthly bills above $500.  After insulation, and pre-pandemic permanent work at home, I recall the bills being around $250-$300 for the same monthly periods.  So it was between $2k and $3k per year of savings.  It is an investment with long term payoff. 

What did you wish you knew before signing up for a home efficiency audit?

How much old houses leak.  This house is from 1953.  The insulation in the walls from 1953 was barely there, so essentially the house was uninsulated.  I would imagine most older houses are effectively uninsulated.  Newer houses are probably insulated, but depending on the contractor the insulation is likely not stud to stud, and the edges are probably leaking.  It is hard to build a house that is well sealed and I do not feel most contractors are focused on energy efficiency.  

Would you recommend a home efficiency audit and would you recommend the company you used?

Absolutely.  The audit was a real eye opener, and Healthy Home Contracting was terrific, respectful of the house, and easy to work with.  The house is close to a passive house, but not entirely there.  If we went full passive, we would need a system for dealing with humidity and air quality, but there is still a little bit of airflow so it is close to passive.

Anything else you’d tell a person considering this audit?

I wish I had done this long before I did.  The house was bleeding my heat and air conditioning into the atmosphere.  One side benefit that we did not know about which is important right now is the complete reduction in noise.  The insulation in the walls turned the house into a quiet acoustical chamber.  Whereas before we would hear the trains, cars, buses, neighbors cars.  Now it is quiet inside.  Since I have been stuck at home for a year working in a home office, the quiet is really helpful.  We even hired the Healthy Home folks to come back a year later and insulate a wall between two bedrooms so I would not have to hear my kids at night.  

For more information on Patrick Turner’s experience, email him at pmturner1@yahoo.com