Professional Energy Audit

An energy audit identifies the amount of air leakage in your home as well as those places in your home where energy is being wasted.  Our desired end result is to help you find ways to tighten up your home and reduce the energy your home needs to operate while keeping you and your family comfortable. 

Assess

While the word “audit” may sound ominous, a Home Energy Audit is just the first and best step in the process of lowering energy bills.  

Home Check Energy Audits uses a variety of techniques and equipment to determine the energy efficiency of your home. It may require several hours to a full day to conduct a professional energy audit, which starts with a home owner interview to discuss the concerns and issues with your home.  Home Check will complete a room-by-room examination and then determine the amount of air your home needs to be healthy and your home’s current rate of air infiltration.  Leaks points in the home and HVAC ductwork will be identified and attics and crawlspaces inspected for venting, moisture, air sealing, insulation and more.

Home Check uses a number of pieces of specialized equipment when conducting an energy audit.  These may include a blower door, a duct blaster, infrared camera, duct register pressure pan, moisture meters and more.

Blower Door An IR Camera Duct Blaster Moisture Meters Other Tools A Blower Door is a powerful fan that mounts into the frame of an exterior door. The blower door is also used to determine the home's air changes per hour and the size of the combined leaks in the home. The blower door fan pulls air out or pushes the air into the house, lowering or increasing interior air pressure. The air differential between the outside and the home’s interior will exaggerate air infiltration and help to identify where the home leaks. Auditor preparing to administer a Blower Door test which will de-pressurize the house.   An Infrared Camera is used to detect hot spots, cold spots and air leakage in building envelopes.  Thermographic imaging is often used when the blower door is running. The blower door helps exaggerate air leaking through defects in the building shell which are easily picked up by an infrared camera. Infrared camera identifies cold spots behind sheet rock wall indicating either missing insulation or moisture.  Dark blue areas indicate colder temperatures.   A Duct Blaster pressurizes the air ducts in a home’s HVAC system and helps in identifying leaks in both return and supply line ducts.  Duct Pressure Pans also help to determine leakage by measuring air pressure in HVAC ducts. Pressure Pan Duct Blaster   Moisture meters are used to verify whether cold spots identified by an infrared camera are actually areas of moisture penetration. Moisture Meter   Combustion Analyzer Gas Leak Detector Carbon Monoxide Detector

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Improve

The potential energy savings from reducing air leaks or drafts can be as high as 30% per year and the home is usually more comfortable afterwards.  
The first place to focus your attention is on those areas identified by Home Check where air is leaking into and out of your home and the recommendation for energy saving that come from Home Check’s energy audit.

Many improvements or repairs can be made by the home owner while others may require the services of a licensed contractor.  Caulking, plugging or sealing gaps, replacing door weather stripping and putting gaskets around electrical baseboard outlets can all be done by the handy home owner.  Additionally, there are numerous energy saving tips and cost cutting tools available today on the internet of which home owners should take advantage.  These include light bulb comparative saving charts to that show the home owner how much money can be saved by replacing incandescent bulbs with CFL.  There are also tips on saving money by using energy efficient appliances and installing insulation. 

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Save

Leaky ductwork can lower HVAC efficiency by as much as 40% and duct repair is one of the most cost effective energy efficiency measures one can make.
By sealing air gaps in the home, sealing leaks in HVAC ducts and properly installing insulation. By sealing air gaps in the home, sealing leaks in HVAC ducts and properly installing insulation you will be helping to lower your utility bills.  Additionally, these home improvements will help to increase the efficiency and life of your HVAC system.  The durability of your home will also be impacted by your energy efficiency measure. 

Higher resale value can result from more energy-efficient homes.  One survey found that 85% of the respondents believe energy-saving features add to a home's resale value.  

Home buyers purchasing an "energy-efficient" home with energy consumption that can be documented may quality for a larger mortgage than they would receive on a "conventional" home. According to the National Association of Realtors, lenders are now looking closely at the projected utility costs for a home in determining whether a "prospective" mortgagor can afford the mortgage payment. Additionally, The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) and The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) have changed their appraisal forms to include energy efficiency. While Freddie Mac has changed its purchasing guidelines to permit higher loan-to-income ratios for "energy-efficient" properties.

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Comfort

Along with enjoying lower utility bills from increasing your home’s energy efficiency your home comfort is a major benefit.

Caulking, filling gaps and adding weather stripping to eliminate a home’s drafts and temperature differences will help to make you feel much more comfortable in your home.  This is accomplished by eliminating drafts and temperature differences that make home owners feel warmer or colder than they really are.  It is estimated that 20% of heat loss in new homes and 40% of heat loss in older home is due to gaps in the homes HVAC duct work. 

Start your energy home improvement with a Professional Home Energy Audit by Home Check Inspection Services.  Call for an appointment (423) 791-1264.

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