Other Home Updates to Save Energy

Making Your Home More Energy Efficient  

Many energy efficiency problems are small and can be fixed on your own.  Read here for some simple common home problems that can save you a lot of money.

High Energy Bills. High energy bills are usually a sign that your home needs some energy-efficiency improvements.  The best way to measure your home performance is to contract with a home energy auditor to directly measure and observe the air leakage, insulation, heating and cooling systems, and appliances to get a whole-house picture.  Solutions can then be discussed, ranging from simple prescriptions such as replacing your light bulbs with ENERGY STAR® rated bulbs and turning down the temperature on your water heater, to more work-intensive solutions involving insulation, air sealing, and improving home appliances.

Hot or Cold Rooms. Temperature differences between separate rooms are common, but uncomfortably large differences in temperature may be a sign of air leakage, duct leakage, duct imbalance, radiators that need to be bled, or poor insulation.

If there are rooms that are particularly hot in the summer and cold in the winter, the best solution is to have a home auditor or contractor inspect your home. Rooms that are above garages, basements, and crawlspaces, as well as additions and attics, tend to have problems with air sealing and insulation, leading to dramatic temperature differences.

First, be sure to check that your heating and cooling equipment is functioning properly; and that the ducts are properly balanced and aren’t leaking too much air. You then might want to consider other options such as air sealing, installing more insulation or adding shades or fans to rooms that get too hot and space heaters to rooms that are too cold.

Cold Floors. Cold floors can occur in various places throughout your home, and some materials will typically feel cold to bare feet even if they are not very cold, such as tile, stone and concrete.  Even wood floors can feel cold if there is no heated space below them. Rooms over crawl spaces, unheated basements or garages are prone to having cold floors

If cold floors are prevalent, there could be a problem with the quality of the insulation in your floors, or there could be areas where poor air-sealing is allowing outside air to penetrate the floor framing.  Have a home auditor or contractor look at the insulation in your home and determine if it needs to be supplemented, or if your home needs better air sealing.

Drafty Rooms. The most obvious culprit here is leaking air.  Leaks can be found around windows, doors, light fixtures, baseboard moldings and outlet boxes.  But another problem may be the lack of insulation in one or more outside walls.  A cold wall in an otherwise warm room will set up a convective loop by cooling the air adjacent to it.  The cooler air drops to floor level and is replaced by warmer room air in a continuous cycle.  The moving air feels cold and drafty.

Leaky duct work, especially over garages and unheated crawlspaces can allow outside air to flow into the room, which cools the occupant directly.  For the best diagnosis, hire a home auditor or insulation contractor to evaluate your home and recommend ways to improve insulation and air sealing.

Ice Dams. Ice dams usually occur after a heavy snowfall when snow on your roof begins to melt due to warmth leaking from your home’s interior, and flows to the colder overhang or gutter, and refreezes.  Additional snow melt cannot reach the edge of the roof and backs up until it can leak under the shingles and into the ceiling or walls.

These ice dams can become very heavy, causing roof damage, and when they cause leaks into your home, they can also cause severe water damage.

The first sign of an ice dam is usually a water spot on the walls or ceiling in an upper room of your home. While fixing roof leaks is important, you must also get to the root of the problem, which is heat  loss and leakage. To do so, you can either hire a home auditor or contractor to evaluate your home and recommend improvements, or take the following measures:

Make sure to insulate and air seal your attic, as well as the rest of your house.
Check to make sure that the insulation in your attic is sufficient and if not, supplement it.
Provide adequate attic ventilation so that the outer roof and inner attic are close to the same temperature, decreasing the chance of snow melting and refreezing due to temperature differences.
Clean out leaves and other debris from gutters and roof overhangs so that water and ice melt can flow freely away from your roof.