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For those interested - Energy Audit - long
We had an energy audit done on Monday through the Better Buildings/WMEAC. It was a great experience and I would highly recommend doing it if you have the chance. There will be 5 other neighborhoods in Grand Rapids offered the $50 energy audits with free energy efficiency upgrades. If you are not part of the neighborhoods included in this program, you can contact your energy company and they can perform an audit for you for a higher fee.
There was a team of 5 contractors who went through our home with caulk, spray foam and an infrared camera. They took pictures with infrared camera of every wall, window and door. We have a 95 year old home, so it was interesting to see what walls had insulation and the difference in heat loss between our original windows we are going to preserve and the new windows that we have put in. They gave us energy efficient shower head and faucet attachments, spray-foamed/caulked draft spaces around windows and wrapped some pipes. We also now have a bunch of CFLs to replace our old incandescent. bulbs.
At the end of it, the head contractor walked through the house with us to point out some areas where we can make improvements. We also had a sit down with him where he went through a report he complied for us on our energy use in the house. The report included most of the infrared images and a prioritized list of what he recommended we should do. Some of it would require a professional, but most of it was DIY stuff.
I was so impressed with the work they were doing. This all took place during Henry's nap and they were so quiet it didn't disturb him at all. Plus we got to meet Matt Grocoff who owns the oldest net zero energy house in the US. His house will actually start producing energy to put back on the grid sometime this spring. How cool is that?! He was producing a video to promote this initiative and interviewed us for it. I'll be very interested to see how it turns out.
Re: For those interested - Energy Audit - long
Ok, I'm a geek for saying this....I'm jealous!!!
Do you know if they have announced the five other areas.
That's sounds awesome. I wish we were in an area that they were doing the audits. I did an online audit thru DTE and received a free kit filled with a shower head, some pipe wrap, electrical outlet plus, and a few other things.
We know our house has very little insulation. There is no house wrap insulation and no insulation in the walls either. I think there is 6-9" in the attic but that is it. We put new windows in the upstairs but the downstairs are original to the house and we don't want to replace them.
That's so neat! Thanks for the report!
Our house is only 6 years old, but I know we have at least a couple of drafty windows. We heard a rumor that the windows were put in incorrectly (or something like that) in several houses in our neighborhood. We haven't figured out what to do about that though.
gvsu - I tried to get out of them the other areas they are extending this to, but the lady from WMEAC was really tight lipped about it. They haven't been confirmed, but she did say Riverside Park would be next. If I were you I would call them and say you heard about the program and would like to request that your street be considered for it! It can't hurt to ask and they want the program to be a success so you never know.
Deeder - Matt said that you can refurbish old windows - you will keep the original trim, frame and glass and apparently make them as usable and efficient as a new window. He claims he can open his 110 year old windows with his pinky.
We had no idea before we replaced our living room windows. They had no character except for dirt. Our dining room windows on the other hand are very special and we would never replace them. We are going to look into the refurbishing for those. Both Matt and the contractor said the refurbishing costs a fraction of what a new window would - but I think that depends on the window and if you are willing to live with a piece of plywood until your window is finished.
Kasa- That is too bad about your windows. For ours, they just suggested a clear caulk around the outside of the window frame. They showed us a trick with painters tape to get a really clean line and it should just be that simple to seal out the draft. Hope yours is as easy to fix!!
I'm going to talk to my maintenance man (a.k.a. DH) about this. Thanks for the tip!