Energy audit and weatherization followup

Posted by Matt

Does anyone remember my post about energy audits? I can't believe that it has been three months already, but I finally have enough information to report out on the results of our audit and what we did about them. I anticipate this will be a long post, but I'm going to spell out the details of:

• how we went about getting the audit done


• what energy-saving measures we decided to implement


• how we got INCENTIVE CHECKS from the government


• and how much energy we are saving so far

...so I hope that the long read will be worthwhile.

Step 1: Set up the energy audit

The best place to start is probably your local gas and/or electric company. We contacted a local non-profit called Energy Trust and scheduled with them.

Step 2: The audit itself

On the morning of our scheduled audit day, I was surprised to see several huge electric utility trucks (with bucket cranes) pull up outside our house. It turned out that they were NOT part of the audit, but were just coincidentally there to work on some power lines. Whew. Our auditor showed up on time in her own car. She worked independently and it only took a few hours for her to go through the whole house. In addition to energy auditing, she also did some tests on our water system because Energy Trust has a partnership with our local water company. Before I tell you the results, I just want to point out again that there was NO charge for any of this.

The water audit:

• We received several new (free) sink faucet aerators to save water.
• The auditor found a leaky toilet tank flapper (using dye pellets) in our hall bathroom and replaced it.

The energy audit:

• The rooms that we reported the coldest were (surprise) the ones that had the least insulation above them in the attic.
• The crawlspace was completely uninsulated except for under the addition.
• At least one exterior wall at the front of the house lacked insulation.
• Some of the older heating ducts were not sealed at the joints and were not insulated. I learned that as much as 25 percent of the heat from a forced-air heating system may be lost through leaks in the ducts.
• Our laundry room is especially cold and we discovered that it is completely uninsulated, open to the crawlspace (via the washer pipe runs), and open to the outside via an open dryer vent.
• Our hall bathroom was being vented to the attic instead of the roof (which can lead to rotting wood from the moisture).
• We could save money by installing CFL bulbs and received 6 for free. They start off very dim unfortunately, but then get brighter the hotter they get. The bulbs in enclosed cans in the ceiling got especially bright, but we learned they would probably burn out more quickly as a result. The bad news is that we will have to take them to a local recycling center for recycling because of the enclosed mercury. I also asked about LED lights, and was told they are still a bit too expensive to be worthwhile. (Read my "In Search of the Frugal Bulb" post for my report on that.)

Step 3: Determine which recommendations to implement

Insulate crawlspace - This was the biggest no-brainer. It has one of the highest payback rates and we could expect a good gain considering that we didn't have any insulation under the floor. Also, most of our uninsulated plumbing was installed close enough to the flooring that it would be covered by the insulation, too.

The only bad part of this was that one of previous owners had left almost three hundred glass bottles of water in the crawlspace (don't ask me why) and we had to spend several hours hauling them out before the contractors would work down there.

Insulate attic - The areas of the attic above the additions were already fully insulated, but we had some other areas with only a little bit of insulation and some areas with none at all. We decided to bring it all up to an even level. Two separate contractors both told us that that they would have to route the bathroom vent to the roof to meet code requirements, so we threw that in also.

Air and Duct sealing - there are expensive tests that can be done that involve hooking a blower fan up to the house and the duct system to determine how much of your heated or cooled air they are allowing to escape, but we elected against having these done. The maximum rebates would not pay for the test itself and the insulation contractors were going to do all the patching work anyway (seal the penetrations in the floor and ceiling and seal the duct joints with mastic and tape).

The process of insulating the walls involves cutting a hole in the interior drywall between every pair of studs and blowing insulation in, so we elected NOT to have that done until we are ready to repaint.

I also thought we should invest in some heavy drapes, which the auditor said would reduce heat loss from our large windows, but my wife felt that the house would be too dark and depressing.

I did a few other easy jobs myself. I put some weatherstripping ($3) on the bottom of the door between the laundry and family rooms, which blocked the cold draft coming through. I also replaced the external dryer vent with one that has a valve to keep cold air from coming in that way ($8).

Step 4: Locate a contractor and have the work done

This was pretty easy. Energy Trust provided a "trusted ally" list, so we had a few come out to the house. Their estimates were close, so we picked the one that could get the work done the most quickly: All Weatherization. They had two teams come in (one in the attic, one under the house) and got the whole job done in a day. The total cost was just over $2500.

My only complaints were that their compressor kept tripping a breaker on the circuit that our router was plugged into and that their was a terrible smell after they left. I think it was from the mastic they used to seal the ducts. I'd recommend having this work done in the spring or fall, if possible, so that you can leave the doors and windows open.

Step 5: Submit incentive requests

Energy Trust offers several rebates and all we had to do was fill out and fax in a single form (Form 300A) along with a copy of our contractor's invoice within 120 days of installation. I spoke with an Energy Trust rep yesterday who gave me the breakdown of what we will actually receive.

• Duct insulation: $100 (50% of installation cost up to $100)
• Attic insulation: $375 ($.25 per square foot)
• Crawlspace insulation: $675 ($.45 per square foot)

Grand total: $1150 or about 45% of the total cost!

The check should arrive in mid-February, which works out to about 6 weeks from submission time and included a brief delay in getting our contractor to confirm that he had been (promptly) paid.

Note: We didn't apply for the duct sealing rebate because it required the expensive testing I mentioned above, but if you're interested, the incentive is $1 per CubicFeetMinute reduction (max $400).

Step 6: File for tax credits

Not surprisingly, figuring out the tax rules was one of the more complicated parts of the process. After several phones calls and visits to the IRS website, I determined that we could receive a federal tax credit for 10% of cost of materials ($140 for us) by submitting IRS Form 5695. I've added that in to the pile for our accountant to deal with.

There is an Oregon state tax credit (25 percent of the eligible cost, up to $250) available for duct sealing, also. The process is to submit an Oregon Department of Energy application form (provided by the contractor) and we then get a certificate that shows our credit amount. We claim that and just retain the certificate for audit documentation. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the contractor had to be certified by the Oregon Department of Energy, so we won't claim this on our return.

Step 7: Monitor ongoing savings

Of course we are hoping that this project will pay off in the long run, so we're keeping an eye on the bills. I called the gas company and was able to convince them to at least tell me that the previous owners' highest bill in 2007 was $247.18 (184 gas units) in January. We just received the January 2008 bill and it was $184.27 for 129 gas units. We used almost 30% less gas than previous owners, so I hope that at least some of that was because of the insulation and not just because they ran the gas fireplace constantly or kept the thermostat at 72.

I'll have to check the electric bill in the summer also, to see how much we save on AC.

Step 8: Enjoy a cozier home

We were really hoping to make a big difference in this area, but unfortunately we still have a few cold rooms. We've since discovered that our relatively new furnace is undersized for size of the house. My only guess is that it was installed just prior to the remodel that added several hundred square feet, but I haven't confirmed that yet. We're still working on this one, so if you want to read a REALLY happy ending, let me refer you to Clark Howard's write-up of his weatherization project.

The final test is for me to ask myself "Am I glad I went through this process?" I would say yes, with the caveat that anyone else considering it should be willing to put in a fair bit of effort and really run the numbers to determine which weatherization measures make the most sense for their individual situation.

Hopefully this post will help you through the process.