I read a summary of a study done about the state of energy efficency in our homes. Most Americans want more efficient homes, because they want to reduce their energy bills. Most of us do one thing towards this goal, maybe two. We insulate; we caulk, sealing air gaps. Our bills see minor improvement, so we think this energy efficiency kick might not be worth it. If we are trying, we go for one more effort to reduce our electric bill: compact flourescent lighting. Sounds great. The electric bill still does not see much improvement. The study found to significantly reduce our bills that we need to do four things towards energy efficiency. I might suggest that youseal your air ducts.

   On one home inspection, I did not mind being in that hot attic, because I was feeling the cool breeze. The breeze was not from a windy day; the air duct had a hole. Cool air was gushing out. I have even found attics that were being cooled by ducts that were cut in half. I read a report that improperly sealed ducts cause 20% to 30% loss in energy efficiency. This is a large loss. Most of the leaking air is not from obvious holes or disconnected ducts, but from improperly sealed ducts. There is a new product on the market, which could be the best way to seal our ducts. The principle is simple. The substance is floated through the ducts, and clogs up the holes that it finds.  This is probably not a do it yourself method. My own method was to create a new sheathing to cover my old ducts. I have the older, rigid ducts in my home. Since they are not damaged, I do not need to replace them with the modern flexible ducts. I use a radiant barrier material for the sheathing. Here is how I install this sheathing:
1)I measure the size of the duct diameter. A flexible tape measure such as used by tailors works well. You can take a piece of string. Wrap it around the duct, marking the diameter.
2) While the radiant barrier is still in its original roll, I measure out the length of the duct, with an additional three to four inches for overlap. I cut the material with a handsaw.
3) I unroll the radiant barrier to wrap it around the duct. Here is the hard part. Your duct should be supported by straps, so the duct does not sit on the insulation. Lifting the duct up to slide the new sheathing through is not always an easy task, particularly in a tight fitting attic. I wrap around the straps. I cut slits into the sheathing material to fit the barrier on each side of the strap. I then use HVAC tape to tape up any openings. The overlap is pulled tight, and I tape the overlap with HVAC tape. Why HVAC tape and not duct tape. HVAC stands for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, and having the right material for the job ensures a better job. I am not sure why, but I have seen duct tape peeling off from ducts and plenums when used in this application.
4) The ducts obtain their conditioned air from the supply plenum. This is the big box after the evaporator coil (the metal box with a safety pan to catch water underneath it). Use the tape to seal the new sheathing to the plenum. If the plenum has leaks, you can use the radiant barrier as a new sheathing for this part of the system too. Remember to seal with HVAC tape.
5) The last step is often skipped when I find that ducts have been sealed during my home inspections. The duct attaches to a box for the vent into your room, called a register. The box will probably need a new sheathing or at least sealing with tape. When energy was cheap, builders and homeowners were not concerned if ducts had little insulation, or if there sealing was not entirely complete. If there were no obvious signs of problems, then they did not seal tightly.

The radiant barrier does act like an insulation. Most new homes have ducts with insulation that has a R-6 value. That is basic. A value of R-8 is better, and you can find this amount in new homes. The radiant barrier adds about this amount. In a climate like Houston, you may wish to go a bit higher in insulating value. You could add more insulation over the Radiant barrier if you want to go a little better. This would also have to be taped with the HVAC tape. My attic is a tight fit in several places, and this poses my greatest challenge. However, leaving the ducts unsealed is noticeable. Of the air ducts which I have sealed, I find the temperature coming out of the duct is hotter during heating months, and the temperature is cooler during the cooling months. I did not think that I had much of a sealing problem. I felt the problem in my case was poor insulation. What I discovered was that older ducts which may appear to be sealed well still need help.

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When I began my home inspection career, I was told that one should never insulate a gas hot water heater by other home inspectors. I noticed that insulation kits for water heaters also had this warning. I wondered though. The concern was that the insulation would come into contact with the gas flame, so the insulation becomes a fire hazard. If the insulation was kept away from possible burning situations, could we insulate? The experts stated that there was no safe way, but ideas changed.

   You can insulate your gas water heater if you are careful. My reasoning for doubting the advice had to do with other thinking on appliances that contain fire, especially fire places. In the case of fire places, you have an opening that could allow a flame to spill out. Flammable material can be around a fireplace opening, but the flammable material needs to be kept away from the opening. I thought that the same idea should apply to a gas burning appliance. Many newer gas water heaters have enclosed burner compartments, so the insulation question rises up again: how will the flame come into contact with the insulation? At the time that I noticed more of these water heaters in homes, I saw suggestions that you could insulate gas water heaters, but the instructions were not clear.
    In the above photograph, we see insulation on a gas water heater, but there is a problem. If you have a burner compartment which is sealed, you can insulate closer to that opening. If your water heater has a burner compartment that can be accessed by moving plates, you will want to keep the insulation away from this opening. The problem in the photograph is different. I am showing insulation around the vent area, which you do not want to do. Why? There are two reasons: 1) again concern over flammable materials being close to an ignition source; and 2) air flow. The vent at the top of the gas water heater has an opening to allow air to flow into the vent to help with combustion air escape the home. The vent is a tube from the burner compartment going through the water tank. There is a possibility of flames coming through this vent. The other problem is that heat from the vent can cause a flammable material, like insulation, to ignite. For this reason, you want to keep insulation a safe distance from this vent. Another reason is not too obvious, and that is concerning air flow. Some energy efficiency experts studying the problem, have found that insulation could effect air flow, which means that maybe combustion gas is not exiting your home as intended. With both of these reasons, the suggestion is not to insulate the top of your gas water heater.

    While we are on the topic of insulation and water heaters, we should touch upon one more idea to save energy. In the second photograph, you see the hot water line. This line consists of the metal line and the red PEX line. You do see some insulation on the line, but it is not on properly. Usually, we like to see the first six feet of the hot water line insulated. My preference (and what I did do in my own home) is to insulate all visible hot water lines. Again, there is the concern of a flammable material being near this top vent, so most installers hold back a bit from placing the insulation to near the opening.
    Does insulating help? The greater the insulation keeping the heat in the water heater will help prevent energy loss through the walls of the appliance. There is a point where too much insulation loses its effectiveness. The other factor is maintaining the water heater by draining it every so often to rid the unit of mineral build-up. I do feel that insulating the water heater should be a practice that all should include in their home. 

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You may have heard the term U-factor when shopping for energy efficient windows. The lower U-factor is the best option. What does that mean though. If you are interested at all in energy efficient buildings you may be seeing this value mentioned more often. We are applying this value to more than windows. Am I suggesting that homeowners be able to calculate the U-value of their building envelope? No. I do think that you should understand the concept as it is being applied more to home construction.
    I realized that building professionals throw out terms that homeowners do not understand when I began as a home inspector. I try to avoid confusing clients, but sometimes you have to use the proper term. Sometimes I am lulled into believing that a term is so common that homeowners understand it. I was giving a lecture when I mentioned what the R-value for insulation in the attic should be. That is when someone stopped me. They knew that the R-value was associated with insulation, but what was it, so I had to explain what the significance of an R-value meant. I did not mention U-value at that speech, but I realized that could be more confusing. I also realized that attaching a meaning to R-value would make the importance of what your R-value is.
    The U-factor and R-value are related in a simple way, and they are connected to another value, the K-value. The K-value is a measure the rate of heat conduction through a piece of material that is one inch thick and is one square foot. We refer to the K-value as conductance. If we are speaking of the conductance value of a specific material, we call it the R-value. We refer to this as thermal conductivity, which we refine by taking the material with the one inch thick and one square foot dimension, but we measure the flow of heat when there is a one degree Fahrenheit difference in temperature on the two sides of the material  over a period of one hour. We can also call this the thermal resistance of the material, so that is where we get the “R” of R-value. If we want to calculate the U-factor, all we have to do is find the inverse of R-value (U= 1/R).
    If the R-value and U-factor are so closely related, why do we need both figures? The U-factor tells us something different, and it functions differently. I can add R-values together to find the total R-value. I add an R-26 insulation over an R-30 insulation, I obtain an R-56 (R30+R26=R56). This does not work with the U-factor. Also, an R-value is associated with a specific material. A U-factor can be calculated for a combination of materials. With K or R, we find out the rate of heat conducting through a material. With U, we find out the amount of heat that is transferring through the material. Knowing the amount of heat amount transferring helps us to calculate the power and energy needed  for heating. This is done by looking at the heating load (q) which is calculated by multiplying the U-factor by the area of the structure by the difference in the design temperature and the desired indoor temperature. Design temperature for heating is looking at a temperature that is equaled or exceed most of the time(97.5%) in the winter months. This is great if you live in a cold climate, but in warm climates, like Houston, we have to look at the power and energy used during a summer months, since we will use more energy to cool our homes. Again, knowing the U-factor of our walls, ceilings and floors will help us calculate our energy requirements. In either case (concern of heating or cooling), a lower U-factor means less energy being used.
    Since the R-value does not help us calculate the energy needed for the home, we will see more people in the building industry refer to U-factors. Building scientists are already referring to U-factors more often when discussing energy efficient homes. The popular new energy efficient building standard, PassivHaus or Passive House, relies on achieving a certain U-factor rather than stating install a certain R-value with the insulation. One thing to note about this standard is that it was designed for a colder climate than what I have in Houston, so this standard will not work out of the box for my home. However, there are individuals looking at how these standards can be converted to apply to these warmer climates. What I do like about discussions of the U-factor is we are getting away from simply discussing insulation. We are realizing that good design with a comprehension of how materials work together can build a better house.
    Lastly, I wanted to mention a simple test that I did on my own home which may help you with some of your own energy efficiency plans. This test was loosely connected with my studies of how I would apply U-factor calculations in my home conversion. I tested the surface temperatures of walls, ceilings, and floors on the exterior and interior of the home during the course of a day. I found that my walls were slightly effected with small changes in surface temperature as we moved into the hottest part of the day. The floor was also little effected (I have a slab on grade foundation). Ceilings were another matter. My roof has a low pitch, which makes movement in the attic difficult. Little insulation is over the edges of the home. I found temperature differences of more than 10F in surface temperatures in interior ceiling surfaces within a distance of three feet. Exterior surface temperatures were consistent. The hotter spots had roof surfaces closer to the interior ceiling surface and less insulation due to my not getting into the edges of the attic area. What does this do for my energy efficiency? Well, these hot surfaces help deliver the exterior heat into the home, which makes the cooling system work harder, reducing energy efficiency. I am continuing to look at these temperature differences. Of course, wall penetration areas, like doors and windows, have greater problems. This is why U-factor is important in discussion about windows, and why the average homeowner will encounter the U-factor when window shopping.

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If you ask a contractor in the building industry how much more will it cost to make a green home, they will shoot out the figure of 10%. In how many years will you recoup this money, and you will hear numbers ranging from 5 to 10 years, unless we are discussing solar, and then you will hear 20 years. We have it down pat. We will even tell you that installing new windows is the last thing you should do, because of the cost to benefit ratio. Other projects offer you a greater return on savings for less money invested. Moreover, you may now hear that having a green home is only for the wealthy. In fact, I have heard people suggest to others in the building industry that we should focus only on those people earning more than $100,000 per year, since they are the only ones who can afford to be green. There are solid reasons to accept these figures and to focus on the wealthy, but looking at one set of factors can obscure the entire truth. A green home is affordable.
    Most figures that we throw out about the costs of building or remodeling green have unfortunately become standardized. We moved away from green designs with the advent of cheap power. This allowed us to build homes that did not need to rely on passive design techniques to heat and cool the home, because we could do this through appliances that were inexpensive to run. When we faced an energy crisis or an increase in energy rates, we found people advocating energy efficient designs. This was the green movement. Any movement over time becomes more formalized, which led to organizations including manufacturers or to academics developing standards. To sell this idea to the public, they had to give examples that an average consumer could comprehend, hence the standardized figures. Most figures that we quote come from the 1990s, and things have changed.
    You would expect cost to go down for a product as technology advances or more people begin to purchase it. Yet this does not seem to be the case with green products. We see signs on the horizon that this will happen as cheap manufacturing takes over on some green items, like solar panels, but some items we expect to be high, because of quality or craftsmanship. However, the higher price for green may simply be because we are calling it green. Green as a brand indicates higher quality at a higher cost. I will not deny that there is truth to green being of a higher quality or a higher cost, but I do question how high. We may be artificially raising the price to meet consumer expectation.
    The building industry has an incentive to place higher values on a green home. They need the income. If we examine which homes are selling in the marketplace, we find that the middle price range homes are not moving. Home buyers are either looking at homes in the lower price range, such as foreclosures, or at the high end homes. At the lower price range, we have so much housing stock available that why should builders try to compete. At the higher end though, there is money to be made. If I am going to be paying over $300,000 for a home in the Houston market, I would want it to be energy and water efficient. I would want it to be of a good quality. Basically, I would be looking for a home that fits in with the green label. If I am going to build a home, I would want to obtain the best price, so the green label seems quite appealing.
    If the consumer has the 10% figure in his head, why not let him continue to believe that figure. I feel that every builder has announced a new green initiative, and somehow these plans are connected with more expensive homes. Yet, if you search for a bit, you will encounter design-build firms showing off homes that are not fitting into the high cost green home. Even building to the toughest standards, you will find them stating that they are achieving these accomplishments at only costs less than 5% higher than standard buildings. You will discover homes built in the middle price range which meet high green standards. One factor is to be clear about the building before construction starts. Another factor is making the right product choices. This is done on most jobs, so the 10% number is not always accurate. As for when will these products pay for themselves, you may want to revisit that idea as well. For one, energy and water prices have been rising. If the products have been getting better, and prices held at least steady, the payback should be sooner. The question of return on investment is a bit harder though. A homeowner may use more appliances (or more often) with the thought that this is alright, because I have a green home. Usage plays a big factor in considering when you will have saved the money that you paid. I think we have to move away from looking at return on investment, since this number is too variable.
    Can you afford a green home or green home remodel? Focusing on high income earners makes business sense in this down economy, but I think this is a mistake. The average homeowner can afford a better home. They need better homes. We should be finding ways to provide them with these homes, which would mean providing better information. If you are looking at a green home remodel, you may want to plan out steps. Ihave been on my journey for a while. I have always had a green aspect to my life, but really working on a home conversion began when I started writing about my efforts. I am not done. In fact, I am not sure when I will be done, because I think that there will be always new things to do or try. A green home may be an ongoing process. I take on a project when I can afford it. I am at the stage of replacing appliances, while still completing some earlier tasks. I think that we are at a crossroads. We have certain elements wanting to say that green is expensive, while other entities want to push the idea that everyone should take steps to be more green. Now would be a good time for education, so we know why and how we can improve our homes. Green homes are affordable.

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During a time of high wind gusts about a month ago, the power went out in my neighborhood. I am not sure as to the reason for the outage, but we did have the power come back on in a couple of hours. The power did return and vanish a few times during this outage. One reason for that may have been a peak demand at the return of the power which caused the system to shutdown. When the power went out, my wife’s first reaction was to turn everything off. I was not as concerned, since most electric users in my house are on power strips which had been turned off already (we turn them on when we need to use an appliance, like the television). The big power user that did need to be turned off was the air conditioning, so I did go over to set that unit into the off position. This habit helps the utility company to restore power, and I noticed that most of my neighbors did not do the same as we did. A home energy management system would accomplish this function without the need for our intervention.
    What is a home energy management system? This is a growing market which will be the wave of the future in residential home construction. Some form of energy management programming has been in place in commercial buildings for years, but we are now incorporating these concepts into our homes. Programmable thermostats is the most basic way to manage energy usage of our biggest home energy user; however, think how much more efficient this could be if there was an over viewing program looking at our entire home. We could refine all of our energy consumption. Taking this a step further we could connect our home to the grid where energy usage for an entire area is overseen. A utility company could shut down that air conditioner to prevent a blackout, but they could also do it to save you money. A proper home energy management system connects your home’s appliances to a monitoring program that ensures you are using energy wisely, and this program can be monitored by the utility company to produce the best results. The interface with the utility company is the factor that has some people up in arms over these programs; however, these systems do have overrides.
    Utility companies and homeowners who have opted into using home energy management systems in the San Antonio area have reported that this has reduced the electric bill of users around 10%. I feel that this may be the tipping point for many homeowners. Electric bills in Texas sore during our summers, since we rely so heavily on air conditioning. Yes, we need to improve our homes to be better adapted to our climate, but this management system would appeal to homeowners who want energy efficiency to be easy. For me, the fact that a utility can improve the consistency of my power supply is the appeal of the smart grid and home energy management systems. (Spend a couple of weeks in the Texas summer heat after a hurricane, and you will really appreciate your air conditioner). Note: your air conditioner draws more power at start up than when it is running. A power outage causes all of those units to draw that extra power at the same time if we have not turned the air conditioning off.
    Can you (or should you) have this system installed in your home? We are in the early days of this type of energy management. I like that computer manufacturers are working on systems for our homes. These would be stand alone systems which are not operated by an outside firm. I see these resembling the energy management programs that are already in place in commercial buildings, such as programs that control the HVAC system. These programs may offer the homeowner more control once they are linked to all of our appliances. The home energy management that I hear about from the utility companies do offer some control, but those offerings seem to look at the overall usage of a given area to control peak demands. In the end, we need both. Smart appliances that can inform a homeowner that they need to be repaired, because they are operating outside of their parameters will help homeowners with energy efficiency. This can be accomplished well with a management program that informs the user through familiar interfaces, like our smart phones or computers. I would have no problem in participating in a home energy management system at this moment if it will reduce my electric bill, but I would love to see what develops for homeowners in this field in the coming years.
   More often in my home inspections I am seeing ducts for the air conditioning system with little electronic devices attached to them. These are monitors and controllers that allow the homeowner to adjust air flow to different parts of the house to produce the best result (comfort and efficiency). Programmable thermostats are becoming more common, and now other programmable appliances are making their appearance on a regular basis.Somehow connecting all of this technology into one usable interface for the consumer will make it all practical. I find that most people will not work towards obtaining the best energy efficiency, because the task takes them out of their routine. An automated program is such a simple step towards savings that this will become standard in homes.

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I finally became bothered enough with the heat of summer coming through my range hood vent to take action. I have mentioned before that many vent that we have around the house are energy inefficient, because they are like open windows in our home. Think about it: your clothes dryer, kitchen range hood, and bathroom vents all go to the exterior. They push air out when the equipment is in operation, but they are open holes in our building envelope. I knew if they had a damper, there would be some form of barrier between exterior and interior. A damper alone is not the best. The damper prevents some heat transfer, but if we had weatherstripping, like on our doors, we would improve the efficiency of this barrier. I decided that I had to work towards a tighter building by closing off these holes.
    I had an idea of how the vent should be constructed. I knew others had complained about this fact, but I had never heard of such a vent being made. I headed to my local building center to see if I could find parts to make m vent. Usually when walking along an aisle, we examine products at eye level, but I was scanning up and down to see if there was a vent I could modify. To my surprise, I found vents on a top shelf that were described as LEED approved. Honestly, I have not seen them installed, and no one has mentioned them to me (I thought that I might see something like this at a green building resource center). They were a little more expensive than a normal vent, but not by much. I bought a vent for my range hood, which goes through my roof and for my clothes dryer. These vents have the damper with a weatherstripping insulation. All I would have to do is install them, or so I thought.
    The smaller vent for the wall is four inches in diameter, and it would work for a clothes dryer or bathroom vent. You may have a vent with a damper on it for these units, if you have a newer home, but they are not as energy efficient. These have plastic flaps that open to the exterior. These flaps do not seal with an insulating strip, and they are exposed to the exterior. My new vent has a cover over the damper. My vent also has a metal screen. I have been finding birds in these vents, so the screen and cover help prevent this intrusion. The cover also protects the damper from the weather. My problem was that a clothes dryer vent cannot have the screen on it. Your clothes dryer should have a filter for removing lint before it goes through the duct to the vent, but I always find some lint will get into this duct over time. The screen clogs with this lint, so there should be no screen for the clothes dryer. I had to remove the screen that came in my vent. My older vent had been clipped into the duct with a tab. This took a bit to remove the older vent, but it was not too hard. I then caulked the tube portion of the new vent, slipping it over my duct. I completed the job by caulking the exterior of the vent.
    The roof vent for the range hood was not too difficult to install either. I did see that this vent did not seem as tight as the smaller vent, so I added insulation (weatherstripping) to the interior where the damper sits. Removing the old vent was simple. With a crowbar, I pried the vent off of the roof sheathing. I had removed some shingles first. I discovered that squirrels, who had entered my and my neighbors attics this past winter, had moved the duct out of position. I replaced the duct into position. I slipped the tube from the new vent over the duct. I had caulked around the flat base of the vent to make a tight seal between vent and the roof. I nailed the vent into place under the shingles. In the attic, I did insulate around the duct, and I sealed the duct with that silver HVAC duct tape. This took me about a half hour. Quite a simple job, but I should say that my roof is easy to walk. Steeper pitched roofs might take longer.
    Are these vents helping to improve my energy efficiency?  I ask this, because many consumers are now concerned about payback. How much money will this save me? Is installing this vent worth the cost? I cannot give you a dollar figure. For the average American home, these vents that are open or partially open to the exterior are said to be the equivalent to leaving a window open all year long. I had not thought much about the clothes dryer, because my utility room is warmer than other areas of my home. In the kitchen, I have noticed that I do not feel the heat by the range hood that I felt previously. As I make my old home more air tight, my concern turns towards air quality. This may be the time to install an HRV, but my home is not that tight yet. I mention the air quality, because this should be something that you are considering as you make the building tighter.

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I was giving a talk on the topic of improving your home’s energy and water efficiency, when I mentioned that replacing windows should be the last thing that you do. Many homeowners start with replacing windows, and I do not suggest that this should never be done, but other projects will be more beneficial when starting down a path to improve the home. This prompted someone to ask if there is anything we could do to improve the efficiency of a window. I mentioned that there are solar screens that can help There are films that go onto the window to improve their efficiency. Finally, I mentioned having appropriate window treatments.
   My wife and I installed wood blinds on a window by our front entrance, and this did help, but it is not the best. I had seen plastic blinds. I was not too happy with the quality of construction or the material. These are great if you are installing shutters on every window in the home though. Te wood shutters felt better, looked better, and might be more energy efficient (in the sense of stopping the transfer of heat better than glass). Wood does allow for thermal bridging, so wood shutters are better than nothing. When we decided to install shutters on another front facing window, we were planning on a wood shutter again. This is when we discovered a product that helps stop the thermal bridging of a solid wood shutter. There are shutters with wood exteriors, but the internal sections are composed of foam insulation. Shutters with this construction qualify for the energy efficiency tax credit on your Federal returns. The product looks and feels like my wood shutter, and is great for the window, since that room obtains a good deal of afternoon sun.
    We wanted new blinds for another room, so we explored our energy efficient options. Blinds may not achieve the same efficiency that the foam/wood shutter does, so I do not know of a blind that qualifies for a tax credit (I would be interested to hear if there is one). What we settled on was a blind that some call a Persian blind. These are blinds with a honeycomb pattern. Some of these are made with lighter weight materials. Some of these blinds come with both a lighter material to bring diffused light into the room, along with heavier material. My wife wanted a material that would be a screen (concern over a neighbor looking into our windows).  We ended up with on off the shelf model that needed to be cut to length. This blind has a light colored cloth for the exterior and a darker cloth inside. The blocked sun light cannot heat the room, and the space feels cooler. Thermal bridging is not happening too fast.
    Windows will always be a weak point in our energy efficiency efforts. Eventually, I will install triple pane windows, I do not want shutters on all of my windows, so the Persian blinds may be the option. I want my windows, since I do not have to turn on the lights, which is why I may be adding more windows to the home.

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External space basics

With external space, the simplest thing to do is to create a space to serve a range of functions. Major users of space can be moved outside with covered verandas quite easily. External space is really a matter of functional usage, and there often comes a time when functions must have their own dedicated space to keep the internal space organized.

These functions include:

• Decluttering: The world’s new buzzword has a lot of practical applications. Decluttering can be crucial to quality of life.
• Special functions: The house isn’t the only place that may need space, and sometimes a lot of it. The garage, which is usually the very unsafe place to put everything that won’t fit in the house, including workshop tasks, is often cluttered beyond belief. (Ironically, this was the original use of verandas- Covered work space, close to home.)
• Entertainment areas: The average living room doesn’t get bigger. It overflows when used as an entertainment space, and that can be a problem.

The economics of living space

There are two basic options for creating living space- Renovation or creating external space. Of these, external space is a lot easier to create and manage. Renovations can be expensive and technically difficult, involving structural issues. They can involve a lot of time and require loss of living space while in progress. That’s definitely not the best option unless a major upgrade is absolutely necessary.

Simply creating a veranda, on the other hand, is extremely simple, requires no work on structural issues, and can be done quickly and cheaply. There’s also a lot of planning flexibility, allowing homeowners to develop their ideas for space usage.

The other side of these economics is freeing up internal space. This can be the preferred option to moving into a bigger place, too, meaning the budget isn’t subjected to any additional pressures.

Verandas, privacy and outdoor amenities

The big lifestyle point for verandas, interestingly, is pure convenience. Verandas are value adding features in more ways than one. In urban areas, creating private space has become a major issue, and verandas can be used to design a comfortable, private living space quite easily, effectively becoming a true house extension with multiple uses.

The average backyard and front yard contain a certain amount of space around a house which is basically not used much, except perhaps for garden beds. Some homes take the soft option and simply build their verandas into the existing faces of the building, basically aligning with garden features like a pergola, garden beds or other existing outdoor amenities like barbecue areas. This is a very simple strategy, building the aesthetics in to the new features supplied by the veranda.

In terms of cost efficiency, verandas are in a league of their own. They provide space and value, at budget-friendly prices and can be installed very easily to match any home design. If you want space, think about what a veranda could do for your home.

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I was speaking to a group of employees at this firm yesterday about looking at their home to improve energy and water efficiency. A few questions focused on insulation and sealing, but one question concerning an energy audit caught my attention. He wanted to know the cost of having a thermographic examination of his home. If we are looking at insulation in your walls, then maybe this is the best route, but I feel that homeowners can save money if they look at a few items first. This self energy audit may begin in the attic. Builders may not and are not required to fully insulate the attic, but from the standpoint of energy efficiency, any small gap in insulation is a huge problem. Part of the reason for my talk was to give people an understanding of their home, so they could conduct their own energy audit.
    If I were to begin my own energy audit, I would start with my utility bills. Do not look at what you spend; look at how much electricity you are using. Prices fluctuate , so they are not a good gage. After collecting my bills for a year, I would go to the site of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Home Energy Saver program. This will give you ideas for your home, and how you should proceed. To understand your utility bills, you should write a journal of what happened each month to explain the power usage. For example, when my wife was home on maternity leave one year,  my electricity usage went up in months were the trend was normally down. Some things may seem obvious (summer in Houston has electricity usage going up), but have an explanation anyway (one summer my son is home, while the next summer he is traveling in Mexico), because you may discover a few factors that effect how your home is used.

    You do not want gaps in your insulation. The photograph shows a home with a bit of an unusual design. A first floor office area has an attic space which leads up to the main attic above the second floor. The picture was taken from the upper attic looking down to the space above the office, where we find no insulation. What may have happened in this case is the insulation was blown in by a contractor who was standing on the platform by the attic entrance. He made a sweep of the main attic, but he did not realize that the opening in the corner was leading to another space which needed his attention. I admit walking an attic can be tricky, which may be the reason why some home inspectors have argued against going around that space. If you are careful to find a foothold on a piece of lumber, you will be safe. I prefer going in my socks, since I can feel under the insulation better. Check to see that all areas have insulation (shafts in two story homes often exist to bring down ducts, but these shafts are not insulated). You also want insulation over patios and garages, since they effect the attic. Then ensure that all of the joists (lumber laying horizontally over your ceilings) are covered by insulation. This prevents thermal bridging. You do not want insulation covering recessed lights that are not rated to have insulation against their housing (read the label on the housing).  While in the attic, check that your ducts do not have holes, and you should check that they are well insulated (older metal tube ducts may not have much insulation on them). For the best efficiency find out what the best R-value for the insulation in your area should be. For example, in Houston this is an R-48, but most people have an R-32 in this city.
    Next, we will look at penetrations to your building envelope. Any item sticking out of your roof or coming out of your wall is a penetration. A penetration can also be any opening, like a door or window. A penetration that we do not want to seal is the ventilation system of the attic. Having air flow through the attic reduces the heat and decreases the moisture in this space. When in the attic, we want to check that the soffit vents are not blocked. Another opening that we do not want to block is the method for the moisture to leave our exterior wall. On a brick wall, these are the weepholes at the bottom course of bricks. For a plank siding, the last course has a gap for moisture to drop down. On stucco, there is an opening at the base for moisture to exit the wall. Other areas will require sealing. This is the caulking around windows and doors. Caulk can separate from the wall over time, or the caulk could wear out, so every so often you will need new caulk. On newer style windows, you may see two holes at the base. These are for moisture to escape from the base of the window frame. Check the interior of the windows as well. I often find that there are gaps between the window frame and the interior wall at the top of the frame. For doors and windows, we want to make sure that they close fully. If they do not close, they are not energy efficient. If we see light around and exterior door, we need weatherstripping. Purchase stripping that fits the gap (sometimes people think bigger is better, but we want the door or window to shut).
    Two penetrations require a little more than sealing. Fireplaces with their chimneys are not good for Houston. If your damper is not closed, or if you have a stopper to ensure that your damper does not close fully, you will be letting your conditioned air escape your tight building envelope. More than half the chimneys that I investigate have a problem with the damper. There are sealed gas burning fireplaces that do not have this issue. The other penetration is your range hood vent. This vent should go to the exterior (some units are designed to recirculate the air). The purpose of the range hood vent is to rid the house of moisture (which will not happen with a recirculating type). In older homes but also some newer homes, this vents out through the roof. When this is the case, like the open chimney, you have an opening where conditioned air can escape. The range hood vents going out of the side of the home frequently have the vents that have louvers over the exit. This does act a bit like a closed damper.
    Once we have sealed our building envelope, there are a few items to examine to improve efficiency. You should have a programmable thermostat. If you do not, you should obtain such a thermostat. Check the program. For example, during summer months, you want the house to be warmer when fewer people are home (or no one), and cooler when the home is occupied with everyone. You do not want wide temperature swings though. Keep the temperatures within five degrees Fahrenheit. Have ceiling fans in each room or commonly used rooms. We feel comfort with air movement; that is why many of us run our cooling system all of the time, we want the air flow. Having the ceiling fan push air down in the summer, and up in the winter, helps create an air flow that mixes the air to a consistent temperature, while we feel good, because of the air flow.  A little more advanced is planning out a system that controls how much air is going to each room. By having less conditioned air go to a room that we hardly use, we can have more conditioned air to rooms that are more occupied.
    Moving on with our audit, we will want to look at our appliances and gadgets. Most modern electronic items will constantly draw power. Having a power strip that shuts down power to items like a television when they are not in use is the best for energy efficiency. Not leaving chargers plugged into the wall all of the time (any cord with a box at the end will continually draw power from the outlet). Having all of our light bulbs changed to compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) or LEDs (check that you are getting the proper lighting level- lumens- from the bulbs). Many people change out a few bulbs to efficient ones, but they forget to do the entire house.  After we have done this, we will examine our appliances. Any appliance that is older than ten years could be an energy drain. The big trend now is to make appliances that are energy efficient. Updating your refrigerator, washers, heaters, and other appliances may reduce your utility bill significantly.
    The last part of your audit involves exploring your lifestyle. Many people who have an energy efficient home do not see any savings in their utility bills. The home may be designed well, but our habits could be causing us to use more energy. Try using natural light instead of turning on a fixture. Do you need the television on when working at your desk? Are we using a desktop computer where a more efficient laptop would suffice? By examining our lifestyle, we may find that we are using power when we do not need to be using energy. My wife and I make it a point that the family eats together. This is great for the family, but you may not realize that this is an energy saving move as well. If each person is eating in their own space, we may all be using lights, watching television, or something else. We also have family time after dinner. We go out to the yard with the children to play, instead of everyone going off into their individual corners. Some habits are simpler, like leaving a porch light on, so we do not have to bother turning it on and off.
    Begin walking around your own home, and you will be surprised at what you find. However, first know where you are, so look at the utility bills. Did you know that you pay different amounts for the same amount of electricity, depending on the time of day. Running appliances like the dishwasher later at night can save you money. Understanding the utility bills, will help you see your pattern.

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A few weeks ago at a party, I had a great conversation with someone who was planning on having solar panels installed on his home. He thought that he would be producing more of his own electricity with this move; however, the installer informed him that he may not be obtaining what he hoped he was going to produce. Solar panels are great, but they are not as great at converting all of the sun’s energy that hits them into power for your home. This homeowner had taken one important first step: insulating the attic, and he had checked on ventilation. After hearing about a survey where homeowners indicated that they would be going after the big projects to save money on their utilities, I realized that thinking about these larger renovations was what most people consider. There are great articles out there, but since I was asked to participate in an Earth Day event, I thought that creating my own list to give out was appropriate, then I figured that I should share it here.

Lights- LEDs will be the wave of the future, but there are not too many options when it comes to lumens. Go with CFLs (compact fluorescent lights) for right now. Many homeowners only change out a few bulbs, but go through the entire home.

Power strips- many items are constantly drawing power even when not being used, like your television. Plugging these items into a power strip can make it easy to turn off the power to everything at once. There are power strips that will turn off the power for you if you are not in the habit (They cost about $30).

Insulation and a radiant barrier- did you know that a home may not have all of its attic insulated? Having at least 14″ of insulation throughout the attic is the minimum. Trying to obtain an R48 is the best for Houston. Treat any attic access that opens up to a living space as an exterior door, so insulate it and install weatherstripping. If it is too hard to install the radiant barrier on the rafters, you could lay it over the insulation. If your garage is attached, then the attic above it should be insulated, and the garage doors should be as well.

Ventilation- when you begin to insulate, you also have to remember to consider attic ventilation. Most homes have the minimum of ventilation needed. Air flow through the attic helps reduce moisture problems, but it also helps cool the attic. A little more expensive, yet a great way to create that air flow is a solar powered vent. These cost about $250. They install like most vents, but you do not need to hook them up to the electrical system.

Caulk- a tube of caulk and a caulking gun will be under $15, but this can save more money than other fixes. Your home has wall joints where ever two wall surfaces meet or where there is a wall penetration, like a window. All of these joints should be sealed. You prevent the movement of warm air in or out of the house. On windows, you should look at the interior as well as the exterior. Pull back the blinds to look at the top of the window frame. If there is a gap, you should caulk that space. Check your caulk every year. Movement of the hose, a bad adherence, or other issue may cause you to re caulk.

Weatherstripping- installing weatherstripping on windows and doors is quite easy, since this is peel and stick. Be careful to pick the right size. If the strip is to big, you may not be able to close the door or window. Too small, and you do not achieve the desired effect.

Wall outlet insulation- especially in older homes, you will want these little insulating pads. They go behind the outlet cover, which can be a big conditioned air leak space.

Working on the windows- there are films which can reduce radiant energy from coming into the home. These stick onto the window pane. Another solution is changing out your screen to a material that does this job. Changing the screens is not a hard DIY project for a weekend. A little more adventurous is installing window awnings.

Shading walls- planting trees and bushes to shade a wall can reduce the heat in your home. Branches should be kept at least a foot away form the home to prevent damage during a windstorm and from moisture. Finding a smaller specimen is cheaper, and they may grow quicker than you think.

Ceiling fans- using your ceiling fans can reduce your need for the air conditioning system. We feel comfort with air movement more than we do with temperature. Having it blow cool air down in the summer, and pull warm air up in the winter, can make us feel good, so we do not need to set that temperature too low or too high depending on the season. A simple ceiling fan can be under $100, and you may find that you can install it yourself.

A programmable thermostat- installing and using a programmable thermostat can be a big energy saver. The thermostats are under $100, and can be a DIY project, but you need to follow the instructions carefully. If the thermostat is not wired to the correct jumpers, your air conditioning will not work.

Open a window- are you too reliant on your air conditioning? If the weather is nice outside, why not turn the air conditioning off, and let the cool breeze come through the window.

Insulate your air conditioning ducts- if you have an older home, then you may want to place new installation around your ducts. This is a good DIY project, and there is insulation rolls designed to wrap around your duct, so you do not have to cut up any big roll.

Once you have worked on these items, then you will want to move onto something bigger. Upgrading your appliances should be the next step. Older units are not energy efficient, so you can find newer units that run better. Front loading clothes washers are more efficient than the top loaders. New refrigerators will be better than an older one. Dishwashers are designed to better use energy and water now. Newer air conditioning systems work to higher energy efficiency standards as well. After you have worked on the appliances, then you can plan out that solar system.

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