Doing a Home Energy Audit Yourself – Part 3 What to do about Air Leaks and Insulation
We have already talked about a home energy audit as a way of testing your home to assess how much energy your home uses. In doing so we discovered how efficient it is in its energy usage. We have found some problems in your home’s efficiency (don’t worry they all have some). Now we need to learn how to fix those problems correctly so you can save money on your energy bills. During your energy audit evaluation, you should have been able to pinpoint problem area where your home is loosing energy, which is generally in the form of air and heat loss from the house.
The following is to help you do correct those problems correctly.
1. Finding Air Leaks Indoors
• Air leaks along the baseboards or edge of the flooring and window and door frames can be corrected with some caulking. Use latex or acrylic caulk so that it can be painted to match your trim color. You can buy clear acrylic for trims that is stained.
• Air leaks around electrical outlets, switch plates, can be fixed with a special gasket that goes behind the cover plate.
• The best way to fix a fireplace is to install glass doors on your fireplace. The damper itself will never seal tight enough.
• Apply weather striping around your attic hatch. A simple foam self adhesive weather strip works.
• Remove window mounted air conditioners from the window for the heating season.
• Fill gaps around pipes and wires going through your exterior walls with caulking or foam insulation.
• Get rid of that mail slot, it is just a money waster.
2. Finding Air Leaks Outdoors
• Make sure the caulking is good everywhere two different building materials have been used. Like where the siding and a chimney meets, and where the foundation and the bottom of exterior brick or siding meet. Do not fill where the mortar has been left out between brick on the bottom course as these are weep holes.
• Make sure you caulk all cracks and holes in the mortar, foundation, and siding and around the doors and windows.
3. Wall Insulation
• If your walls are not insulated or have little insulation the easiest way to fix this problem is to rent a machine and blow insulation into the walls. Though this job is most often done by a professional (and I would recommend you get one to do it) you can do it yourself.
4. Attic Insulation
• If your attic insulation is not up to standard (12″ – 14″ deep) it is fairly easy to add some bat insulation on top of what you have. Though this is not a pleasant job and you have to make sure you do not put your foot through the ceiling or block off the air flow from your soffit area it can be done yourself. It is also an easy job for a contractor to blow in loose insulation.
• Don’t forget to insulate and weather-strip your attic access door.
5. Basement and Crawl Space Insulation
• Insulating the exterior walls of your basement or crawl space (4 – 6”) may not seem as important as heat rises, right. But it is a major cause of heat loss.
• For basements the best way is to frame a wall on your exterior walls and install bat insulation and vapor barrier.
• For crawl space walls where you have a dirt floor you need to first cover the complete floor with a 6 mill poly vapor barrier.
• Then you can lay bats against the exterior wall making sure they come out onto the floor a foot and are on top of the floor poly. Make sure you fasten the insulation at the top to keep the bats in place then cover them with a vapor barrier.
• In both cases don’t forget to insulate your rim joist (the joist above your exterior foundation wall) with the same amount of insulation and vapor barrier.
• Don’t forget to insulate and weather-strip your crawl space access door if you have one.
Here is a short video that might help.
Doing a Home Energy Audit Yourself – Part 2 Air Windows, Doors and Furnace
4. Windows
• Windows are a large energy waster but we can’t live without them. You want to ensure that you’re getting the best performance out of what you have. Glass has a very low resistance to heat movement therefore your goal here is to reduce air infiltration.
• Inspect windows for air leaks. See if you can rattle them, since movement means possible air leaks. If you can see daylight around the window frames then the window leaks.
• Make sure the window seals well. If the window is loose in its track you need to do something.
• Do you have cracked or missing panes? Do you have storm windows?
5. Doors
• Doors are also a large energy waster. Some door materials have a low resistance to heat movement. Foam filled steel doors are very efficient. However, hollow wood doors are not. You want to ensure that you’re getting the best performance out of what you have. Your goal here again is to reduce air infiltration.
• Inspect doors for air leaks. See if they are loose, since movement means possible air leaks. If you can see daylight around the door frame then the door leaks.
• Make sure the door seals well. If the door is loose or warped so you can see daylight around it when it is closed, you need to install some weather stripping to tighten it up. This is also true for how threshold seals the bottom of the door.
• If you have a storm door, use it during heating and cooling season.
6. Water Heater & Furnace
• A water heater heats and holds water. As heat moves out of the tank, the water is heated to match the thermostat setting. Your goal here is to keep as much heat in the tank as possible.
• Newer water heaters have adequate insulation built into them. Older water heaters may benefit from the installation of a water heater insulation jacket. You may also save by installing the first 6 feet of water pipe insulation. 
• Water temperature is another comfort issue. We may know that we can save money if we turn our water heater temperature down, but we want hot water.
• How old is your furnace? Newer High efficiency furnaces save you big on your utilities.
• If your home’s furnace ducting runs through areas not heated or cooled, you will have a reduced efficiency of your system. Ductwork does not resist heat movement well.
7. Fireplace
• A fireplace provides enjoyment but it also provides a large opening for heat to transfer in and out of a home. Fireplaces can have a negative efficiency. This means that they can take more heat out of a home than they provide. Your goal here is to stop air infiltration.
• Make sure the flue damper closes and seals tightly and keep the damper closed when not using the fireplace.
8. Thermostat Setting
• Where you set your thermostat setting is a comfort issue. Some of us know that we can save money if we set our thermostat lower in the winter and higher in the summer. Some are willing to pay the higher prices to remain comfortable. Our goal here is to remember that there may be other lower cost ways to keep warm or cool.
These are only the major areas to evaluate in your home. There are plenty more but when you have these all up to standard then you are well on your way to having an efficient home.
Included is a work sheet you can use to help you keep track of where your home is at.
Next time we will look at what you can do to help or totally bring your home up to par.