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A few of our past projects:
1. How much insulation do we have?
2. The freezing family room
3. Chilly bedroom blues
How much insulation do we have?
The driving force for many customers, who consider energy efficiency improvements, is either an uncomfortable home or large energy bills and in some cases both. It is a fact that well over 90% of American houses are under-insulated. As energy costs increase the optimal level of insulation to minimize overall home ownership expense increases too. A few years ago Texas had an unusually cold stretch of weather in the winter and it caused extraordinary increases in energy costs for homeowners. Part of the problem was due to the energy infrastructure in Texas and part was due to widespread under-insulation of Texas homes.
For the past century, Americans have enjoyed easy access to inexpensive energy choices and this helped fuel the under-insulation of new homes. Recently we have seen dramatic increases in energy prices and a fundamental shift in global energy trading patterns that will bring new competition for American energy supplies and, ultimately, increase energy prices in the United States.
Under-insulation is a common theme we see in the homes we work on. The good news is the issue is relatively straightforward to solve and, in the face of rapidly rising energy prices, the projects have strong financial returns and relatively affordable costs.
Taking a look at a typical project involving a house in the Mid-Atlantic region where we recommended and installed additional insulation in the attic areas, a few floor areas and a few exterior wall areas and converting the lighting in the house to energy efficient LED light bulbs. Prior to the project, the homeowners were paying about $3,600 annually for electricity (primary) and $3,400 for propane (secondary). Adjusting these 2019 era prices to today’s energy prices gives us $5,100 for electricity and $4,200 for propane at today’s price levels.
The total project cost for the insulation and lighting was $6,200. The post-completion tracking of the home’s energy usage by the homeowner slightly exceeds the stretch goal of 50% reduction of energy usage. Had the homeowners done nothing to improve the home’s energy efficiency, they would now be paying about $9,300 annually for energy. With the benefit of the improvements to the home, their annual energy costs are $2,500 for electricity and $2,000 for propane for a total of $4,500 for annual energy expense. So the project produced energy cost savings of more than 50% and the payback for the project was about 24 months.
Every homeowner we meet and every home we work on are unique, by listening to our clients and discovering opportunities to both lower energy costs and increase the comfort of their home we find common ground. By focusing on projects with the best financial returns we deliver superior results to homeowners and big reductions in their carbon footprints too.
This project was a big undertaking with higher cost due to the level of additional insulation required and bigger savings for the customer due to the higher cost of propane as a fuel. Many of our projects costs half as much as this project and still produce 50% savings in annual energy expense for the homeowner. There has never been a better time to make an energy efficiency invest+ment in your home.
The freezing family room
When we initially assessed the this project, we found a large airy family room on the northwest corner of our client’s home that was not getting adequate heat or A/C to keep the room at a comfortable temperature. Built over an uninsulated crawl space and lacking adequate insulation in the floor and ceiling, the room was impossible to heat in the winter. Further, the homeowners told us that, at night, the two recessed ceiling can lights over the hearth were not adequate to light the room.
We started by addressing the crawl space and floor by adding proper levels of insulation and sealing air leaks. We also found that the ductwork under the floor had come apart in places and conditioned air was leaking into the crawl space. Before the upgrade to the floor and crawl space, the heat pump driven air supply was 7 degrees above room temperature. After completion, the air supply is now 25 to 30 degrees above ambient room temperature.
With the bottom of the room completed we moved to the cathedral ceiling. The painted drywall ceiling was over 17 feet high and it gave the room an excellent aesthetic appeal. The owners really wanted to warm the room up and create a timber feel to the ceiling while also beefing up the R-26 insulation. We proposed raising the insulation level to R-38 and adding Douglas fir paneling and beams with black iron hardware to connect the beams together. We also recommended on beam low voltage LED lighting. To keep the project simple, we used hollow post and beam shells, which were assembled on-site and lifted into place by two people. The new ceiling was completed over two weeks including the natural oil finish applied to the beams. A local blacksmith made the iron brackets for the posts that connect the higher beams to the lower beams. The interior of the hollow beams allowed us to easily route all of the wiring through the beams for the low voltage lighting applied to the ceiling. The owners loved the transformation of their family room into a comfortable and warm space for family time together.
While we focus on energy efficiency in most of our projects, we also are occasionally asked to make aesthetic changes as part of the project. We tend to focus on natural materials and finishes and blending the changes into the home’s existing flow for a very organic result.
The energy efficiency portion of this project, which encompassed additional insulation in the crawl space, floor and ceiling cost about $2,800. The room’s primary heat prior to the project was a propane fuel fireplace. The cost to heat the room through the cold season prior to the upgrades was about $1,200. Essentially, the fireplace ran throughout the day in the winter, as the room was unable to retain heat due to a lack of adequate insulation. With the improvements to the ductwork, the cheaper and more efficient heat pump is now able to handle the heating load on its own for 90% of winter days and the gas fireplace is now used for evening ambience and to supplement on very cold winter days at a cost of about $300 for the season. Adding in the lower A/C costs for the room in summer, the payback period for the investment was about 27 months.
Chilly Bedroom Blues
We are often consulted about problem rooms where the customer wants a specific issue addressed. A typical situation is a room that is too hot in summer and too cold in winter. In this project, we focused on a second floor bedroom on the southeast corner of the customer’s home. The first floor room below the bedroom was heated, the ceiling led to the main house attic and two of the walls were exterior walls. In addition, the customer wanted to bring the sky inside and brighten the room with a new finish to the walls.
We recommended adding insulation to the exterior walls and attic to slow the rate of heat transfer, which would improve the room’s comfort in both winter and summer. We also proposed a sky blue Venetian plaster with a matte finish that was topped with a pearlescent wax to protect the plaster. We felt that we could use our application and finishing skills to get a very sky-like look in the finished wall.
The insulation was completed in two days and the wall finish, which involved a total of four coats, took four days. The insulation brought the room into a more comfortable temperature range in both seasons, and the sky blue wall was a success too!
The added insulation for this project cost $800 and the Venetian plaster wall finish added another $800 for a total project cost of $1,600. The room is now easily conditioned in winter and summer and the sky blue plaster wall adds a beautiful aesthetic quality also.
While we focus on energy efficiency and carbon footprint reduction in every project, we also pay attention to the customer’s guidance on home comfort and address these needs too. From our perspective, our homes should be comfortable throughout and reflect both our aesthetic values and energy efficiency at the same time. While Venetian plaster is sometimes regarded as a luxury wall finish, modern products and technical innovation has created a very affordable and long lasting wall finish. So don’t hesitate to consider Venetian plaster, it can bring a wall or an entire room to life!
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