A residential energy audit is an important part of understanding the energy efficiency of your home. If you have an older home, you may be paying more to heat and cool it than you need to. An auditor can identify problems and recommend fixes that reduce your power bills and make your home more comfortable. Here's how a residential energy audit works.
The Auditor Assess All Aspects Of Your Home
The auditor may look at your HVAC, ducts, windows, attic insulation, doors, and even your kitchen appliances to check them for energy efficiency. They might use tools, such as a thermal camera that can detect air leaks around the home. They might also pressure test your ducts.
The energy audit involves checking each room in your house as well as your attic and basement or crawlspace. An energy audit is thorough and may take a couple of hours to complete.
The Auditor May Interview You Too
A residential energy audit might include looking over your past utility bills to see if they're out of line or what's expected. They may also ask you questions about the comfort level of your home, drafts you detect, areas that get too hot or too cold, and concerns you have about your insulation or efficient operation of your furnace, AC, or old appliances.
You'll Be Given A Report
An energy audit includes a report that allows you to understand the findings. You may discover warm air is leaking through your windows to the outside or that you don't have enough insulation in your walls or attic. A variety of problems may be found depending on the age of your home and your HVAC equipment.
The report should also include recommendations by the auditor. They might recommend adding insulation, sealing windows, getting new energy-efficient windows, or adding new attic insulation. The auditor may or may not be able to recommend specific contractors to do the work, and you'll need to decide what fits in your budget and what work would have the most impact.
Your local energy company might provide residential energy audits or you may find an independent company yourself that does the audits. Some HVAC companies might do energy audits too. If you live in a home that's fairly new, you may want an audit for peace of mind that your home is as efficient as it's supposed to be.
However, the most value from an energy audit will probably be for older homes that haven't been upgraded yet. If you're planning to do renovations on an old home, a residential energy audit is a good place to start so you'll know exactly what type of work needs to be done and where.
Share28 November 2022
When something you own and love is damaged, it is easy to shrug and decide that item will never be the same again. Sometimes, you might be correct in this assumption. But if you really like the item and would like to keep using it, there is usually the option to repair it. Damage repair contractors can do incredible work, often with items and materials that the average person might assume were beyond being able to be repaired. We won't claim to be damage contractors, but we do wish to raise awareness of their work on this blog. When something you love is damaged, we want you to know you have options.