Why wait until you have to re-roof? You can retrofit an existing attic with radiant barrier foil at any time.

Regarding attic and home insulation, our customers have had excellent results with our radiant barrier insulation, come by our website or give us a call if anyone out there is thinking about radiant barrier insulation.

Imagine leaving a window open all winter long — the heat loss, cold drafts and wasted energy! If your home has a folding attic stair, a whole house fan or AC Return, a fireplace or a clothes dryer, that may be just what is occurring in your home every day.

These often overlooked sources of heat loss and air leakage can cause heat to pour out and the cold outside air to rush in — costing you higher heating bills.

Air leaks are the largest source of heating and cooling loss in the home. Air leaks occur through the small cracks around doors, windows, pipes, etc. Most homeowners are well aware of the benefits caulk and weatherstripping provide to minimize heat loss and cold drafts.

But what can you do about the four largest “holes” in your home — the folding attic stair, the whole house fan or AC return, the fireplace, and the clothes dryer? Here are some tips and techniques that can easily, quickly and inexpensively seal and insulate these holes.

Attic Stairs

An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add an attic stair cover. An attic stair cover provides an air seal, reducing the air leaks. Add the desired amount of insulation over the cover to restore the insulation removed from the ceiling.

Whole House Fans and AC Returns

An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a whole house fan cover. Installed from the attic side, the whole house fan cover is invisible. Cover the fan to reduce heating and air-conditioning loss, remove it when use of the fan is desired.

Fireplaces

A recent study showed that for many consumers, their heating bills may be more than $500 higher per winter due to the air leakage and wasted energy caused by fireplaces.

An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a fireplace draftstopper. Available from Battic Door, a company known for their energy conservation products, a fireplace draftstopper is an inflatable pillow that seals the damper, eliminating any air leaks. The pillow is removed whenever the fireplace is used, then reinserted after.

Clothes Dryer Exhaust Ducts

An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a dryer vent seal. This will reduce unwanted air infiltration, and keep out pests, bees and rodents as well. The vent will remain closed unless the dryer is in use. When the dryer is in use, a floating shuttle rises to allow warm air, lint and moisture to escape.

If your home has a folding attic stair, a whole house fan, an AC return, a fireplace, and/or a clothes dryer, you can easily, quickly and inexpensively seal and insulate these holes.

Mark D. Tyrol is a Professional Engineer specializing in cause and origin of construction defects. He developed several residential energy conservation products including an attic stair cover, an attic access door, and is the U.S. distributor of the fireplace draftstopper. To learn more visit http://www.batticdoor.com

1) HVAC filters are almost always too dirty. Find out what size your system needs and buy a box of them or buy several (more than one) washable filters. Then learn to change the filters every 45 days in heating season and 60 days in cooling season. Almost nobody does this. You want several washable filters so you can install the clean one, hose off the dirty one and leave it out to drip dry. Really, this is not obvious to most people.

2) Is your water heater over 10 years old? If your water isn’t coming from a granite source then it needs to be replaced. That means if you have any mineralization on your fixtures at all. This will cost you around $1000 for a basic water heater and much more for tankless, heat pump water heat or condensing water heater. Considering the hit you are already going to take this might be a good time to install a solar hot water system.

3) Mastic those ducts. This really is a HUGE problem in older houses. I’ve been in more than a few attics where one of the vents had a hole you could stick your hand in. While you are up in the attic checking the ducts blow some fresh insulation in over the old batting insulation. The chances of batting insulation being installed correctly the first time is practically nil.

4) How old is your furnace and air conditioner? If over 15 years old it needs an inspection at minimum and probably a change out. If you can afford the upgrade conversion to a ground loop thermal system will pay for itself in five to seven years in most locations. It also can heat your hot water so you can bundle what would otherwise be two separate repairs into one job and get possible tax breaks on the install cost.

5) Put storm windows on the OUTSIDE of the house. You don’t want condensation, and possible mold, on the inside with you. In hot climates get exterior window shades for any window that gets summer afternoon sunlight.

6) If you can’t remember doing it replace your shower heads. Almost any shower head you buy will be a low-flow model. I prefer a model called something like “euroshower” that is made of all metal, has an adjustable shut off and can be easily disassembled for removal of inevitable grit. It looks like a rocket engine with a little triangular wire attached.

7) Solar powered attic fans do almost nothing. (If you think a roof collecting 500-800 watts thermal/sq meter is going to be cooled by a 20 watt fan go for it) Shade your roof or use on reflective roof coating to keep the heat out of your attic to start with. When it’s time for a new roof get the lightest color and the lightest weight possible roof for your climate/HOA rules. Remember a lightweight metal roof is going to quit heating the house hours before a tile or asphalt roof will; less thermal mass. The perfect shade for your roof is PV solar panels.

Cooling your greywater before it leaves the building is begging for problems. Low flow shower heads, shed hair, shampoo and hair gel will happily conspire to coat the inside of your pipes with a glop that has to be seen to be believed. Cooling that mess to 50 degrees is like putting a plumber on retainer. Install wire hair catchers on your shower drain and hope for the best.

9) Whole house fans have to be covered in the winter. Otherwise they act like a hole in your ceiling. (because they are) I have hours-long rants about the evils of roof-mounted swamp coolers; just remove the things before they destroy your house. Swamp coolers are palaces of mold unless you are a handyman extrordinaire; you’re probably not.

10) Leaving warm water in the bath is an invitation to mold unless you have VERY dry air in the winter. From the point of view of somebody like me who has had to tear out tons of moldy bathroom drywall this is just stupid. Take a shower instead and make sure you use the ventilation fan to remove moisture. Put a timer on the fan switch so that you use it and it turns off at the proper interval.

11) Drippers on standard sprinkler pipe uprights beat the heck out of 1/2 inch drip irrigation hose. Most people mulch over the distribution hose and then chop it up with shovels later. If you can’t see your drip pipe it’s leaking somewhere. Keep it on the surface to make the yearly sprinkler inspection and repairs less painful.

These are a start to improving a house’s energy efficiency. Your house is different from every other house so observe the interaction of building, sun, wind and weather carefully. Good luck with that.

As charlie up there says, not using the clothes dryer makes a *big difference*.

Now, what I hear/see often in the American discussion about dryers, even among green-minded Americans, are variations of “I live in an apartment without a garden/veranda of my own” and “I have a house with a garden but my HOA won’t let me dry my clothes in the garden.” I think the point needs to be made more often and more vigorously that you can dry your clothes *in an apartment, and inside a house*; you don’t *need* a garden. You don’t even need a huge apartment to do it – I’ve been living in tiny places (one room, usually) for thirteen years and drying my clothes on a rack has never been a problem. Sure, if you live in a tiny flat with a family of four it may be a problem. But I think most Americans who make the objections quoted above probably don’t live like that.

So, I really think more of the “green your life” types of discussions need to point that out.

One amp at 120 vac would be well over 100 watts.