Winter is coming! In some parts of the country, winter is already here - but we here in Bethesda have had a pretty easy winter so far! Hallelujah! But even if this winter has not been as bad so far as last winter, who wants to pay a lot of money to Pepco and Washington Gas? In order to reduce your energy costs going forward, you need to make your house consume less energy! This does not mean that you need to sit in the dark huddled next to a single briquet of coal in the fireplace!
The very first step is to seal the leaks in the house -
In a home that is working efficiently, the indoor "conditioned" air will be exchanged with the outdoor air about eight times a day. Unfortunately, when a house is leaking air like a sieve, the HVAC is forced to work extra hard - and consume more energy as your furnace struggles to keep warming the air that is coming in from outside. Imagine how high your heating bills are if your furnace has to heat air that exchanges up to 84 times a day! Imagine the wear and tear on your furnace when it runs non-stop!!
The process of air sealing a house means that you locate the cracks and penetrations in a house that allow the air to escape - and then seal those leaks with foam insulation, weather stripping or caulking. Conditioned air stays in and your furnace doesn't need to work as hard! If your home leaks air eighty four times a day, air sealing your home can reduce your energy consumption by a factor of ten!
The next step is to add insulation to your home
It isn't enough to keep the conditoned indoor air in the house. You want to keep it warmer for longer - and you do that with extra insulation. If you add insulation to the attic, make sure that there is enough air left on the sides by the soffits for the air to circulate. I recently sold a house which was over insulated and the attic was filled with mold because there was no opportunity for moisture to escape once it got into the attic.
The Last Step is Adjusting Your Ductwork
After you have sealed the leaks and added insulation the last step is to adjust your ductwork. If you feel like your house heats unevenly - the thermostate says it is warmer than it feels or the floors seem chilly, it is probably because your ductwork and HVAC unit need to be modified. Your home may have improperly sized or routed ductwork. A knowledgeable HVAC company can adjust your HVAC unit and duct work to make it function properly so that the conditioned air is distributed evenly throughout the house.
You might wonder why a Realtor cares about whether a home is energy efficient or not. That is a great question. We at the Lise Howe Group want to make sure that any home that we sell you is going to be a place that will make you happy for a long time into the future. That means that we help you analyze lots of different factors in making your home purchase, including energy efficiency. If you would like more information about our approach to client service or suggestions for energy efficient homes on the market, please give us a call at 240-401-5577 or email us at lise@lisehowe.com.
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