by Mark Landon

I’ve talked about having a home energy audit done for about 2 years.  The ice dam related damage I experienced over the winter finally got me off the stick.  Solid chunks of ice filled my gutters for about 2 weeks during February after the back-to-back snowstorms.  Snow began melting on my roof, upstream from the gutters.  The water had nowhere to go, so it was forced up under the roof shingles. 

I was fortunate that the damage to the house was modest.  Replacing some drywall in the kitchen was the worst of it.  But I started researching the causes of ice damming and soon learned that one of the ingredients needed to cause this condition is heat in the attic.  Heat in the attic in February sounded like a problem to me, so I started looking for the cause.

I started with an insulation contractor who came to my house, poked his head in my attic and suggested that I should blow an additional foot or so of insulation to bring me up to R-60 for a cost of $2321.00. For this price, he would also seal up the holes where the second floor ceiling lights poke through to the attic.   He informed me I could get a good chunk of this money back in the form of a federal tax credit.  I was considering charging forward with this when I decided to get a second opinion.

The second insulation contractor also offered to up my insulation, but told me he thought my real problem might be with a return duct that runs through my attic.  The duct runs the length of the house, is un-insulated and is not sealed at the joints.  Hmmm…this seems like a problem now that he pointed it out.  Unfortunately, this contractor didn’t do the sealing and wrapping as a matter of course.  He also mentioned that there might be some problem with air infiltration around my second floor, ceiling-mounted light fixtures and bathroom vents.  He informed me that insulation is a thermal barrier, but that doesn’t mean that it stops air from moving through it.  If there are holes between the second floor and the attic, insulation won’t stop air from moving from one space to the other.  Who knew?

At this point, I had two contractors with two opinions.  Had I hired either one, I would have no-doubt seen some improvements in my efficiency.  But the discrepancies in their stories really got me to thinking it was time to take the leap and have a serious home energy audit done.  

Next:  Researching Home Energy Audits