Green Starts with Energy-Efficiency
Bleeding Conditioned Air
From a Break in the Home's Skin
Practical Green Renovations to Be Energy-Efficient
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The primary function of the thermal
envelope of your home is to separate the outside of your house from the
inside of your house.
Or, to put it another way, the thermal envelope keeps the outside out and the inside in, including
your conditioned air. With green remodeling, the home
owner is concerned with both sides of the building enclosure but he
or she is always looking for breaks in the building envelope. Often when an energy-efficiency remodeling is started, there are many breaks in the building envelope or skin. Your home is "bleeding" conditioned air which is costing you utility dollars. One of the purposes of the green
remodel, then, is to restore the building envelope to a whole
"skin." Although
you may already know where some air leakage occurs in your home, looking
for breaks in the envelope is sometimes done with a blower door test. This test, also called a door rater test, is employed to determine the air leakage in a home. It uses a variable-speed fan to pressurize or depressurize a house. Once the breaks are discovered, the
skin can be stitched together and healed. This is done in a variety of ways
but chief among this repair process is plain old caulking and weather
stripping. In general caulking and weather
stripping any gaps will pay for itself within one year in energy savings. Caulking and weather stripping will
also help eliminate drafts and help your home feel warmer when it’s cold
outside. Since
any plan to tighten the thermal envelope of a home should also include an
inspection of the home's ventilation, a super-tight home is best
examined by a remodeling consultant or professional. green builder, or green remodeler in North Central Texas or the Dallas-Fort Worth area? Are you purchasing or building a home? Ready to add renewable-energy? Interested in living more sustainably? Contact Terry Jensen Frugal Energy, LLC 972 251-1532
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