BEFORE THE AUDIT:
This two story 3,890–square-foot house on a basement had mostly original features. The insulation in the walls and attic were original to the house. There was a 3-car garage on the right-hand side of the basement. The home has the original furnaces (2), AC systems(2), and Hot water heater. The homeowner was looking to make the home more energy efficient and replace the loud and inefficient equipment that had been in the house since its construction.
WHAT THE ENERGY AUDIT FOUND:
The AC systems and the furnaces were undersized for the home. This meant that the systems had to run longer to maintain a comfortable air temperature. The house had a moderate amount of attic insulation; poorly insulated ducts; a leaky building envelope; inefficient furnace/AC systems, and no air sealing at the wall penetrations that allowed hot/cold air into the building envelope.
WHAT WAS SUGGESTED:
The customer's priority was to replace the aging mechanicals (furnace, AC and hot water heater) decrease the amount of conditioned air loss. We evaluated the findings of the audit and formulated a list of suggestions that would suit the needs of the client and increase their level of comfort in their home. The following is a list of improvements that we suggested and implemented: Installation of larger A/C systems; addition of insulation to the attic; air sealing of the entire attic place, replacement the flexible dryer duct, installion of an insulated attic hatch;replacement the bathroom ventilation ducts; and air sealing of the adjoining garage wall to prevent air infiltration and leakage. On most homes we look to decrease the size of the heating and cooling equipment(and therefore energy usage), however; sometimes (as it is in this case) we need to "right-size" or outfit the home with equipment that is capable of handling the necessary cooling/heating loads. By making these changes to their home, the homeowners are projected to reduce their energy usage and costs by up to 32%.
The results: The before and after results can be seen by scrolling through the images above.
