Home energy audit finds air leaks, energy inefficiencies

My house is over a century old. I bought it for it's character and charm — the wood floors, the brick fireplace, the craftsman layout. But as any homeowner knows, character and charm can also be euphemisms for creaks and cracks. Cracks that can let air escape and send my heating and cooling bills through the roof.

In early May I decided to address the leaks head on — I scheduled a visit from GreenIowa AmeriCorps. They do free home energy audits for residents across the state, with offices in Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Dubuque, Des Moines, Decorah and Fairfield.

The seven GreenIowa volunteers currently stationed in Cedar Rapids are based at local non-profit Matthew 25, where they undertake energy and environmental activities and education. Coordinated by the University of Northern Iowa's Center for Energy and Environmental Education, major funding is provided by the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service, the Corporation for National and Community Service and UNI.

Energy audits are just what they sound like — they aim to identify ways energy is being lost in a home. After testing for energy leaks, the GreenIowa volunteers make recommendations and do the weatherization labor to fix any minor problems they find.

'Our main goal behind it is energy conservation and education. It's a reduction in your energy footprint and a reduction in your bill,' audit coordinator Sebastian Negron said.

The volunteers who arrived checked that my water heater was in working order and checked for gas leaks around the water heater, oven and gas lines, and they offered to swap out any old, inefficient light bulbs they found. But the heart of the audit was the blower door test.

Essentially, this involved the AmeriCorps volunteers strapping a large fan to my front door, with the rest of the door sealed over. The fan pulled air from the house and pulled in fresh air from outside through every gap. A computer tested the amount of air moving through the house, while the volunteers walked through and felt for leaks.

In one case, in my basement, a poorly-insulated basement wall was obvious — the flowing air made cobwebs flutter and flap. The air flowing through my house blew open the hatches to an attic crawl space and could be felt against my hand next to window frames.

A certain amount of ventilation is good — no one wants to be breathing in their own carbon dioxide emissions. This can actually be a problem in newer houses — Negron said they are often designed and built to be so tight and energy efficient that not enough fresh air is coming in. Sometimes, energy auditors will actually recommend adding ventilation to newer homes.

But for those of us in more historic homes, the opposite is the problem. The blower door test determines the home's 'air changes per hour' rate, which ideally should be between .35 and .40.

Mine was at .64, so there was definitely work to be done.

GreenIowa only does low-impact weatherizations — they didn't re-insulate my house or replace my windows, things I know I could do in the future.

But there were much smaller, simpler things they did that made a big difference. They put latches on my crawl space hatches to keep them closed and slow the air flow through them. An invisible caulk seal around a kitchen window frame and thin foam tape around the inside of two door frames helped tighten up some obvious gaps. Under my bathroom sink, they used spray foam and backer rod insulation to fill a gap around the pipes — Negron explained plumbers often make the holes for pipes bigger than necessary for easier installation. Finally, they sealed the biggest problem spots in my basement with spray foam.

Both labor and materials for GreenIowa energy audits and weatherizations are free for low-income residents, the elderly, veterans and people with disabilities. For others, the weatherization labor is free and GreenIowa just charges for the nominal costs of supplies. I paid $20 for the caulk, foam tape and latches they used.

Watching them work, I was skeptical these basic fixes would make that much of a difference. But when they did a second blower door test, I was pleasantly startled by the results — a 18.75 percent reduction in air leaking from my house, which they estimated will lead to $154 in annual savings. My new ACH number was .52. Still not .40, but significantly better than where it started.

That's good for both me and Mother Earth.

'We can only help your house, essentially. We help your energy bill while helping you feel good about helping the planet,' said GreenIowa outreach coordinator Ellen Ziesenhene.

Energy audits

Learn more or schedule a home energy audit with GreenIowa AmeriCorps:

Contact: (319) 362-2214, greeniowaCR@gmail.com, greeniowaamericorps.org

Alliant Energy and MidAmerican Energy also offer energy audits:

Contact: Alliant Energy: (866) 255-4268, alliantenergy.com; MidAmerican: (800) 545-0762, midamericanenergy.com