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The Rural Missouri NEWS Service
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November 2008 Attic Fix-ups Pay Back in Savings The trouble with attics is that we don’t see them very often. Out of sight, out of mind. Yet what may be the biggest energy guzzler in your house deserves our undivided attention.
The U.S. Department of Energy says 42 percent of the energy we use in our homes is for heating and cooling. Upgrading the insulation in your attic could reduce that percentage by as much as 20 percent, according to www.atticinsulationinformation.com. Plugging air leaks and properly venting your attic can save even more. Identify Attic Issues With Home Energy Audit Get started by considering a home energy audit through your electric cooperative. You’ll get a head start on identifying where you need to insulate, plug and vent in what could be the most important energy space in your house. Find the Leaks, Then Fix ‘em The cool months of the year are a good time to turn your energy-guzzling attic into the most energy-efficient space in your house. Start by looking for these tell-tale clues that signal energy leaks:
Cool Down Your Attic with Vents It may seem counterintuitive, but you want your unfinished attic to be cold in winter and hot in summer. Ideally, air enters the attic at the soffit vent level and exhausts at the ridge level. In winter, this natural ventilation reduces the potential for ice damming, which occurs when snow melts off a roof from an attic that is too warm and then re-freezes at the gutters, causing an ice dam that can damage the roof. In summer, natural air flow moves hot air out of the attic, protecting roof shingles and removing moisture that could otherwise result in mold, mildew and wood rot, reducing the effectiveness of the insulation. Here are some tips on venting your attic:
Insulate the Dickens Out of Your Attic If you could afford to insulate only one area of your house, it should be the attic. Properly insulating your attic will make more of a difference in your heating and cooling bills than insulating any other part of your house. The recommended R-value (how insulating properties are measured) for attics/ceilings in Missouri is R-38 to R-49. That equals 12 to 15 inches of insulation. Even if you installed adequate insulation 15 years ago in your house, it’s likely settled and shifted. If you can see the tops of ceiling joists when you’re in the attic, it’s time for an upgrade. You may install new insulation over existing insulation as long as the existing is not contaminated by vermin, moisture or mildew/mold. A comprehensive table at the University of Missouri Extension Service’s www.extension.missouri.edu compares the R-values of different materials. Cellulose-loose fill, the type of insulation recommended by Doug Rye, the home energy consultant to Missouri’s electric cooperatives, yields an R-factor of about 3.5 per inch. Here’s where to insulate in your attic:
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources also has these recommendations when you’re adding insulation:
Plug Those Attic Leaks You may have adequate insulation in your attic and still lose heat in winter and cool air in summer. How? The insulation on the attic floor is covering cracks, gaps and holes where air is leaking upward from the rooms below. Seal the big holes first, such as open stud cavities. Then follow these recommendations from Energy Star, the U.S. Department of Energy and Zolton Cohen’s article on “How to Make Your Home Energy Efficient” at www.howstuffworks.com:
What’s the best insulation to use? Here’s a useful summary of attic types and the insulation options for them from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources:
If you have a finished attic, different insulation options apply. Go to www.dnr.mo.gov. Click on Energy Center, then Residential and then Insulation to get to the details. Say No to Attic Moisture Moisture in your attic is not a good thing. It can lessen the effectiveness of your insulation, foster mold and mildew and promote wood rot. A vapor barrier can prevent moisture from the lived-in portion of your house from filtering into the attic. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) points out a vapor barrier should be placed on the “warm-in-winter” side of the insulation in your attic. Face the vapor barrier down when insulating between ceiling rafters, on the inner (room) side of exterior walls and up when insulating floors. Do not install a vapor barrier on top of existing attic insulation. Though a vapor barrier will protect insulation and building materials, it also will increase the humidity level in your home. The amount will depend on the amount of air leakage in your home; the amount of insulation; whether you use a humidifier; the number of household members; the amount of cooking, showers, washing and drying clothes; and whether you have a large number of plants. If moisture problems persist, DNR recommends increasing the ventilation by using exhaust fans or air-to-air heat exchangers, though, of course, these devices use energy. Stay Safe with Electricity Danger is a constant companion for the people who work on the lines at Missouri’s electric cooperatives. These men know the risks they face when they leave the office each morning. Sometimes their daily activities put them inches away from bare wires that carry high voltage. They have special equipment — rubber gloves, hard hats, hot sticks — that help keep them safe. Yet their best protection is an attitude that stresses safety first and everything else second. Missouri’s electric cooperatives provide constant safety training for their employees through meetings, training schools and on-the-job inspections from experienced supervisors. Yet we would only be doing half of our job if we didn’t offer the same advice to our members. Electricity is a constant part of our lives. It has gone in a short time from being a luxury to a necessity. In the years since electric cooperatives wired the country-side it has become much safer: Wiring standards have improved, shock potential has been reduced by better coverings on appliances and special devices now break the current when a fault occurs. It would be easy to forget the potential electricity has to harm you. It’s true that electrical products are much better today, but accidents can still happen. This is particularly true when electrical devices have been tampered with or are beginning to show their age. Like the rest of your house, the electrical system ages and wears out. The same wiring that cools and heats your home, cooks supper and opens the garage door can also start fires or cause an electrical shock if problems are ignored. Here are a few warning signs that can tip you off to the presence of hazards in your home wiring:
Most accidents and fires caused by electricity could have been prevented. In nearly every case the conditions that caused the problem could have been detected by an electrical inspection. There are no hard and fast rules about when to get an inspection but here are some suggestions:
Hiring a professional electrician to inspect your home wiring is well worth the cost. Taking a few minutes to do your own inspection of appliances, cords and lighting fixtures won’t cost you a thing but will bring you peace of mind. Energy Efficiency Tip of the Month Many consumers today are taking the advice of their electric cooperative and replacing old refrigerators with new, energy efficient ones. Unfortunately, they lose the savings by moving the old unit to the garage or basement where it churns away cooling drinks and the occasional leftover. Recycle those old appliances and reap the energy savings! Doug Rye Says . . .
It seems to be a perfect choice — a perfect family and a perfect house for the intended purpose. Mr. Bret Curry, the residential energy marketing manager for the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas, had these words to say about the family. “Carroll and Sue Luten are so excited to have won this makeover,” Curry said. “And they are so deserving. They are retired and living on a fixed income in a home that, like many others in our state, has serious energy problems. With this makeover, they can save money on their electric bills while having a far more comfortable home.” As deserving as the Lutens are, there are many other families in need, too. I have already told Bret thanks for not having me on the committee that selected the home. But even though only one home could be chosen, the project is designed to have a far broader impact. Through the makeover, the cooperatives plan to not only make one house more energy efficient, but to also teach all of the cooperative members how to improve their own homes. That is why I think it is the perfect house. This house is much like thousands of other houses. It has energy problems, but most can be fixed fairly easily by buying some materials and using a lot of elbow grease. To determine what energy improvements were needed, we first tested the house using a blower door test and infrared scanner. The blower door test is used to simulate the house air infiltration as it would be if the wind was blowing about 20 mph on all exterior surfaces of the house at one time, which we know never happens. The fan in the door is simply trying to remove all of the air out of the house. The instruments on the door measure the amount of air going out of the house, which means that the same amount of air is coming into the house. As you may have read in this column, that process is often called house breathing. We call it air infiltration or better yet, LEAKS. Using a computer program, we then calculated the natural air changes per hour (nach/hr). This more accurately reflects the true air infiltration of the house. The Lutens’ house had a rate of 1.8 nach/hr of air infiltration. For the purpose of teaching, let’s round it off to 2 nach/hr. This means that all the air in this house changes twice every hour or once every 30 minutes. Are you beginning to understand why the Lutens could not afford to adequately cool or heat their home? And so many others across our nation have similar situations. With the blower door test and the infrared scanner, we were able to determine where the air leaks were and work quickly began to seal those. Once the sealing is completed, using lots of foam and caulk, additional insulation will be installed, along with other improvements. Next month, we will talk in depth about those improvements so that you, too, can learn and get some tips that will help you give your house an energy efficiency makeover. Even if it’s just one improvement at a time. |
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The attic is where most heat transfer occurs. Warm air constantly tries to move to a cooler spot. In summer, the warm air in your attic looks for holes and gaps to move into the living space. In winter, the warm air in your living space tries to escape through the attic. That’s why improving the energy efficiency of your attic is one of the best home improvement investments you can make.
And the winner is . . . Actually the winners are Carroll and Sue Luten in Donaldson, Ark. The Lutens, who are members of South Central Arkansas Electric Cooperative, were chosen last month from nearly 1,000 applicants to receive an energy efficiency makeover of their home.