Things have been on hold here for the last few weeks, mainly because Derek has been working overtime. We also didn't want to get too far into plumbing, insulating and framing the basement because of the new furnace going in, and the EngerGuide people coming to assess the house.Our Energy Advisor, Tim, was very nice and brought with him a big yellow fan (which Seth was immediately drawn to) reminicent of The Old Man and the Street's "Big Red Fan of Death." The first thing that Tim did was to measure the outside of the house, and all the windows he could reach. Next he measured all the windows inside, and checked out our beast of an oil furnace and water heater. 
After checking the attic and hip spaces, it was time to set up the big yellow fan. Tim had brought with him this really neat contraption that expands to fit your door, and has a black fabric centre with a hole in it for the fan. 
Along with this crazy doo-hickey (I forgot to ask what the offical name of it was) was another piece of technology that has a red rubber tube coming out of it and two large dials. 
This is what measures the amount of air leakage the house has. Tim had some problems getting the top dail to read 50- it went only as high as 45, and that was after he had taken off the guards to the fan and had it on it's maximum speed. As it turns out, one of the hip space hatches was left open (and insulation was sucked out into the dormer which was discovered at bedtime... aaaahhhh!) and that's why he couldn't get a good reading. This is probably going to work out for the best because the house reads as very "leaky" (remember that attic and hip spaces are considered outside spaces or cold zones) and we'll end up getting a larger grant. We will know the results within two weeks and I'll let you know what our energy rating is on the scale of 0-100.
Along with this crazy doo-hickey (I forgot to ask what the offical name of it was) was another piece of technology that has a red rubber tube coming out of it and two large dials. 
This is what measures the amount of air leakage the house has. Tim had some problems getting the top dail to read 50- it went only as high as 45, and that was after he had taken off the guards to the fan and had it on it's maximum speed. As it turns out, one of the hip space hatches was left open (and insulation was sucked out into the dormer which was discovered at bedtime... aaaahhhh!) and that's why he couldn't get a good reading. This is probably going to work out for the best because the house reads as very "leaky" (remember that attic and hip spaces are considered outside spaces or cold zones) and we'll end up getting a larger grant. We will know the results within two weeks and I'll let you know what our energy rating is on the scale of 0-100.Tim left us with a plethora of information, including a 3 page report on how to read the 5 page report that we'll be recieveing in two weeks, and a great book about how to insulate your home. Here in Vancouver our winters are mild and wet, and the summers aren't too hot (what's air conditioning?) but it's the amount of insulation that makes a difference. Tim said that most houses only have the minimum of R12 in their walls and attics, and so far that's what he's measured for ours- he recommends to fill the joists with the insulation and even to place more ontop if you've only got 2x6 joists.
We decided to do the EnerGuide Analasis not only because of the homeowner grants, but because of the One Tonne Challenge. Not only will our heating and electrical bills be lower, we'll be helping stop the greenhouse effect. Even if you don't have incentives like Energuide it's best to do what you can, everywhere you can... reduce, reuse, recycle!
And on a completely different note: The door is painted...
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1 comment:
The door looks great! Congrats!
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