If you've been following me, you know that my current life mission is to help others fix their homes to be efficient, safe and comfortable. My company, ETC Creations, is providing a variety of services which take a holistic view of the home as a system.
This starts with a home energy audit, where I analyze the home, the historical utility bills, the homeowner's usage and their comments. This can also include a blower door test, duct leakage test and an infrared inspection.Once the home has been inspected, I review my findings with the
homeowner and we determine what steps to take that will make the most positive impact on their happiness with their home. This might be a simple as caulking air leaks around windows and adding weatherstripping to doors. Or, it might included detailed suggestions for replacement heating/cooling systems, window replacement and even construction techniques for renovations.One of the primary things I'm doing is working on education. Both of homeowners and builders and architects. There's so much old knowledge that's passed on from generation to generation of builder that's hindering sustainable building practice. By educating them, I hope to break this pattern of inefficient construction techniques.
The wall is a great starting point for this. Almost every builder make their walls as shown in the above diagram. Actually, they'll usually use even more wood. But from a structural standpoint, building in such a fashion is incredibly wasteful. It wastes lumber, perhaps as much as 30%, and it wastes energy, through thermal bridging and air leaks.
Simple steps can make huge differences. Moving to 2x6 construction, 24" on center reduces the lumber used and simplifies construction. Optimal value engineering gets rid of unnecessary lumber and puts the studs where they need to be for structural purpose. Add simple things like caulking between any doubled-up studs to prevent moisture/air movement through the wall and you can save 20-40% of the energy lost through a wall.
The little things matter greatly.
