Friday Video – Blower Door Basics & Weatherization Training

So it is no secret that my career path has changed a little over a year ago from design and producing construction documents for projects ranging from home additions/renovations to multi-million dollar commercial and institutional buildings.  These days I am performing home energy audits and have been involved heavily in the weatherization industry, as I feel this is a good fit to keep me sharp and give me great field experience with building science issues that I can take back to the architecture profession if I ever decide to return to a traditional design firm.

During my conversations with customers I am always telling them it was an easy transition into the job because I am already knowledgeable of construction techniques and building science.  I just needed training on the equipment and testing procedures.  So for those that are interested in home energy audits, here is a great video on the basics of blower door testing that was produced by the Montana Weatherization Training Center.  Over the past year, they have produced a whole series of videos on their WXtv site, featuring different aspects of the energy auditing and home weatherization industry.

Check out the Montana Weatherization Training Centers WXtv to view more great videos geared towards training the weatherization industry.

It’s about more than energy

Home energy audits are about more than energy usage, they are also about health and safety of the home and its occupants.  Earlier this week the local media picked up on a story of a woman who died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a malfunctioning furnace.  (Carbon monoxide kills 1, hospitalizes 3)  Even the Building Performance Institute (BPI), an organization that creates the standards for home energy auditors had a press release of a family that died from carbon monoxide and why our work is so important.

Water heater failing the spillage test & back drafting combustion gases into the home.

A lot of the testing that we do as home energy auditors is combustion safety testing and monitoring the levels of carbon monoxide not only in the home but what the appliances are producing and checking for gas leaks.  What I see more often than gas leaks and furnaces with high levels of carbon monoxide however is water heaters that back draft combustion gases into the home.  And this can happen with old and brand new hot water heaters and is easy to create conditions within a home that makes it difficult for a hot water heater to draft properly.

A recent customer had two hot water heaters that did not have a strong enough draft pressure in the flue to exit the combustion gases, and a major gas leak was even found at the gas meter that was inside the home.  So by inspecting this customer’s home to help him improve the energy efficiency of his home, I potentially prevented him and his family from being a headline of carbon monoxide poisoning.

So schedule a home energy audit to not only improve the energy efficiency of your home, but to make sure your appliances are working efficiently and safely.

Crawling in dark places and learning lots

So it has been a busy six weeks working with Conservation Services Group (CSG).  The first week consisted of training from the Applied Building Sciences division of Conservation Services Group.  A lot of the class room training was a BPI Building Analyst review, along with software and additional field training.  The cool thing about the field training was we actually used my house as one of the two field training homes.  So I had six energy auditors inspecting the work that I have done to my house, and I was also able to put my home into the system and see if I would qualify for some of the utility rebates for a new furnace.  Unfortunately no, but I did get a lot of compliments on the work I have performed to date, except for the fact that my home is well below the Building Air Flow standard.

The second week was a week of shadowing an auditor.  Although I had to cut it a couple of days short due to my presentation at the AIA Ohio Convention, it was a great way/best way to learn how things are and should be done.  As well as a quick lesson into the utility rebate program that CSG is running.

The third week was the first of solo audits.  Expecting new employees to take a little bit longer at first as they get use to what is expected in an audit, as well as the program, our first week consisted of one audit a day to get our time down to 4 hours to conduct the audit.  The audit includes everything in a full comprehensive BPI audit as well as a report generated at the customers house and discuss it with them.  Let me tell you that first week was a trial by fire.  All the homes I audited my first week ranged anywhere from 1,500 to 4,000 square feet and all were built anywhere between 1910 and 1960, all with older systems and little to no insulation.  Most were very complicated houses.  So let’s just say my first week of audits was taking 5-6 hours to complete.  So I was getting nervous by the end of the week knowing that the next week I would be doing two audits a day.

Thankfully by the beginning of the fourth week something just clicked.  And that is when they started to fail.  Water heaters were failing the worst case draft testing left and right.  A few were not even drafting is quite conditions.  Now with some of these larger homes that have multiple exhaust fans, it is my opinion that we are creating un-natural conditions that the home owner would never create.  However that is the BPI standard that we work by, to turn on all exhaust fans to create the greatest negative pressure in the home.

All in all it has been a very busy 6 weeks getting use to the pace and getting my body to build its endurance to keep up the pace.  But I am seeing all types, sizes and ages of homes.  So it has been a great experience so far and I look forward to continuing to work for Conservation Services Group.  I am learning a lot and seeing how many things have been built, good and bad.  So if I get the time, I have some good ideas for some future posts.  So keep me in your RSS feeds for future updates.

Taking on a new position

Symbiotic home is restructuring again.  Owner of Sym-Home, Joshua Lloyd has accepted a position with Conservation Services Group (CSG) in their central Ohio office as an energy advisor.  He will be performing home energy audits for the Columbia Gas of Ohio, Home Performance Solutions Program.  A program that is providing its customers with a full comprehensive energy audit for $50, and very attractive rebates to perform the recommended improvements.

Joshua looks at this opportunity to get knee deep and dirty in the building science industry, experiencing firsthand what time and systems can do to a home, as well as see good and bad ways to build a house.  The position will provide Joshua with the latest information and techniques for retrofitting homes to improve energy efficiency.

In the meantime Sym-Home will finish out its current design contracts.  Joshua will continue to blog about his experiences in the field and focus his free time to finish the Architectural Registration Exams (ARE) to become a licensed architect as well as obtain the LEED for Homes credential.  At that point in time Sym-Home will be available on a limited basis for residential design services.

We thank you for your support, and hope you will continue to follow our activity on facebook & twitter.

Sym-Home Re-Launched

Symbiotic Home (sym-home) has expanded upon its mission of documenting the “Greening” of a typical 1960’s home on a modest budget prioritizing projects in terms of needs, environmental benefits and financial paybacks.

Sym-Home is now providing residential design services, home energy audits and consulting.  Sym-Home specializes in energy efficient, healthy & durable homes.  Joshua Lloyd, owner of sym-home, draws from a decade’s worth of experience in the architectural field. In addition, his experience includes producing construction documents and coordinating LEED documentation for Ohio’s first LEED Platinum Home, located in Columbus, Ohio.

Sym-Home also provides home energy audits, helping home owners to take control of their homes energy usage by providing them the appropriate information after a thorough inspection and test on the home to see where the most energy is used and prioritize a list of recommended projects in terms of financial payback.  Joshua Lloyd, is a certified Building Analyst through the Building Performance Institute (BPI) to conduct home energy audits.

Sym-Home also provides consulting services to homeowners, builders and other design professionals.  Sym-Home can assist project teams with issues related to high performance structures, from building science issues, schematic level energy modeling for both commercial and residential structures, and LEED documentation and coordination.

Sym-Home considers residential design and home energy audits as a complimentary service to each other, especially for home owners looking to renovate or add on to an existing home.  Home energy auditing tools can be a valuable resource during the design and construction phases of a new home and renovation.

For those of you who have been following the renovation process, we will be re-posting all the projects with more images and information regarding each project in a series called “To Kill an Energy Hog”

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