A simple explanation of what air sealing is, it is the work performed on the home to reduce the amount of air infiltration into the home by sealing small and sometimes large gaps and crevices.  I utilized the DO–IT–YOURSELF Guide to Sealing & Insulating with ENERGY STAR to perform the air sealing in the attic before installing insulation.  These holes in the home can waste approximately 25% of the typical homes heating and cooling cost and is almost always the most cost effective improvement that can be done to most homes to reduce the utility bills and increase the indoor air quality (IAQ).

Air sealing not only helps reduce your heating and cooling costs, but sometimes more importantly, air sealing helps to improve the indoor air quality and durability of the home.  Tighter homes typically have less dust because not as much gets pulled in through these cracks; they are typically more durable because excessive air and moisture does not enter the walls or attic that could cause mold and rot.

The goal of air sealing your attic is to make the ceiling as air tight as possible to stop any air movement.  Now most home owners don’t think of their attic being full of holes.  However it is full of them, plumbing stack penetrations, wires, can lights and other ceiling fixtures.  If you hold your hand over these holes, you can feel the hot or cold air from inside your home making its way into the attic, costing you money.  Because as this conditioned air leaves your home, unconditioned air is being pulled into your home through other gaps or crevices in your home, typically in the basement (more on sealing the basement in a future post).  When your home has low levels of insulation, it is easy to find these holes.  However if you have good levels of insulation, you can find these holes by looking for discolored insulation, as most insulation types are air filters and the discoloration is a sign of air movement.  So review the air sealing guide, buy a few tubes of caulk and cans of Great Stuff and seal up those holes and start saving.

Here is a video series on the Fine Homebuilding magazine website on air sealing your attic that is worth watching, or check out other attic air sealing videos on YouTube.

Loading carpet to be recylced.

The first project we tackled was removing about 75% of the wall to wall carpeting in the home.  This ended up being the main living areas, hallways, as well as our expected child’s room.  We did feel somewhat guilty for removing the brand new carpet that the previous home owner installed to sell the house.  Especially since we removed it in July, and according to the label, it was manufactured in May of the same year.  So as you can imagine, it was in excellent shape. So the larger pieces went to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore to be reused in someone else home.  The remainder of the carpeting found its way into a trailer on its way to get recycled thanks to a local carpet installer.

Dirt found under some of the carpet that was removed.

Our primary reason removing the carpet was to expose the hard wood flooring that runs throughout the majority of the house and was hidden by the carpet.  We had the floor refinished using Bona waterborne finish that has very low levels of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), and is very durable.  Another reason for removing the carpet was we did not want our newborn child crawling on the carpet.  So the carpet was replaced with an all natural handmade wool area rug in our living room.  The reason being is an area rug can be thoroughly cleaned where wall to wall carpet will hold onto dirt, dander, dust mites and pollutants that people track in from the outdoors, such as oil and pesticides and can never be fully removed.  A question posted after we removed our carpet here on the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) Green Home Guide website stated that the average carpet removed from a home is seven times heavier than when it was installed.  This being contributed to the fact that carpets cannot be cleaned thoroughly like an area rug can.

The second project we tackled was painting.  Like everyone else, we could not wait to make the house our home, and by adding color we were able to bring out our personality.  At the time we started painting my wife was pregnant with our first child.  So a product with low VOC’s was a must.  We used Sherwin Williams “Harmony” & “Duration Home” for its low VOC content.  Plus we are partial to Sherwin Williams because it is an Ohio based company.  Now there are a lot of other great paint products out there and the majority of manufacturers now have low or no VOC, or even non-toxic options.  So you can easily pick up a can of paint with low VOC content at Home Depot, Lowes or your local hardware store.

Now if you are not sure what to look for in terms of the Volatile Organic Compounds, you can go the Green Seal website who certifies and sets VOC limits for different products and look for the Paints & Coatings GS-11 standard or any other cleaning or finish product.  Another organization that is concerned about the Indoor Air Quality of your home or building is Greenguard.  Greenguard focuses primarily on indoor air quality—most notably for off gassing of VOCs, formaldehyde and other chemicals that can be found in furniture and other building products.  I will talk more about furniture selection in a later post.

I hope I opened up your eyes a little to show you that the Indoor Air Quality of your home is important and many products can affect it from the toxins that they may off gas.

-Josh

Our home as it was purchased in 2005

Back in 2005 my wife and I purchased this ranch with a walk out basement.  It is/was your typical 1960′s stick built home.  Very low levels of insulation, single pane aluminum windows, with an unfinished basement and a huge backyard for the area, with lots of old growth trees.  The view out of the dinning room window was the selling point.  Some other nice amenities is that it is in a developed neighborhood with schools that are within walking distance, grocery within a mile.  The town also has a very active year round farmers market.  Plus the home was the mid point between both of our jobs at that time and is relatively close to a bus route.

The back of our home as it was purchased in 2005

However during the home inspection we found some troubling things.  There was little to no insulation in the attic, the basement walls were uninsulated.  And what makes that even worse is the fact that half of the house foundation is above ground.  Not to mention the aging heating and cooling equipment.  So we looked at this house as a blank slate, giving us the opportunity to not only renovate the home to fit our needs, but to do everything in an environmentally friendly way and to do it within our limited budget.

So this is where “Symbiotic Home” originally began.  A website to help educate others on what can be done to green their existing home.  Now with a good portion of the projects done, I will be developing this new series of posts that will backtrack and document each of the projects that we have tackled, and will even discuss future projects that we would like to accomplish.  Giving you a glimpse of what we have been doing, how we have been doing it, and why as we green this energy pig.

So follow my home renovations as I walk the walk and show that green/sustainable construction can happen on the typical working families budget and I look forward to the discussions that this may create.

-Josh

The first step is to determine your energy reduction goal by using their threshold calculator.  You have two options when it comes to determining your reduction goals.  The first option or as they refer to as Option A, which is intended for high energy usage homes, sets a 75% reduction goal based upon a recent years’ verifiable energy usage.  Option B is for low energy users and sets an energy reduction threshold based upon your zip code, finished floor area, number of occupants and a few other simple inputs.

Our home as it was purchased in 2005

So to continue the Sym-Home mission of educating others and to show that existing homes can make deep cuts in their energy usage; I will be enrolling my personal residence into the challenge.  Considering my family has made significant energy related improvements to our home to bring down our utility costs, we are at the point of pushing the envelope, looking to make those energy related upgrades that the average homeowner doesn’t even think about.  However we are considered to be a lower energy user, so we will be enrolling into the challenge and attempting to meet the energy usage thresholds of Option B.  As you can see, by our current usage and goals set, we are still looking at a 42% reduction in energy usage to meet the challenge. I will continue the blog series, Kill’n a Hog….an Energy Hog, of tracking our energy improvements and take them to the next level as we go beyond what most consider to be a DIY project.

If you are considering some major energy related improvements to your home, consider enrolling into the Thousand Home Challenge.  The first step to participating in the Thousand Home Challenge is to attend the introductory webinar to learn more about the goals, mission, and determination of one’s threshold allowance.  So if you are interested, the next webinar is currently scheduled for May 31^st.  Check out the 1000 Home Challenge website and enroll to make some deep cuts and help our country reach energy independence.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has their Walk The Walk campaign advocating for all design projects within the office to be green/high performance projects.  But that is focusing on what a design professional should be considering when designing/implementing projects.  But it does nothing for advocating our lifestyles and what we do with our own home improvement projects.  We should be leading by example.  If you truly believe in the mission, you should be taking what you do in the office and bring it home.  So the question is, with some of the details that you draw/build for your projects, would you use them on your own home?  In essence if you consider yourself a green building professional in any way, you should bring you knowledge and expertise to your own home projects and use your own home as a living laboratory.

Yes, like some of our clients, we may have limited budgets, and also cursed with seeing all these great products or cool ideas that we would love to use.  However that should not stop us from spending few extra bucks to improve the efficiency of our home, or buy the low VOC paint, adhesive or other materials.  Because we know the benefits these stratagies have on lowering our utility bill and carbon footprint, as well as improving the indoor air quality and the quality of our families lives.

So follow me as I lead by example with my own home.  Turning my energy hog home into a lean, mean, green machine.  Improving the energy efficiency, the indoor air quality and the overall lifestyle of my family.

-Josh

Boston’s Greenest Houses

Posted by Adam Ragusea, Associate Producer, Monday, February 23rd, 2009

There’s particular interest in green housing in our city, but also particular challenges. Harsh New England winters drive up heating bills, and our beloved antique housing stock is hardly energy efficient. With federal stimulus dollars possibly going to retrofit all Massachusetts houses with “smart” energy meters, what are YOU doing to keep your home’s energy use in check?

Peter Thomson, environment editor for PRI’s The World, hosts our live web chat.

Listen to the entire show if the embedded link does not work at wbur.org – Radio Boston

The tax credit has been raised from 10% to 30%.

The tax credits that were for a specific dollar amount have been converted to 30% of the cost.

The maximum credit has been raised from $500 to $1500, although improvements such as geothermal heat pumps, solar water heaters, and solar panels are not subject to the $1,500 maximum.

Visit Energy Star’s website for further explanation of the new Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency.

Now that the stimulus bill has passed and the word about tax credits and weatherizing incentives is out, you can bet that the tin men selling “insulating” siding and new “energy efficient” vinyl windows will be out in force to sell you stuff that “pays for itself in three years” and that “the government will pay most of the cost anyways”. Except these are two of the least cost-effective measures that you can take, and can significantly decrease the value of a house if they destroy its character and charm.

To view full article, click here.

In response to our post Crossway Zero Carbon Home Brings Back the Timbrel Vault, commenter rayn wrote: “I don’t see how this house could be anywhere near zero carbon even if all the bricks were sun baked. The windows had to be created in a furnace somewhere.”

He has a point. “Zero Carbon Home” is a term with specific meaning in the UK:

A zero carbon home is one that generates as much power as it uses over the course of a year and therefore has net zero carbon dioxide emissions.

To view full article, click here.