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Making a flooded basement livable is a great example of how one type of repair is directly related to another. On one of these projects, we needed to stop water from leaking into the old rubble foundation with a perimeter drain and a new slab. Adding insulation under the slab and inside the walls keeps […]

While the cost of fixing wet basements and adding bathrooms can add up quickly, energy upgrades can be folded in without putting projects out of reach. In fact, they don’t really cost that much more because they’re integral to the decisions and choices made in the renovation process. If you consider your renovation from a […]

■ BY BETSY PETTIT In America, there are around 58 million houses that were built before the last energy crisis. Because these pre-1970s houses have little or no insulation, they are all ripe for energy-efficiency improvements. Houses eat up 20% of the energy used in this coun­try and account for 21% of the carbon diox­ide […]

Oversize air-conditioning systems are the norm, not the exception. It’s easier to pick a huge system based on erroneous rules of thumb than to spend time designing a more suitable but smaller system. Oversize systems have the added problem of masking manyof the problems I’ve discussed here. Poor insulation, duct leaks, and more can be […]

From 20% to 40% of the air that comes out of furnaces and air conditioners never gets to the rooms it’s supposed to heat or cool. When you consider that most of the ducts are in attics, garages, and vented crawlspaces, the effect of that loss is huge: We’re heat­ing and cooling the outdoors. Sometimes […]

People naturally think that if you cover 98% of a surface with insulation, you’ll get 98% of the performance. This thinking is horribly wrong. Gaps and missing insulation create a hugely disproportionate performance pen­alty. If you install R-38 batts in an attic but leave 0.5% of the surface area uncovered, you end up with R-32 […]

It’s not only insulation and HVAC con­tractors who are inadvertently sabotaging our houses. Framers often construct large holes that extend from the basement to the attic in the form of chimney, plumbing, and duct chases. These chases are hidden behind drywall or are covered by fiberglass-batt in­sulation. But insulation alone won’t prevent conditioned interior air […]

■ BY BRUCE HARLEY M y friend Terry Brennan told me that on his first job as a mason’s tender he learned two things: "Whatever I did was wrong," and "If the work wasn’t going to show, don’t strike the joints" because it didn’t have to be pretty. Now, not taking the time to smooth […]

Whether a basic inspection or an in-depth scientific test, an auditor’s findings will likely be output from software that not only takes into account the physical data about the structure but also data about utility bills, the local climate, and, possibly, comparative information from other houses. A CMC-trained auditor will generate a report about the […]

There are two schools of thought about whom to hire to perform a home-energy audit. One says that a disinterested third party is the most trustworthy opinion, while the other argues for the convenience of hiring someone who can pinpoint the improve­ments needed and then perform the work. Brian Smith of Energy Saving Comfort Systems […]