The Energy Rating and Upgrading Experience

Doing the energy rating on both houses has been an experience. We had the zero lot line re-evaluated and they told us if we add insulation to the crawlspace and do some more sealing and caulking around the windows we can up our rating to 5 Star on the zero lot line and get reimbursed up to an additional $1,500.00. We thought about changing out the water heater to raise the energy rating, but it will not up the energy rating. At this point in time we decided to leave the old one in.  We did do the additional insulation and qualify to get back up to $7,000.  We spent about $5,000 so should get back everything we put into the house.

Tom unloading insulation.

Insulation, for the attic, stacked up the stairs.

We also worked on our house. We put in two heaters this last winter which was close to $10,000.00. We discussed replacing our water heater and a putting in an on-demand, but they guy who came out to give us an estimate said we should stick with the one we have as it is in great shape and was better for our needs.

The second load of insulation for our house.

We added insulation to both houses in the attic. The zero lot line only needed a few inches, but our house needed almost a half a yard. Quilters out there know that I mean about 18 inches. We had hardly any insulation in our attic and we have already felt a difference. Our neighbor said that the rainy days in the fall were chilly and she has had to turn her heat on, where as we had to open windows at it was in the 70s upstairs.

Now if I could just figure out how to raise the temperature in the downstairs as it is still rather cool down there.  I have decided to invest in a ceramic heater, but my hubby is concerned about the impact it may have on the electrical bill. I would appreciate any feed back you might have on this as well.

Bryce getting his workout for the day.

All set up and ready to go.

We replaced the front door, added attic insulation, insulated the electrical outlets, and added caulking around the windows, as well as adding insulation in the crawl space and putting in a new heater.

The worst things about this whole experience was the aftermath of adding the spray in insulation to the attic. I had to clean every book and knick knack upstairs in the house. It took me a week of dusting, washing, and wiping down to get everything cleaned and back on the shelves. It was a learning experience and if we ever move, we are going to do any adding of insulation and such before we move our furniture and such in to the place. 

We debated adding siding or below ground insulation and decided we should do the below ground insulation.

 We had piles of dirt around the house from where Tom dug out around the foundation. He worked really hard on this a couple hours every day after work and a few weekends.  My job was to take pictures and make sure he was fed. 

We are noticing that the house is warmer, except when we have those well below zero days and nothing is warm.

Tom is also doing a comparison of the heating usage for the last few years and it appears that our usage has gone down some. We will keep checking and see how things go as the winter progresses.

I need to schedule them to come and do the final rating so we can submit papers to get reimbursed for our house.  We are still waiting on the check for Bryce's house to come in and we submitted that in late August.